Oliver Lees
After six years of searching for any form of employment, Emma Brown finally landed her first job at Woolworths, with the help of her friend Marilou Elderfield.
The pair met through the Sunbury & Districts branch of Citizen Advocacy, which since 1985 has been connecting volunteers with people with intellectual disabilities.
Program co-ordinator David Abela has been involved in the organisation for 30 years.
He said the primary function of the service is to find a suitable advocate for a program participant, so they can lend a hand wherever necessary.
“We wait until we try to get a good fit between the needs of the person and the skills of the advocate,” David said.
“It’s not just the next person in the door who gets matched to the next person waiting.
“If a person is isolated for instance, they’ll need an advocate with enough time to be able to visit them regularly.
“Or perhaps the protege needs help with their budgeting, so we’ll find someone with those skills.”
David said it’s also important for each pair to be able to form a genuine friendship in order to introduce a non-transactional relationship into the participant’s life.
In Emma’s case, she desperately wanted to find a job, but that wasn’t the only thing that mattered.
“I was wanting to find a friend, really … finding someone who can help me out with things,” Emma said.
Marilou said when she met Emma two years ago they clicked immediately.
And Marilou has been instrumental in landing Emma her first job. As well as helping her craft her CV, Marilou became fed up with the bureaucratic process, and took her concerns directly to Sunbury MP Josh Bull.
“It took about three months, and I was losing hope, so I followed it up,” Marilou said.
“Emma persevered to arrange for an interview. She called three times, if she gave up, my effort would be for nothing.”
Now in the job for three months, Emma said she’s still getting her bearings, but is glad to have finally made a breakthrough.
“I was happy about it, like finally, getting somewhere,” she said.
“I’m more looking for office admin work … but it’s a start.”
Details: www.citizenadvocacysunbury.com.au/
