Grow 2 Be has flourished this semester, and with such a range of activities it has given everyone a chance to get involved with something they love. From volunteering, to courses, to getting out and about in our city, we’ve seen such exceptional growth from everyone. We continue to support our participants through all their endeavours, and can’t wait to see what the future holds.
Intentions and Aspirations …
Our intentions for the last quarter of the year is to ensure everyone gets to achieve all the goals they have set for themselves at the beginning of the year. We look forward to continuing our successful partnership with Dandenong Community Learning Centre and enjoying our new volunteering opportunity with One At A Time Pet Rescue in Lang Lang.
We’re really looking forward to getting stuck into our Certificate II in Animal Care in the new term, as well as all the exciting places we’ll go on our “Out and About” Fridays.
Walking around the Lake …
We start every morning with a walk around the lake, weather permitting of course, so our days begin with us feeling energised and revitalised. Physically, this walk helps us stay engaged for longer and improves our fitness and health to boot. We are able to stretch our muscles in preparation for whatever our day may hold. Along with the physical benefits, we also get the opportunity to catch up with everyone—socialising with our friends. We get a good look at the wildlife, and it’s an excellent opportunity to get to know our community as we interact with those walking their pets. We increase our social connectedness while keeping up our physical health—and it’s a brilliant start to our mornings.
Art at Dandenong Community and Learning Centre …
This term, Jess, Bianca and Kaitlin attended art classes at Dandenong Community & Learning Centre, and have been using their creativity to make such amazing art pieces. Through the support of the trainer and their fellow classmates, they have been learning about pencil sketches, collages, charcoal drawings, colour painting and word art. Learning art has encouraged creativity, being able to unleash their wildest creations onto the canvas, as well as teaching them discipline as they try and imitate life through their canvases.
OUR VOICE:
Kaitlin: I enjoy the challenges of the class.
Bianca: It’s been enjoyable.
Cert II in Animal Care …
Finishing off the term we’ve just started our Cert II in Animal Care. It’s been a long time coming and we can’t wait to get stuck into it and share more details as they come.
Equine Therapy …
Our participants continue with Equine Therapy/Counselling at Jabulani Sanctuary to work with horses. Through this process, they often discover how they can improve on their interactions with the people around them. This term there has been a specific focus on resilience, saying no, and herd mentality.
The benefits of equine therapy include:
* Reducing the effects of anxiety
* Improving social skills and communication
* Growing in confidence
* Increasing self-awareness
* Emotional regulation
* Learning how to be present
* Gaining peace
Gembrook Wildlife Shelter …
As we continue our volunteering at Gembrook Wildlife Shelter, we continue to learn the importance of caring for our Australian animals. Every week we get the opportunity to care for beautiful native Australian animals, which include wombats, kangaroos, joeys, and koalas.
While giving everyone a really good sense of what it is to be caring and kind to the creatures around us, volunteering at the Shelter also teaches our participants responsibility and how to be organised. We have so many tasks to complete in one morning, and we have to work together as a team to get them done efficiently. Our teamwork has blossomed through all the volunteering we do, and we are all able to work like a well oiled machine as we clean up the animals and their homes and make sure they are well fed with the appropriate amount of cuddles thrown in.
OUR VOICE:
Kaitlin: It’s cuteness overload and I’m getting better at feeding the roos.
Brayden: I liked meeting the new koala and love the joeys.
Riley: Patting the wild animals is my favourite.
Bianca: I enjoy feeding the joeys.
The Bluey & Alice Bunny Refuge …
We’ve continued our volunteering at the Bluey and Alice Bunny Refuge this term, where we look forward to working with bunnies each week. As we take turns going up to the refuge, we get the opportunity to cuddle and care for the cutest of bunnies, who are being rehabilitated before finding their forever home.
Working with bunnies gives everyone a chance to de-stress, negating some of the harmful effects of our anxious world. It also teaches everyone how to be responsible completing chores, timelines and how to work well in a team.
OUR VOICE:
Kaitlin: I enjoy learning about the different bunny needs.
Brayden: They are very cute.
Riley: Bunny cuddles are the best.
Bianca: Caring for the bunnies is the best.
Wellness Mondays …
We spend our Mondays having some well needed time to discuss emotional intelligence before heading down to the gym to improve our physical fitness.
