Residents and school students were quickly brought up to speed about what services are out there in their community after they visited a Mini Disability Expo at the Multi-Purpose Centre on Friday.
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Moree Secondary College hosted the Mini Disability Expo in tandem with Department of Education New England Area transition support worker Danielle Northey.
“This is one in 10 Mini Disability expos that are happening around the region,” Ms Northey said.
“I’ve already been to Gunnedah, Wee Waa, Walcha, Narrabri, Quirindi, Glen Innes and Bingarra.”
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Ms Northey said she capitalised on the relationship between local schools and their communities, to draw more people to the expo.
“Local schools have a great relationship with families. This is an event that’s open to everyone, and if parents have children who are going, they’re more likely to come along as well.”
She said it was important for towns like Moree to be plugged-in and know what service providers were out there.
“Living in a rural town it’s easy to think there isn’t much support, but this is to show that there are many new options in service providers and support packages under the NDIS.”
Local and regional services like Family Referral Service and Moree and District Early Childhood Intervention Service set up shop on the day.
“We support children on NDIS support plan packages from birth to six years of age,” Moree and District Early Childhood Intervention Service coordinator Debbie Hamilton said.
“If a child has been diagnosed with a condition, or they have a package of support funding, we can help to provide further support. It’s as our motto goes, small steps towards a brighter future.”
Ms Northey put in that the variety of different service providers present at the expo, showed there was a wide scope of support available in the community.
“This support can range from helping a client in their everyday needs, increasing their independence, or helping young people post-school as they transition to the workforce.”
While the expo was a great chance for locals and school children to get an idea of what service providers were out there, Ms Northey added it allowed the organisations to network with each other.
“They can see what other services are out there, and if they are managing a client they can also suggest a service provider that caters to their requirements, if they need therapy for instance.”
Ms Northey heaped praise on Moree Secondary College for a successful expo.
“It’s a really big job and there is clearly a lot of interest from the community.”
The next mini expo will be held at Tenterfield on Tuesday and Inverell on Wednesday. Two, bigger expos are also slated for Armidale and Tamworth in the near future.
