Kathy’s Story
My name is Kathy and I am the guardian of a 4 year old boy Michael who has a number of disabilities. He is an affectionate little boy who is delightful to be around, and who loves life. My partner and I attended the Pathways to Possibilities course with Parent to Parent earlier this year. As a result of the course we were much better able to understand Michael. The course gave us a lot more direction and a more positive way to approach the professionals we need to deal with. We ourselves feel a lot more positive in our outlook of what we need to be doing for him, and Michael is also a lot more positive in himself.
We found the What Works and Doesn’t Work really helpful to give to his Day Care centre and his Respite Carer, and they can respond to him a lot better. His day care teacher says she uses the information to check his communication to her and others, as Michael only uses a few words yet.
Being with other families was a positive, as we had felt isolated. We also learned a lot from the other parents, particularly practical strategies around Michael’s autism. By the time we completed the course I felt a lot more confident about supporting Michael, and also more confident about the kind of information I needed to give professionals about him
Since then, I have attended other Parent to Parent courses, such as Person Centred Thinking, Person Centred Risk and Community Connections. The Risk course was valuable, because I now have the information and strategies I need to keep him safe both now and in the future. The Community Connections course, gave me a lot of ideas on what sort of people to connect Michael with, and the kind of people I needed to network with, and what attributes to look for in those people.
I enjoy being part of Parent to Parent and learning with other parents and will be attending other courses as they are offered.