In the mornings we spend some time on a discussion topic; this term some of those have been: acceptance, intellectual giving, managing emotions, and resilience. Learning about these gives everyone a chance to really hone in their emotions, and understand why they feel the way they do; equipping everyone with strategies on how to deal with their complex emotions while also improving their awareness of what/how the people around us are feeling.
In the afternoons we head down to Cardinia Life, our local gym, where we focus on improving our physical health. This term we have been doing cardio, weight training, and basketball, and we are looking forward to getting back into swimming as summer approaches.
We know that physical and mental health go hand in hand, and our Wellness Mondays set ourselves up right for the week ahead, with an emotionally aware start, and an energised workout afterwards.
OUR VOICE:
Kaitlin: I enjoy improving my personal best time on the bike.
Nik: Socialising and getting exercise is great.
Woodwork …
Our Thursdays are spent doing Woodwork at the Dandenong Community Learning Centre, where we have made: push cars, Father’s Day engravings, miniature air hockey games, lolly dispensers and so many more awesome pieces.
Woodwork has been such a highlight of our term, as the transferable skills included into each activity is fantastic—working towards the same goal by utilising teamwork. It’s also a great chance to be creative, and we have the opportunity to learn how to use a range of machinery and equipment each week, including sawing, sanding, nailing, hammering, to name but a few.
A new challenge awaits us weekly, and we keep growing our skills with each creation.
OUR VOICE:
Riley: I love building new things by myself.
Brayden: I enjoy being creative.
Paul: Making my own Thor hammer.
Lucas: Making things I never thought I would be able to is the best.
Kaitlin: I get to improve my skills when handling machinery.
Digital Literacy and Everyday Words and Numbers …
This term we’ve been working on improving our digital literacy skills and learning Everyday Words and Numbers. As a part of our digital literacy course, participants have created their “All About Me” books. These have given everyone a real chance to look at themselves, leading to some really healthy introspection and has been a huge hit.
As part of our Everyday Words and Numbers course, we have learnt about endangered animals, researching our animals and following their movement patterns as they migrate across the world. It’s been so interesting learning about these endangered animals, and it helps us get a real sense of what creatures are in our world and why they are endangered.
While learning about staying safe online, literacy and numeracy, we have had amazing opportunities to grow in our knowledge about our world and about who we are.
OUR VOICE:
Samual: I am enjoying learning about different creatures while doing these courses.
Cooking and Baking Classes …
As we’ve continued expanding opportunities available to our participants, cooking and baking workshops have become a staple during our week. Some of what we’ve made in these classes include: sweet fruit wraps, chicken parmies, carbonara pasta, beef curry, banana bread, crepes and pancakes, and risotto. We have learnt so many different skills for the kitchen, while also making and baking very tasty meals every time.
Cooking is one of those everyday skills that sometimes we sweep under the rug. In learning how to cook and bake we learn organisation and preparation– this incorporates numeracy, how to organise ourselves around timers and specific cooking times, but also organising ingredients. In preparing each meal, we learn patience, and how utilising all of these skills can create something wonderful for our taste buds. In an outpouring of creativity we have been learning how to remain calm and collected and how important teamwork is.
OUR VOICE:
Kaitlin: I enjoy making different food.
Brayden: Learning different recipes is so fun.
Lucas: I enjoyed eating our creations.
Out and About Fridays …
Each Friday we get out and about in our community, going to movies, exhibits or other experiences. Throughout the week we chat about what we want to do, and the participants all choose Friday’s activities. Each week we mix up our transportation options also, sometimes going on our Grow 2 Be buses, and sometimes opting for public transportation. Over this term we’ve had some amazing excursions, including going to the: movies, bowling, arcade, Melbourne Museum, Tyama Experience, Old Gippstown, General Public, The LUME for the Van Gogh exhibition, and ACMI for the Thor: Love and Thunder exhibition.
Having our Friday’s dedicated to getting out and about means that we have the opportunity to research, price and discuss all the options out there, improving our communication and critical thinking skills. There is such a place in our lives for recreation, exploring and learning new things, and being able to get out into the community is crucial for us to live fulfilling lives. We get to socialise with each other, but also those we haven’t met before, all while learning such important everyday life skills, such as money handling, problem solving and teamwork.
OUR VOICE:
Kaitlin: Going to different places is fun.
Riley: I like going to the movies and doing new things.
Liam: I enjoy getting out and about and going places I’ve never been and doing things I haven’t tried before.
Paul: I enjoy shopping, movies and bowling.
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