Real Stories: Spotlight on Dave

Dave Stewart is a young man with quadriplegia. When an accident left him quadriplegic, Dave found himself living in a residential rehab centre for 3 years alongside many other spinal injured people.

Dave will tell you that while the support was good, living at the rehab centre was understandably depressing at times, particularly for a young person. Daily support was based at the centre and opportunities for one-on-one support to help him reach his goals or participate in community activities were non-existent. Other issues including privacy, little choice on who to live with, or any sense of home made it difficult to live the life he wanted to live.

Then, 3 ½ years ago Dave moved into his own home, where he has since lived independently with daily support from One2One.

How has One2One helped?

It was pretty much ‘go’ from the moment Dave joined One2One. 

Moving into his own home did not come without challenges. Trying to recruit the right support staff, get community supports in place and set up his home at the same time was difficult. The transition to living independently is a time consuming process and requires thoughtful implementation however, Dave’s timelines were limited. He had been offered a house and had an idea of the life he wanted to live, so planning with One2One began immediately. 

One2One helped Dave to meet and recruit a team of support staff he wanted working alongside him. Through transition planning with Dave and his family, One2One helped Dave ensure he had everything he needed in-place; such as furniture and equipment, community support and services, and fully trained support staff.

One2One has also assisted Dave to apply for grants which have allowed him to purchase a new fridge and access a gym. Dave’s support staff have also helped him integrate into his local community, enrol for study, attend events and enjoy activities he loved before his accident.

What does this mean to Dave?

Dave has been able to achieve many things with the support of his team.  He feels great that he can now do anything he wants. This freedom empowers Dave and he loves having his own place to call home. He also likes that he gets to decide what he wants to eat and cook his own food. He is getting out and about in his local community and says it is nice to just be involved.

Dave has enrolled to study at TAFE and has been attending the gym regularly with his support workers, which he says has improved both his physical wellbeing as well as his mental health. 

Recently, Dave’s mother bought him a voucher for I-Fly indoor skydiving, an activity he did outdoors before his accident. With his support worker Zoe, Dave has been able to fly a couple of times and has another session planned soon. 

Overall, Dave is enjoying his independence and has confidence in One2One to support him in having both freedom and control over his own life.