Mamre Association Brisbane, QLD, Australia Martina Rynne BOC Clare

Mission of Mamre Mamre is a Community driven organisation that works with families, so that they envision, plan and build rich, meaningful and inclusive lives for their family members with a disability.

What is Family Leadership? Family leadership is recognising the natural authority of the family and working with the family to build their capacity, in order to ensure that the family member with a disability has a good, meaningful and inclusive life. Mamre believes that, regardless of capacity or skill, families have a natural authority and are entitled to influence the direction of their family member's life, if they have remained faithful and committed to that person's development and well-being.

Why is Family Leadership important?  Families have a natural authority, which services need to recognise and foster  Families are the best advocates for their family member with a disability, they know the person better than anyone else and have the best interest of the person at heart  Families through the support of ‘good services’ can safeguard the life of the person into the future in a way that service cannot

Contd.  Resources are used more effectively for the benefit of the person  Resources are used more flexibility for the benefit of the person  Higher quality of service for the person with a disability is achieved  Staff are inducted into a family, with specific values and cultures relevant to that person.

Contd.  Greater supervision and support of staff  Services cannot replace families and should not try to do so, but should work to arm families to safeguard the life of the person with a disability in the family into the future

How Mamre fosters Family Leadership?  Family support process  Parent Program/Inspirit Program  Family Managed Funds

Family Support Process  Each family is allocated a Keyworker The role of the Keyworker is to : 1.Assist families to ‘imagine better’ and to understand the importance of holding a strong vision for their family member with a disability and the KW should be confident in talking through the development of vision. 2.Facilitate the planning and review process, every 6 months, turning the vision into action 3.Provide ongoing practical support and influence 4.Link families with other families, as a means of peer support 5.Guides families in using Family Managed Funds 6.Establish a rhythm of VISION-PLAN-DO-REVIEW  Each family has own budget allocation and receives regular updated accounts on their budget.  Money is transferred to family account, in a controlled way  Move towards Family Managed Funds-70% of families have taken this on.

Parent Program/Inspirit Program  Annual program of events –Social events, Dad’s weekends, Mother’s weekends, dinners with guest speakers, pamper days –Conversation evenings on specific themes, ‘community engagement’, ‘people keep people safe’, ‘siblings experiences’ –Live in workshops, ‘Creating Meaningful Lives’ –Keyworkers expected to be present a Conversation evenings and Live in workshops to allow follow up with families

Family Managed Funds Mamre delegates to families, the management of some or all of their funding. Why do this? Family Managed Funds offer families:  The capacity to design and direct their own service  Use local people or people they know and trust  Have more control over how and when workers provide support  The capacity to change and adapt their own service to meet the needs of the individual and the family  Opportunities to budget their funds, hire and fire staff and work out creative ways to support their family member  Avoid organisational costs that agencies charge

When is FMF an option?  When the family have the skills and ability to manage the funds  When capacity has been built with the family by the service  When Mamre are happy that the family have a clear Vision of an inclusive and meaningful life for the person with a disability in the family  When the family can see the real benefits to the person with a disability of managing the funds and thus controlling the service

‘The reality is that the full and positive lives of people with disabilities that we hear and read about do not happen by accident. These inspirational stories can be told because someone had a vision and belief in what is possible, sometimes against considerable opposition, and planned to make it happen’ Jeremy Ward

Thank you Martina Rynne