SUCCESS STORIES

Geoffrey came to Gracelands as troubled young man and was referred to the K2 programme in January 2006. By Geoffrey's own admission he had done something silly that had got him into trouble but he did not know why. At this stage Geoffrey had no understanding of the severity of his actions.

Initially Geoffrey's day programme activities were cooking which assisted him to gain confidence and improve his interpersonal skills working in a group environment. Another of Geoffrey's activities was 'literacy' where he utilised the services of Literacy Waikato.

His commitment to literacy resulted in Geoffrey attaining his learner's driver's license. This was a huge achievement at this time.

Another milestone in Geoffrey's progress was his involvement in the Enderley Community Centre programme. At Enderley he participated in a variety of activities including personal health and wellbeing, computer literacy, wood and bone carving, graphic arts. Geoffrey also volunteered to actively participate in the pilot scheme of the Green Acres Life Skills course.

In spite of a few bumps along the road Geoffrey felt that he had made sufficient progress to participate in the Kotahi Tatou/ self esteem program.

Since Geoffrey has taken ownership of belonging to the Kotahi Tatou Self Development group he has become pro-active in taking a different approach to problem solving.

Instead of choosing to walk off in frustration when things bother Geoffrey the Kotahi Tatou Self Development group has given him the confidence to sit and talk with Gracelands staff about what is bothering him.

Geoffrey has been able to develop his personal use of a strategy that allows him to acknowledge and write his issues down and sign it, which assists in helping him manage challenges as they arise during the day.

Geoffrey is demonstrating a huge amount of responsibility towards helping other clients in the music programme. He competently works the computer music system, sets it up for recording and makes sure everyone is comfortable and having fun. Gracelands staff is so impressed by this that Geoffrey is now a member of the Music Management Team committed to continuous improvement and developing opportunities for Gracelands and its clients. This has lifted Geoffrey's spirits and confidence and given him the confidence to commit to his literacy and to be consistent.

The path from here for a person like Geoffrey, in the K2 specialist programme, is to increase his independence and self management to the stage where he requires less support and supervision. This will enable Geoffrey to access the community and preferably a job, ultimately being discharged from the K2 programme.

Tauke!

In 1986, Jason Roberts was runner up champion in the Central North Island Boxing Champs, beaten to the top spot by his older brother. Soon after that, he was invited to travel to Australia to compete in boxing. Jason was 16 years old at the time. A week before he was due to fly out, he was with a group of mates travelling on the back of a Ute down Karapiro Road when he fell out of the moving vehicle and hit his head on the tar seal.

The first his parents, Frank and Puke Roberts, knew about the accident was when they received a call from the intensive care ward of the hospital. The doctors didn't think Jason was going to pull through and it was a very anxious wait for six weeks, while Jason remained unconscious.

When Jason did regain consciousness he was paralysed down one side and had lost the ability to walk, eat and speak. That was the beginning of the long road to recovery for Jason and his family. Jason is now 35 years old and and though he is still semi paralysed he does many practical things for himself. He has also learned to speak again, and his father's goal for him is to keep working on getting his speech clearer.

Jason has a full life. Every Monday and Thursday, he goes to Gracelands and joins in the daily activities and the outings that are planned. On a Tuesday, he attends the Gracelands' Marae programme and learns Te Reo Maori and weaving. On Wednesday, he goes to the Stewart Centre in Hamilton, and on Friday he helps out at the Gracelands' farm.

Jason says, 'What I enjoy doing most now is meeting new people, and what gets me down the most is watching people doing the sports I used to be good at. I know I take my frustrations out on my family sometimes.'

Jason's father has given up full time work and now works part time, so he can help his wife look after Jason. As Frank says, ' The accident has changed all our lives. Jason will always need looking after . We are grateful to Gracelands that he has somewhere to go in the day, so that we can still have some time to ourselves to do the things we need to do.'

