Life Without Barriers

Our organisation started in 1995 in Newcastle, NSW, Australia, by a group of concerned people in the community who had a passion and vision to improve the quality of the lives of people living with a disability. They generated interest in the local community, proposing to create a new non-government organisation to support people living with a disability. A Board was formed and held regular meetings upstairs in Newcastle's Delany Hotel...Life Without Barriers was born.

In early 1999 we were still a fledgling organisation, volunteers ran our services, we were funded mainly by donations, and we only had three full-time employees. In late 1999 our current Chief Executive Officer Ray Dunn joined the team. Through his passion and inspirational guidance we embarked on the next phase of our journey. We recruited more staff to deliver an enhanced and expanded range of disability programs, and applied for government funding for the first time.

From the start we pursued the philosophy that positive, healthy relationships are essential for people in care to feel safe and have an opportunity to improve their lives. We have always believed our clients should receive care within their community, not outside of it, and that the relationships around them should always come first.

In 2000 we identified our skills were directly applicable to helping children and young people who were in some form of crisis and needed facilitated care. This was the origin of our out of home care services, such as Foster Care. The demand for our services increased rapidly, driven by our unique community based approach. We continued winning government tenders for disability day services across New South Wales and had soon established a presence in Nowra, the Central Coast, Narrabri and the North Coast. By winning small tenders in these areas, we were able to develop other services across the state and further expand our out of home care services.

The key events that shaped how we've grown include:

In 2001 we won a AU$2 million tender for out of home care services in South East Queensland, our first outside NSW.
In 2002 we extended those services into Central and Far North Queensland and established services in South Australia for people living with a disability and people in out of home care.
In 2005 we applied for and won government funding to apply our model of care through mental health services in South Australia.
In late 2005 we expanded into the Northern Territory after winning an out of home care tender and then proactively developed close relationships with local Aboriginal communities so we could collaboratively provide culturally appropriate care.

We were particularly interested in supporting people who were not benefiting from traditional care environments, such as group homes, and this drove us to create innovative programs to support people living with mental health issues. We focused on integrating people back into the community and helping them form relationships, avoid isolation and achieve independence.