SWIPE TO MAKE AN IMPACT
The Open Circle's Holistic Care Approach
The Open Circle is an NGO based in Maitland, providing 24-hour residential care for approximately 30 adults with Intellectual Disabilities and behaviours that challenge. This marks their 9th operational year, during which they have witnessed a significant transformation in their residents since inception. The organization’s vision is to create a safe, nurturing, therapeutic, and homely environment for residents, emphasizing the enhancement of their quality of life.
Integral to their holistic approach to care is the promotion of social health, offering opportunities for novel experiences, and crucially, facilitating community reintegration. Among their residents is individual “X,” who exhibits various autistic features such as self-injurious behaviour, sensory dysregulation, difficulties coping with environmental changes, and emotional dysregulation, leading to significant impairment in daily functioning. Due to the specialized nature of his care requirements, his family struggled to cope, resulting in recurrent hospitalizations for acute psychiatric care.
The organization’s therapeutic program is tailored to address such behavioural challenges. They employ an occupational therapist, professional nurse, staff nurses, and carers to ensure early detection and effective management of acute physical and psychiatric episodes, ensuring continuity of care throughout the day. A structured daily routine helps residents navigate their environment with confidence, while group interventions focus on fostering independence in activities of daily living, communication skills, interpersonal communication, problem-solving, emotional regulation, and stress management.
Collaborations with music therapists, pet therapists, and various therapeutic outings further enrich the program. Through this specialized approach, combined with appropriate medical interventions, Resident X’s quality of life has markedly improved. He has not required further acute hospitalizations since joining The Open Circle, with a significant decrease in behaviour-related incidents, and a notable enhancement in his active participation in the therapeutic activities. Importantly, these improvements have positively impacted his relationship with his family.
The Open Circle strives to cultivate and sustain partnerships with families, volunteers, government entities, and corporations, heavily relying on donations and the generosity of others. Through these collaborations, they aim to deliver a quality service that has profoundly improved the lives of many residents and their families, exemplified by the journey of resident “X.
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