Lee Johnston's parents had one long term goal for Lee, and that was that one day he would be able to live an independent life. And that is what Lee has very nearly achieved. He lives in his own flat and with a little help and support from Gracelands Services, manages his own life.

When Lee Johnston was two and a half years old, he was going for a walk with his Mum when he pulled his hand out of his Mum's and ran straight onto the middle of the road. He was hit by an oncoming car.

His mother, describing the accident said, ' It was unreal. It was in absolute slow motion . I could hear screams in the distance but then realised it was me screaming. His Dad was mowing the lawns and saw the accident. He ran over and started administering CPR. I went into automatic mode, ran inside and rang for an ambulance. The neighbours were wonderful and all helped too.'

The accident put Lee into a coma for several weeks and when he awoke it became evident that he had severe brain injury. He had to learn all the basic skills of life again...to walk, speak and feed himself. Lee also had to adjust to becoming right handed after the accident. Beforehand he had been left handed.

But Lee's story is a positive one. He has fought his way successfully through life and is now 33 years old, living in his own flat and working. This is a great testimony to what the human spirit can achieve. His struggles didn't just last a year or two after the accident. Childhood and school days were not easy for Lee. His mother said, 'We were unaware how far reaching the effects of the accident would be. As Lee grew up he experienced mood swings and depression. Socialisation at school was difficult, and his ability to problem solve was impaired.'

However, at the age of 17 he moved out of home into residential care, and he got his first part time job working at Pak 'n Save. Since then, he has worked with scrap metal and in a panel beating firm. He also helped at the Rest Home where his Mum worked. It was there that Lee helped another man, who had given up, learn to walk again.

These days, Lee only needs support in some areas of his life, things such as, dealing with difficult appointments or mail, learning to save money and healthy eating.

His Occupational Therapist at Gracelands has also taken the time to teach him computer skills. That, combined with his new ability to save money, meant he could buy his first computer this year.

Recently, his confidence and problem solving ability has improved a lot and his Occupational Therapist says, ' Lee needs much less support now, which is a tribute to his self motivation. He really wants to help himself.' Lee's response to that comment was, 'I looked at other people who had brain injuries and realised they did the same thing over and over again each day of their lives. I thought....do I really want to be like that or do I want to change? When it boils down to it, I am the only person who can make my life better.'

Gracelands supports many people like Lee who have had life changing accidents. The goal for many of them is to help restore them to living a life most of the rest of us take for granted, that is, to live independently and be able to work.

Most people know that Gracelands Services supports people with mental disabilities, but many don't know that Gracelands also supports people who have had accidents and have significant physical injuries. In fact, 70% of Gracelands' clients have physical impairments, which is not the public perception.

Gracelands supports people like Mana Montgomery. In September 2006, Mana was out doing her job delivering milk on the milk truck. She didn't know that a bottle had broken and milk was running out. She jumped up on the back of the truck, picked up a crate and slipped on the spilt milk as she stepped down. She fell awkwardly on her shoulder. Thinking she was probably only momentarily hurt, she didn't report the accident to anybody at the time.

For two months, Mana was fine, but then she began to notice that her shoulder was turning black, her arm was tingling and her hand was going numb and swelling up at nights. Finally, she went to the doctor who referred her to a specialist. She had developed an acute case of Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, and had surgery in December 2006.

The result of this was that at that time Mana could no longer return to the job she had been doing or, for that matter, any jobs she had ever had or trained for. She was also reportedly told that she would never be able to do heavy lifting for the rest of her life. This was a big set back for Mana and it meant a whole change in her thinking to adjust to her potentially residual impairment.

Mana then commenced ACC's Vocational Rehabilitation Programme and was referred to Work Outcomes (a partnership between Gracelands and Physio Plus) for a 'Work Ready Programme'. Although Mana could not return to her pre-injury job, she did have many transferable skills which could be utilised in other lines of work. As part of this programme, Mana had the support of an Occupational Therapist (OT) to arrange work trials as a sales assistant at Repco.

