About Reach for the Stars
Capacity Building and core supports for children and youth in a away that builds their self-esteem and confidence.
There is an identified need for capacity building and core supports for young participants within the Mildura community. The program has been developed for all-ability participants that would like the opportunity to connect with the community and under take public activities with someone that is similar age, who is capable of developing their personal needs, skills and confidence – ‘someone that could appear as a friend or sibling and not just someone that appears like a supervisor’ ….. It is common to have high functioning ASD participants that don’t want to feel they have a “supervisor” or “carer”, so this program helps each participant with capacity building and core support in a way that is comforting to them - so they don’t feel they are different in the community.
Meet The Director and Support Worker
Frankee-Mae - a young disability support worker cares for participants with high care needs. Frankee identified the need in supporting young children and teenagers with disabilities, to assist them to develop friendships and social skills. “For the past 2 years I have worked as a young disability support worker. I have worked with very young children through to the elderly. I have undertaken high needs participants for the past 2 years. At the age of 17 I achieved full national qualifications in Individual support specialising in disability and also community services. My experience and qualifications include the ability to administer medication, feeding through tubes, adaption techniques, auditory and sensory adaption, ASD level 3 and ADHD calming techniques. Majority of my experience has been with non-verbal participants where I have developed fantastic skills in unique individualised communication options”. Frankee’s passion to assist children with disabilities stems from a young age where she always helped support class mates that had disabilities. Frankee has family members with ASD, unfortunately Frankee witness them not being able to access the support they required to develop social skills and goals they desperately needed. Frankee’s aim is to bridge that gap for local children and youth.
In addition to Frankee’s 2 National qualifications, Frankee also achieved the prestigious ‘Community Service Student of the Year 2023’ at the Sunraysia Careers Network Excellence Awards, and in March 2024 received SuniTAFE’s esteemed VETDSS student of the year award