Strategy and brand language.

After a deep dive into the history of our organisation and some reflecting on why we do what we do, we have revised our brand language and articulated three strategic pillars that support our intention to scale our impact. The revised brand language expresses our purpose as Resourcing People to Live Well. Our focus on resourcing, and our elevating of those we resource, from people living with spinal-cord injury to people generally, draws from our peer-led understanding that each of us may contribute to those who contribute to us.

Living Well project.

The Living Well project seeks to build on practice that is both informed and delivered by people with lived experience of spinal cord injury or a similar disability. Activities founded on goal-setting, strength identification and skills building are delivered in the participant's community, and are designed to enhance their capacity to live well and fully. The project aims help people with spinal cord injury or similar disability who will benefit via one or more of: Participate and contribute to design, planning and coordination via a Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) Experience the capacity building as Trainers and or Group Leaders Experience the targeted strength and skill building programs facilitated by Trainers and Group Leaders and delivered via co-designed courses. Planned group and face-to-face activities designed and delivered as part of the Living Well project have been affected by short-notice Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns. The team is using this as an opportunity to...

Allied health expansion .

Over 2020-21 we have made good on our intention to develop an allied health service that is informed from lived experience. A team of six support coordinators and occupational therapists is building its reputation on its capacity to accommodate complex circumstances and deliver impartial advice.

Sharing experience.

People in the AQA community resource one another through sharing their experience. They might do so through our Peer Mentor program, as Peer Coaches for our personal development workshop Discovering the Power in Me, in meeting face to face and online through our Community Networks, or in contributing and sourcing powerful stories published on our website and in our free bimonthly magazine, NewsLink. Magazine remake Over most of our history, AQA has published a bimonthly newsletter or magazine, NewsLink, that brings readers relevant news and helps people to empower others through sharing experience. Over 2021 we have resourced production of the magazine by creating a role for a Publications Officer, and have benefited from the extensive pro-bono input of design professional Grant Maynard. A streamlined content development process has helped us to make the feature articles carried in NewsLink more engaging. NewsLink remains deeply resourced by contributions from the AQA...

Enhancing ouraccessibility.

Telephone support for AQA in-home services has always been available 24-hours. However, this year we have extended the accessibility to our clients of the in-office Scheduling and Allocations team at AQA, which is now available from 8:30am to 9pm weekdays. Clients and support workers alike have welcomed the enhanced communication and more direct support

Website development.

Over 2020-21 we redeveloped in-house our longstanding website at www.aqavic.org.au, which had previously functioned as a thin gateway that directed people either to our then services site or to our lived-experience resource site at www.spire.org.au. A key objective was to introduce our services and our lived-experience resources together at a single virtual location, reflecting the integration that was taking place in the office under our strategy revision. There was also an opportunity to express AQA's statement of purpose graphically through the banner image of a man connecting with a child from a wheelchair. The image is rich in ambiguity, and lends itself to the interpretation that people living with disability may be well placed to contribute to others. Further website development is expected in 2022, with the aim of consolidating AQA online resources at a single domain. This will include a brand expression project.

Digital TransformetProject.

Despite a few setbacks, AQA's Digital Transformation is back on track and is gearing towards a successful implementation and roll out of our Go-Live with Rostering, Payroll, Finance, and CRM. Per current planning and schedule of activities and events we anticipate our go live to be July 2022. The setbacks and delays resulting in timeline push-outs have been primarily driven by the pandemic, and the unique functionality of the previous rostering platform required us to venture out again in the market for a more capable system.

Empowering ourpeople.

The phrase our people paints with a broad brush at AQA, encompassing our lived-experience volunteers and coaches, other volunteers and pro-bono contributors, our office staff, and our extensive roster of community staff who bring so much dedication and commitment to resourcing our clients. This year our Living Well project piloted a training program for people living with spinal cord injury that would prepare them to be Peer Leaders at Living Well residential courses. We engaged our volunteer Peer Mentors in more than 1500 hours of support and debriefing sessions, and trained 10 new team members. We developed an Occupational Health and Safety Management System for all our staff under the banner Safety For Everyone, began to test our digital Customer Relationship Management system, and supported our dedicated community staff with communication and PPE as they adapted to ever-changing Covid-19 requirements.

Acknowledgment of Country

AQA acknowledges that we live and work on lands stolen from the oldest continuous culture on earth. While our office is on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, we live and work on First Nations lands across Victoria. We acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded, and that this was, and always will be, Aboriginal land. We pay our deepest respect to Elders past and present, and we thank them for holding wisdom and caring for country. We also acknowledge that AQA’s work of building a more caring and inclusive society - where everyone has the resources they need to live well - follows in the footsteps of a long and ongoing struggle of First Nations peoples across the continent to be afforded the self determination, respect and resources they need to live well.

Diversity and Inclusion

Disability doesn’t discriminate, so our community is as diverse as the richly diverse culture we exist in. Having the fullest version of ourselves on display, seen and appreciated, is a fundamental aspect of living a full and meaningful life. It is also the foundation from which the full benefit of our capacity building and empowering supports are accessed. Recognising this, we have developed an organisational culture where diversity is not just thoughtfully and respectfully accommodated, but truly celebrated - be it ethnicity, religion, ability, age, gender, sexuality or gender identity.