OT made sure that what she was doing each day wasn't adversely affecting her injury, and also gave Mana any other support she needed. Mana is hoping she will soon be ready to get back into a 40 hour week job.

Life can suddenly change for any of us, like it did for Mana, and we don't know when we may need the services of an organisation such as Gracelands to support us or our family through the changes that accidents can often result in.

At 42, Tony felt he had the picture perfect life that so many aim for. Married with three children and a great job in management with a transport company where he had worked solidly for 22 years.

Life was good, he felt in control ' he was living the Kiwi dream ' and then all within a day his life was turned upside down.

In his generous spirit, Tony underwent a surgical procedure in hospital to donate bone marrow to an anonymous recipient. During the procedure, his body rejected the oxygen he was being given and his oxygen levels dropped to only 85 percent.

Discharged the next day and thinking everything was fine, he was told he should be fully recovered within four days. However, three weeks later it become clear to Tony and those around him, that he wasn't handling life's normal pressures ' that particularly of his job.

Suffering from chronic fatigue and scared to leave his own house or mix with other people, Tony's wife Eileen knew something was up. 'One morning Tony drove off to work but five minutes later he came back again, walked through the door and just broke down and wept. Tony has no memory of the following four weeks ' he'd had a mental and physical melt down. After those four weeks, I had to go everywhere with him,' Eileen says.

Tony's trauma and subsequent dilemmas were signs of a brain injury, suffered when his body rejected the oxygen during the procedure in hospital.

'When his brain is bombarded with environmental stimuli that most people can cope with, he gets easily overloaded to the point where his brain can stop processing altogether, ' says Gracelands Occupational Therapist Lucy.

ACC accepted Tony's claim as medical misadventure and he was placed in a rehabilitation programme, which included having Lucy as his occupational therapist (OT).

Following regular sessions with Tony, where Lucy focused on fatigue and memory management strategies, the pair would head out into the community together to support Tony as he learned to cope with life again. Through Gracelands, Tony also visited a clinical psychologist who taught him to recognise the early signs of stress and how to cope with it.

Over time, Tony graduated from a Training for Independence Programme to a Work Ready Programme, both run by Gracelands. Tony has been involved in a work trial within the Gracelands complex in Hamilton and is now considering taking on part time work to help support those with disabilities in the workforce. This will be done through Gracelands Supported Employment Programme.

Tony can now manage life much more independently and sees Lucy and his psychologist less frequently as time passes.

Looking on the past 2 years, Tony now has a new outlook on life.

'I feel like this accident was supposed to happen to me. Good things have come out of it and it has taught me about life. I used to go so fast but have learned to survive at a much slower pace - now I want to help other people who have had brain injuries. I have come this far because of the support team I have had around me ' and I think my own will power has helped too.'

Eileen also sees the positive changes in her husband. 'He was very stubborn before but now he has mellowed out,' she says.

John Franklin had just bought himself a new bike and planned days off work riding his new Kawasaki KX250. But the dream didn't last very long. Soon after, John's farm manager, Cory Veens, borrowed the bike outside of work time, had an accident and on his 29^th birthday found himself in hospital with a leg broken in seven places.

John and his wife, Sarah, share milk and contract milk two farms near Tokoroa. They run 1100 cows and employ five staff. Without Cory on board, there was nobody to shoulder the responsibility of running the second farm and no one had any idea how long it would take for Cory to recover.

The ordeal became quite a challenge as March dragged on into April and then May. With the busy season drawing near, John and Sarah had to look for temporary new staff, even though there was no house for them as Cory was still living on the farm, and there was no knowing how long they would need to employ them for.

But they were lucky. They found a Welsh couple who were happy to slot into the job, and a house was found for them on the next door farm. This couple proved to be an excellent find.

Meanwhile, Cory was sitting at home feeling bored and depressed. He knew he was fortunate to still have two legs as the first diagnosis from the doctors was that his leg would have to be amputated. However, they changed their minds, and Cory ended up with 18 screws and 2 plates in his leg and knee.

