Member profile … AVIVO
For this edition, we cross to Western Australia to meet AVIVO and speak with their Disability and Shared Living Practice Advisor, Ashlee Pitcher.
AVIVO provides a range of in-home care and community services including offering a Homeshare service for older people and clients with disabilities. AVIVO, originally Perth Home Care Services, once worked solely in aged care but grew to incorporate disability and mental health services during the 1990s.
Before joining AVIVO at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, Ashlee had twelve years’ experience in the community services sector. In her role she provides professional support, training and mentoring to a team of practitioners who support clients to live their best lives.
Since the beginning of the year, Ashlee shared there has been a notable increase in the interest in Homeshare, from both householders and homesharers. Interest has come from both AVIVO’s internal clients and the broader community. She believes Aged Care reforms have highlighted deficiencies in the sector which is providing new opportunities for Homeshare and driving the increased interest.
Older people who wish to remain in their own homes as they age, see Homeshare as an affordable support model. Householders entering a Homeshare arrangement are often motivated not just by their own needs but by wanting to meet the needs of the community. This has resulted in more interest from householders to consider a homesharer who is a refugee or a family violence victim survivor.
HANZA and AVIVO are working together on an exciting new development – a self-directed Homeshare model. This model will enable people to receive training and information from HANZA to direct and establish their own Homeshare matches. They will also still receive a Homeshare training guide from AVIVO to ensure best practice and high-quality outcomes for everyone involved. AVIVO, HANZA and Social Ventures Australia, an expert evaluation provider, have formed a consortium and submitted a funding application to pilot self-directed Homeshare in Western Australia. The successful applications will be announced at the beginning of June 2023.
You can get more information on AVIVO and their services from their website.
Mary-Ellen Hempel, HANZA Board Director
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