Our Story

Sandy Batten and Melanie Atkins, (the founders and principal facilitators of The Journey) each have worked for over 20 years alongside individuals and families living with a range of difficulties, particularly brain injury. We are committed to the leading image and values of The Journey. Our organisation builds from our own learning through and extensive experience working with people who may have difficulty participating in community life, with a focus on people with brain injury. The Journey began in 1999 to share our passion for learning and for working with people with brain injury and disability in a natural way to build capacities within individuals and organizations. The Journey is a not for profit organisation with a committee of management providing governance. All available resources are reinvested to enable the organisation to fulfill its Leading Image.
Who We Are

We promote the inclusion of all members of the community. Providing training, education, information development and project work to organisations, workers, and supporters. Our focus is working with people with brain injury and people with a disability. At The Journey we believe that every person can and should be a valued contributing member or their community if that is their desire. This is the focus of our work.
Our Approach

We can assist you or your organisation by providing training, education and development for workers and supporters to develop the skills, knowledge and attitudes to promote our vision of a world where every person is valued and included.
What we Offer

Sandy and Melanie have previously been involved in organisational development and the management of an organisation that employed over 4000 staff and worked with over 1200 people with disabilities. The Journey has developed and implemented a range of educational tools and sessions and has managed a wide range of projects.
Past Achievements

We offer you:

• The ability to develop and deliver training about working with people with Brain Injury that is based on direct experience.
• Our experience providing services to people living with disability with a focus on brain injury for your benefit.
• Develop, manage, and deliver projects; building on the strengths within your group or organisation.
• A commitment to a collaborative and creative approach.

What we Offer

Our Approach

Our Leading Image

We are committed to living our Leading Image and working to our values.

The Journey will promote a community where each person is valued and included. We will do this by providing a range of services that build on the skills, knowledge and experience of each person involved and by creating an inspiring place for learning and development.

The values we work by are: respect, appreciation, safety, creativity, contribution and openness.

Each person who is part of the Journey will:

• commit to pursue learning and development in a way that values and respects the life experience and journey of each individual
• appreciate the ongoing nature of learning and the continual need for knowledge
• share each person's learning and knowledge in a safe environment encouraging the exchange of skills and competence
• work with individuals and groups to seek out creative ways to maintain and develop new understandings
• utilise, contribute to and protect the body of knowledge and resources provided within The Journey and ensure its integrity and relevance to the people using the knowledge
• initiate and pursue an environment where organisations and individuals freely share knowledge.
  

• development and delivery of interactive adult learning in brain injury
• a strengths-based approach that enhances outcomes
• a strong and long-term commitment to building the capacity and valuing the participation of all people in our community
• frameworks that promote inclusion, for example, Social Role Valorisation, Appreciative Inquiry and Person-centred practice
• a project management framework to develop, deliver and facilitate project outcomes
• working directly with individuals and their families who are experiencing difficulties and have complex needs as well as our supporting others to do this work
• an approach to our work that is informed by our backgrounds in teaching and nursing.

Who We Are

Our Principal Facilitators

MELANIE ATKINS

Melanie started her working life as a Registered Nurse becoming Director of Nursing in a home for older people in 1983. She has worked with people with brain injury since 1986 and believes that every person can and should be a part of their community and free to contribute if that is their desire.

Melanie also:

• is an experienced trainer/facilitator, working with adult learners
• has a strong project management focus in all her work
• developed and directed Communitique Pty Ltd, a service that provided support to over 1400 people with disabilities, focusing on people with brain injury
• has 12 years experience managing an organization that employed and trained over 4000 largely unskilled workers to work with people with disabilities, mainly focused on brain injury.

SANDRA BATTEN

Sandy began working life as a secondary school teacher training in Physical Education with a focus on remedial education. She has worked with people with brain injury since 1989.

• is an experienced trainer in a range of educational settings for people of all ages and backgrounds
• has extensive experience in the design of training and education material for competency-based training in Disability, Community services and Aged Care
• is experienced in working directly with families and people with brain injury in a range of settings
• has been responsible for developing, implementing and managing the training, support and supervision of a largely unskilled workforce providing support to people with disabilities living in the community
• has worked as instructional designer and trainer for the development and delivery of competency-based training packages to workers and family members of people with dementia.

Board of Management

RUTH HARGRAVE

MARK KEILY

Mark was born in 1954 and describes his life as nearly finishing in 1977 when he sustained a brain injury as a result of a motor vehicle accident. Mark spent 2 years in hospital and "was let free" into the world in 1979. Mark was an original member of Headway Victoria and has been involved in a number of presentations and workshops on brain injury for various organisations over the years since his injury. Mark is an active board member of The Journey, he brings to the board not only his personal experience of living with a brain injury but also an ability to challenge the thinking of the board and, most importantly, great humour which keeps us all sane.

