WhatsUp The Art

Matt and I worked together for over 5 years at Parent 2 Parent and I have a great admiration for Matt’s skills, particularly in the area of community engagement but also his ability to tell a story with his art.

Where did your journey into the Community sector begin?

“I started initially while I was studying back in ’92, when I was working with a few young people with disability exploring what community services were available for them.”

“When I finished my studies, I moved to Queensland where I got married and we had a child with some special learning challenges, this was undiagnosed, so I went on a journey seeking some support in early intervention assistance.”

What was this like for you?

“It was very challenging period in seeking any diagnosis, but we were his parents and we had to advocate for our son and some of that advocacy involved writing up 1-page profiles around the type of supports that my son needed from that early education period through primary school and that introduced me to the world of person-centred planning and how you can articulate the needs of your family member but also the needs of yourself.”

“Now at 23, my son’s thriving, he’s doing really, really well, he just takes a little bit longer to navigate around things as a young adult he has a good understanding of his ADHD.”

How did your start in this sector?

“I started as a support worker and worked for 10 years with people with mental health challenges in their day-to-day life. It was very practical work at a grassroots level.”

“I started thinking about where the next step was for me. Being a manager or a coordinator wasn’t the direction that I wanted to go into.”

“It was then that I decided that I wanted to go into the community development space, so I did some post-graduate study and research into PATH planning.”

“I have been working at Parent 2 Parent for 11 years undertaking a diverse number of roles including ‘Your Service, Your Rights’, ‘Stand by Me’ facilitating PATH in Schools and supporting families in future planning.”

“I find that the PATH is a process that talks and acknowledges dreams, but is quite task orientated.”

It is said that the difference between a dream and a goal is that the goal has a date.

“Yes, the dream may be to live independently, but there may be several goals along the way to make this happen. For example in the first year the goal may be to spend a few days away from home with a friend or with support. In the second year the goal would be for several events to happen.”

“This helps so much in developing an NDIS Plan with specific goals and a timeline.”

So what about the future for Matt?

Well, I’m very happy continuing with the role I’m in. I have a healthy balance between P2P and my art.

“I currently work 4 days a week there and I’m able to work with art and mixed materials in my own studio on the other day. What started off as being a bit of a hobby has now turned into a bit of a direction for me and has also allowed me to undertake Art Therapy Sessions.”

Where does the art therapy come in?

Art therapy is a form of expressive therapy