Carpentaria Chairperson Grant Lindsay, NT Minister for Disabilities Ngaree Ah Kit, and Carpentaria CEO Annie Rily attend the official opening of the Alice Springs office.
This week’s official opening of Carpentaria’s Alice Springs office marks our commitment to Central Australian participants and builds upon our history of delivering high quality services in the Territory, for Territorians.
Allied Health services
Since receiving a single referral for Speech Pathology services in September 2019, the demand for our allied health services in Alice Springs has grown rapidly. By late 2019 regular visits were scheduled, with 4 Allied Health professionals visiting every 6 weeks. During this time, Somerville Community Services kindly offered meeting room space for sessions, and stored equipment and resources between our reoccurring visits to Alice Springs.
Serving the community
Carpentaria’s foundations are built upon a commitment to respond to service gaps to maximise our impact in the community. To meet the growing demands for service, we have established a permanent office on Parsons St and formalised Carpentaria’s commitment to Central Australia.
The Alice Springs office is currently home to a part time Allied Health Assistant and a full time Occupational Therapist. In addition, Darwin based clinicians travel to Alice Springs every 3 weeks to deliver services. Recruitment is underway for additional Allied Health professionals, including a full time Speech Pathologist, to meet the ongoing demand for services.
In positive news for the sector, Ngaree Ah Kit also announced that the NT Government has granted Carpentaria with a block of land in Alice Springs, for the construction of Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA).
Stories of success
We already have a great range of Alice Springs success stories. The Therapy Services team have implemented new opportunities for skill building and socialising, including a newly developed chess club with regular games and an inaugural mid-year tournament planned. Speech Pathology dysphagia intervention has seen an adult participant trialling food for the first time in many years, resulting in an immediate improvement in quality of life. Participant goals and interests have been explored, with participant Matthew upcycling tyres into planter boxes to decorate our front courtyard.
Partnerships in action: Annie Rily accepts keys from Gayle Gilcrist of Sixt car hire.
Partnerships
As we establish our permanent presence in Alice Springs, we welcome new partnerships to strengthen our services and community impact. Sixt Car Hire have committed to providing a co-branded vehicle for staff usage over the next 12 months, and NT Major Events – who are supporting accessible and inclusive events in Alice Springs, including Parrtjima and Red CentreNATS – welcome site assessment advice and staff training from Carpentaria Occupational Therapists.
Carpentaria values the opportunity to collaborate with a range of NDIS and community service providers, across government and non-government sectors. We look forward to working collaboratively to support Alice Springs participants to achieve their goals and explore learning and skill development opportunities.
Looking to the future
Our new permanent office space provides an opportunity to offer a wider range of services in the future. Dependent on demand, future service offerings may include Group Therapy, assessment and splinting clinics, education and training workshops, community access and accommodation services. An extension of Carpentaria’s Paediatric Equipment Program is already underway to provide Central Australians with access to trial and hire specialist equipment.
Alice Springs referrals are welcome. See further details here.