Envisage Families – One Parent’s Story
When one of our parents shared their story with us about their experience with Envisage Families, we immediately asked them if we could share. After all, these parent experiences are what our programs are all about. Parent’s connecting with peers and health professionals to explore their journey into parenthood, and working.
Here’s what our mum from Victoria said:
“When my daughter’s physio suggested I do the Envisage Program, I was like ‘I don’t need a parenting program’. I can now say that the program validated my existing parenting values. It gave me tools that has helped me to confidently advocate for our family.
The Envisage Program has set me up with some fantastic tools for family life. I now pull these new tools from my “toolbox” at different times on my caregiving journey. I feel more equipped in handling different situations and being the ‘team leader’ of my daughter's care team.
And I think I underestimated the power of meeting and sharing experiences with other caregivers. It was so enlightening and opened up my world, as I know I’m no longer alone on my journey. I learnt a lot from others sharing their experiences. Even though all of our experiences are unique, we faced similar situations, like how to manage all of the therapy appointments.
I was also inspired by those a little further on their caregiver journey which helped me be prepared when I came up to that life milestone, like starting school. I was more confident in navigating the education system and ensuring my daughter had the supports she needed for the best start at school.
Personally, one of the exercises that we completed in the Envisage Program really helped me find peace with my family members. I was really upset as they were not supporting me in the way I expected. The mapping exercise we did helped me really see those that I had around me who supported me, so my expectations changed, and our relationships improved.
Learning about family values and expressing them was a little challenging at first. It was a complete shift away from the way that I normally think. But the learning made complete sense once I had to put it into practice, when I had one of my values challenged. In the moment it felt like my internal gears were grinding inside, but because what I learnt in the Envisage Program, I realised this was one of my values being challenged. This allowed me to communicate to our service provider what our value was – ‘that we want you to involve our child in conversation and listen to their voice’.
Since completing the Envisage Program I have felt so much more empowered to have the right care team. I was confident in requesting a change in therapist, to one that really connected with my child. I realised that we really valued that our daughter had the opportunity to have fun in therapy, so that therapy was a positive experience for her.
Since doing Envisage we have been having fun with real life experiences to work on goals instead of weekly therapy appointments. We have more fun as a family. And that is such positive change for all of us.”
We’re so grateful that our parent has allowed us to share her experience with you.
