Ability Cafe gives new opportunities to people living with disability
Opening a cafe has been the latest step in the meteoric growth of Murray Bridge NDIS provider Genuine Support Services Australia.
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Itās Roslyn Pilmoreās first day in a new job, and sheās loving it.
Sheās serving drinks and clearing tables at a cafe on Seventh Street, Murray Bridge, chatting with customers and grinning while she does it.
āI like it,ā she said.
āIt gets me out of the house instead of being stuck at home.
ā(People reading this story) should all come down and have a nice coffee and see some smiling faces.ā
The cafe is new, too ā and thereās something different about it.
The Ability Cafe is staffed by clients from Genuine Support Services Australia, the NDIS provider next door, and their support workers.
At the moment only a couple of workers who live with disability are on at any given time, but as routines develop, they will have the opportunity to take charge more and more.
This had been a dream of Gabrielle Mackenzieās for a while: creating a space where her clients could pick up new skills in a positive, supportive environment.
āMurray Bridge is a small community,ā she said.
āThere hasnāt been a lot of opportunity for people with disabilities.
āMental health can become quite present ā depression, isolation ā because the social inclusion isnāt there.
āI wanted to give (people) something that helps alleviate some of those contributing factors to mental health problems for people with disabilities: skills, training.ā
If clients developed a passion for hospitality, she hoped they would progress on to work in other local cafes and pubs.
āIāve seen what support means to peopleā
The cafeās opening is one of many achievements Ms Mackenzieās company, Genuine Support Services Australia, has made during its meteoric rise.
In just 21 months it has grown from a home-based start-up, with two support workers and a handful of clients, into a substantial operation with an office on one side of the cafe and an activity centre on the other side.
GSSA now has almost 100 employees and 160 clients on its books.
āI never expected it to be what it is,ā Ms Mackenzie said.
āI had a vision and Iāve been rolling with it, each stage as it comes.
āIt has been amazing to see the difference our guys are making in peopleās lives.ā
She had been passionate about disability support since her childhood, the result of years spent watching the positive impact support workers had on her motherās life and the lives of everyone around her.
āIāve seen what it means to people and their lives from an insiderās perspective,ā she said.
āThere hasnāt been enough credit given to support workers for the impact that (support) can have on people with disability.ā
Now, though, an appreciation for what people with disability and their supporters could achieve was growing in Murray Bridge, she said.
Even on day one, locals had rallied behind the cafe concept: āit has been amazing to see Murray Bridge (respond) as a community and what people are willing to do to support usā.
The Ability Cafe is open from 8am to 4pm on weekdays at 4 Seventh Street, Murray Bridge, the space formerly occupied by The Davery Establishment.
- More information: www.facebook.com/GSSA-Ability-Cafe-101787725339066.
Disclosure: The author enjoyed a coffee courtesy of the cafe.