Every day as he watched the milk truck drive up and the guys working he felt frustrated that there was nothing he could do to help. But it was, in fact, this drive and frustration that finally got him through his rehabilitation.

In July, ACC put him onto Work Outcomes for a Work Place Assessment. Work Outcomes is a partnership between Gracelands Services and Physio Plus. Cory was given an occupational therapist (OT), a physiotherapist and a gym trainer.

Not knowing how long Corey would be off work was a frustration for Corey and for his employers, John and Sarah. They were extremely relieved to meet the occupational therapist from Work and Outcomes who understood farming and could give them some general time frames to plan around.

By August, Cory began light duties and each week increased his work load. He worked hard on his rehabilitation and achieved every target he was given by his OT, physio and trainer. He took on the night checking of the herd on a 4 wheeler, giving other workers the opportunity to have a good night's sleep. By September, he was back into full time work.

But that wasn't the end of John and Sarah's trials. Unfortunately, in August, the Welsh man fractured his hand playing rugby and needed plastic surgery. As a result he went on to ACC. Followed by another farm assistant having an accident doing weekend motor cross and going on to ACC. In November, John developed pneumonia and had to have 2 weeks off work, and in December another farm assistant needed surgery for an old injury and has had 3 months on ACC.

As John says, 'We've learned through it all we can get through. Your main guy can be down and everything go wrong, but you can get through.' Cory reiterates this, 'It feels like the end of the world some days, but you can get through it. The team was really good, the OT, physio and gym trainer set positive targets for me, and they were my link to information and hope.'

Anthony has been a client of Gracelands supported employment programme for about four years. He self referred at that time, having received a traumatic brain injury in 1996 from a work related accident in Wairoa. He had recently moved to Cambridge at the time of his referral.

Initially Anthony undertook some training, namely a chainsaw course, followed by a safety course with Agri New Zealand which was followed by part-time self employment pruning and felling trees in the rural area around Cambridge. He then had a weekend job with Gracelands Green in Cambridge working solo ' which eventually proved too stressful. After some time working at the airport Anthony went down a path for which he was highly motivated. Anthony wrote this story himself.

*****

My journey into a career in Mortuary Science started, indirectly, through a friend who recalled a past conversation with me and suggested I apply for a mortuary technician's job at the Waikato Hospital. Although I was unsuccessful in getting the job I was keen to follow this career path.

To learn more about the industry I purchased text books and DVDs on embalming, post mortem pathology and human anatomy. I found this to be a good way to learn about the profession and to make certain this was what I wanted to do.

Months of job seeking later I received an email from Glenn, at a private funeral home asking me to spend some time with him at the funeral home. I spent time making up caskets, scrubbing out the mortuary, sorting instruments and chemicals and prepping various areas. I knew when I walked into a mortuary environment it was either going to feel right or not. It was very much what I expected and it felt right!

About a month later they offered me a position assisting Glenn. My jobs include pick ups for the Police/Coroner, private pick ups, trimming caskets, embalming and many more mortuary duties. I also assisted at a funeral service.

I admit there have been a couple of times when fatigue, difficulties with memory recall, my reaction to mood and environmental changes brought about by my brain injury has caused a few problems but I have worked through this. There are many things which could have stopped me from persisting in this career but I know I can do this, so I will keep at it.

My long term goal is to work as a technician for Waikato Hospital Mortuary Services, assisting with post mortem examinations and embalming duties. I admit to not being a strong person when dealing with people on an 'emotional' basis but the funeral industry is a great place to start. If there is one thing I have learned it's to be persistent, listen, learn, keep positive, don't be influenced by others views of the job, and most of all be assertive!

To sum up I could not have got this far without the assistance of the staff at Gracelands Supported Employment Services, Work and Income, other funeral homes, Mortech Industries, Waikato Hospital Mortuary Services, encouragement from family and friends and the funeral service staff who gave me a chance.