ROBERT WELCH

Past Achievements

Brain Injury Training and Events

Training in Brain Injury

In 1990 The Journey developed a series of modules, primarily for care workers, covering many aspects of working with people with brain injury. These sessions continue to evolve through our ongoing delivery of them.

Sexuality Workshop

In 2007 The Journey developed and delivered a workshop on sexuality with the aim of deepening participants understanding of sexuality for a person with ABI and the impact of the values and attitudes of workers. Topics included:

• Body image
• Forming relationships
• How a person with ABI perceives themselves and how the person feels others perceive them.
• How workers perceive a person with ABI and sexuality and the impact on the working relationship.

ARBIAS Training Series for Working with People with Alcohol-related Brain Injury

In 2006 The Journey developed a series of four sessions that responded to the unique needs of people with alcohol-related brain injury. This included a training-needs analysis and research into what training was available. These sessions have since been adapted to be delivered in Scotland.

For information about ARBIAS go to www.arbias.org.au

ABI Workers Forum

The Journey began the ABI Workers Forum in 1991 and continues to host the forum to provide people working in the area of brain injury with an opportunity to get together to learn and share information in an informal way.

Advanced Communication Skills and Brain Injury

In 2006 The Journey developed and delivered custom-designed training modules in advanced communication skills and brain injury for staff at the Senior Masters Office of the Supreme Court, Victoria.

BrainLink Sessions for Family Carers

In 2009 The Journey developed a series of four sessions for families with a family member who has brain injury. The series focussed on caring for self and included information about changing roles following brain injury and when a family member has challenging behaviour.

Other Achievements in Training

• Development and coordination of an educational series “Working with Children with Brain Injury and their Families” for range of service providers.
• Development and delivery of a series of training sessions and workshops for service providers and workers in the disability and brain injury sectors for the Melbourne Eastern Metropolitan Network.
• Presentation of papers at conferences including International Brain Injury Conference, National Brain Injury Conference, Community Services and Health Industry Training Board Conference.

Education and Information Development

Acquired Brain Injury Information Products

The Journey has worked collaboratively with a range of organisations and individuals to produce a set of high quality information products for people with brain injury, their families and support network.

Our work included project management and development of products. We collaborated with people with brain injury and their families, the auspice organisations (Headway Victoria, Brainlink and Arbias), the production team (graphic designers, editor and printer) and a wide range of specialist organisations to produce a series of information products.

Link to Resources

Brain Injury Resource Guide

In partnership with BrainLink, The Journey developed and produced a Resource Guide of resources in the eastern metropolitan region of Melbourne, Victoria, for people with brain injury and their families.

Signposts

The Journey adapted the generic "Signposts for Better Behaviour" modules, developed by Parenting Research Centre, and conducted a pilot of the series for families living with Brain Injury. The work developed the original Signposts project aim "To develop an easily accessible and effective resource package to assist families in managing their children’s difficult behaviour".

Uniting Care Community Options (UCCO) Induction Training

The Journey developed and delivered an induction training program for a new Planning and Facilitation role developed by Uniting Care Community Options (UCCO), with a focus on a strength-based, person-centred approach.

For more information about UCCO go to www.ucco.org.au

Respite Guide

The Journey developed a Respite Guide for people with disabilities, their families and service providers in the eastern metropolitan region of Melbourne, Victoria.

Other Achievements in Education

• Development and delivery of units for Certificate III and IV in Disability studies for a TAFE college.
• Development of a Train-the-Trainer package for potential trainers in the Better Practice Project for working with people who are ageing.

Project Work

Uniting Community Care Options (UCCO) Participants Committee Workplan

The Journey worked with the Participants’ Committee of UCCO to develop a work plan and process of work that was based on the Appreciative Inquiry framework, incorporated broader UCCO process and was simple and consistent while achieving the desired outcomes for the committee and organisation.

Victorian  Electoral Commission (VEC) Draft Disability Plan

The Journey collaborated with staff at the VEC and developed and implemented a consultative framework in order to enable people with disabilities, peak bodies, and carers to contribute to the VEC Draft Disability Plan.

Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC)

The Journey assisted in the training, design and development of three modules: "Working with Stakeholders", "Working with Clients" and "Taking Care of Self" within the DIAC Case Management Training Pilot Program.

The custom-designed training package recognised the identified learning needs of Case Managers to assist them to meet the complex needs of the clients of DIAC, and we delivered it using a strengths based approach.

Uniting Community Care Options (UCCO) Evaluation of the Planning and Facilitation Worker Model

The Journey conducted a qualitative review of a new service model for UCCO over a twelve-month period as part of an overall evaluation of services. The aim was to evaluate the impact of Planning and Facilitation workers on the goals of and outcomes for people participating in the service.