Group social support and community activities

When a visit isn't the answer

One-to-one companionship suits a lot of people. It doesn't suit everyone. For someone who has slowly stopped going anywhere, the house is the problem, and a visitor in the house doesn't solve it. They don't want company brought to them. They want to be somewhere else, with other people, for a few hours.

That's what this is. Instead of a carer coming to you, you go to a session where there are other people, something to do and someone running it.

What a session involves

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  A shared morning tea or lunch, and a conversation you don't have to start.
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  Cards, board games, music, craft and gentle exercise, depending on the group.
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  Outings, where the group goes somewhere together rather than staying in.
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  Cultural and religious dates marked properly, rather than noted and skipped.
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  Information sessions, where someone explains My Aged Care, or a health topic, in a language people actually speak.

Getting there is usually the real barrier

People don't generally stop attending things because they stopped enjoying them. They stop because of one specific obstacle: no licence any more, a bus that involves a change, a walk from the car park that's become too far, or nobody to arrive with.

So transport is part of this rather than a separate thing you have to arrange. We can collect you and bring you home. Where you need an arm rather than just a lift, the same worker stays with you from your door to the room and back again, which in the rate card is an accompanied activity rather than a drop-off.

Language is what makes a group social

A group is only social if you can follow what's being said. Putting fourteen people in a room who share nothing but an age bracket produces a quiet room.

So where the numbers allow, sessions are organised around a shared language, which in Broadmeadows, Roxburgh Park, Fairfield, Cabramatta and Dandenong is the whole point. Tell us the language and the dialect when you ring, and we'll tell you straight what's running and what isn't rather than encouraging you to come along and see.

Where the groups run

We have two community centres, and they exist for exactly this:

• Roxburgh Park Community Centre, 25E/250 Somerton Road, Roxburgh Park VIC 3064.
• Fairfield, 60 Ware Street, Fairfield NSW 2165, which is an office and a community centre together.

Some activities happen away from both, because the point of an outing is that it goes somewhere. Our community outreach work is the other side of the same coin: it's how we reach people who aren't yet coming to anything.

What it costs

Group social support is charged at a lower hourly rate than one-to-one support, because the worker is with several people at once. Individual social support and accompanied activities are charged at the one-to-one rate. Every current figure is on the pricing page.

Funding-wise it sits in the Independence category of Support at Home. Independence services carry a participant contribution based on your income and Age Pension status, and full pensioners contribute nothing towards them. It's also available through the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, and you can pay privately while you're waiting for a package.

Starting

Call 1800 434 002 or use the form below. Worth telling us: the language, whether getting there is a problem, and whether the person actually wants to go. That last one matters. Someone talked into a group by their children usually goes twice. It works better to start with what they've stopped doing and find the group that matches it.

Other services

• Companionship — one-to-one visits at home.
• Transport services — a driver who walks you in and waits.
• Community outreach — how we reach people who aren't asking for help yet.
• All services