Month in Review: July
- Jul 29
- 4 min read
We've been fighting the cold and kicking goals at GO this month. July has been packed with community events, creativity and fun, and on the business side, lots of news from the NDIS, and forward planning from the GO Board.
Disability Pride Month
Every July is Disability Pride Month, a month dedicated to celebrating the successes, achievements and contributions of people with disability in our community. Obviously, GO is all about Disability Pride every single day of the year, but July gives us a good excuse to get a little louder about the awesome people we support! In celebration of this month, we ran another Op Shop Takeover at our GO Again Op Shop. Last year's takeover was such a success, we knew we just had to bring it back. For the last week of July our volunteers have stepped aside to make way for GO participants taking over the entire running of the store, from setting up, stocking, sorting and selling to customer service, cleaning and balancing the til. This opportunity gives our participants the perfect chance to show the community the skills and independence they've been building in programs, as well as raise some extra funds along the way. Once again, the week was a huge success. Thank you to everyone who stopped by our store and came to celebrate with us!
Strategic Planning
Every three years, the GO Board comes together to plan for the future of the organisation: what our goals are, what resources and needed, and how we as a community, see our organisation's growth and longevity. This process always starts with community consultation, and this month, the Board have been running sessions with staff, carers, families, participants, and community members, asking everyone: what do you want to see from GO? The answers we've received so far have been thoughtful and insightful. The Board will now go away and bring everything together into the next 2026-2029 plan, to be debuted at the GO AGM, coming this October. Stay tuned! And thank you to everyone who has contributed so far! Your input will directly shape GO for years to come.
Welcome Aboard: Rupinder Kaur
On Tuesday 4th August, GO welcomes Rupinder (Ruby) Kaur on board as GO's new Accommodation and Living Practice Leader! Ruby comes to us with a wealth of experience and knowledge, and a passion we're sure will shine brightly here at GO. Welcome aboard, Ruby!
This appointment is accompanied by Danielle Gallien's move to her new role as Programs and Community Practice Leader - another congratulations to her as well!
NDIS Updates
Every financial year, the NDIS releases their new Pricing Schedule, which effects how plans are costed, and how providers can charge. Business Manager, Rebecca Staring released a community letter shortly following the announcement of the schedule for this financial year, updating our GO community on how these changes may affect them. Read the letter here:
Or find out more below:
Audit Results
(This section was authored by CEO, Debbie Mitchell)
In June, GO completed our NDIS midterm audit with GCC (Global Compliance Certification). We have since received our audit report, and I am extremely pleased to inform you that GO have been successfully recommended for continued Certification with the NDIS and NDIS Practice Standards.
A significant amount of work has occurred over the last 2 years, as well as more recently (last 12 months in preparation) by all of the Management and Admin Team, alongside all of our support workers to ensure our Service and Business Practices meet or exceed the requirements of the NDIS Practice Standards. These Standards are in place to ensure we are meeting the needs of our participants.
GO has developed and implemented many systems and practices that demonstrate great strides in robust monitoring and oversight of participant needs, but also the requirements for staff credentialing, monitoring of safety and strong financial and governance practices.
The report provided GO with a couple of suggestions of possible improvement; however, one element of practice that was extremely well deserved was a BEST PRACTICE measure for Quality Systems. The auditors spoke to their experience in this area and very rarely would rate any organisation for best practice in quality. This is fantastic feedback for GO is one to be celebrated, and testament to the hard work of all of the team to bring quality, systems and frameworks to the forefront of our work every day.
Congratulations and thankyou to everyone for your continued hard work, effort, and drive to improve our services for our participants, and to ensure that GO continues to be a quality and sustainable service provider in our region.
Winter Adventures
It's been chilly, but that hasn't stopped us! Our participants have been braving the weather to travel around our area during programs and having a lot of fun in the process, finding cold weather activities - no sun required!
Another big month at GO! Thanks for reading this blog post update. If you want to follow along with us more regularly, find us on Facebook and Instagram @goulburnoptions
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