The Peer Network Hub is a free family assistance program run statewide. The Hub is a central place for Tasmanian families to gain and share needed information, resources and skills and link with others to achieve a shared vision.
Families can access the Peer Network Hub by telephone (Freecall number – 1800 244 742), email and/or in person.
Families can contact us to share information, access information about a range of systems, supports, services (including ACD Tas support services) and resources, be referred to a service or support, receive options and guidance to assist their situation and/or make a time to meet with one of our staff.
We aim to connect family peers and empower people to improve outcomes for young people and children with disability. The Hub activities fall under three categories – self-advocacy assist, network assist, and peer leader assist.
Facilitated Peer Support – MyTime
As part of The Hub, ACD Tas facilitates MyTime groups in Tasmania as part of the national program that the Parenting Research Centre coordinates nationally.
Find out more about ACD Tas MyTime groups.
Individual Peer Assistance
You may have contacted ACD Tas. with a question about how to plan for and get the best from services and systems such as education, transport, health, childcare, housing, and the NDIS, or sought information to help you to meet the needs of your child or to understand your rights or the rights of your child.
You may have been shown the steps to take to resolve an issue, to access the NDIS portal, or received an explanation to help you to understand something about the NDIS.
You may have been assisted with the process of finding and connecting with the right service provider to meet your needs.
You may have regularly connected to one of ACD Tas’s many Facebook pages to gain information, ideas and answers. You may have attended free training (i.e. to learn how to video conference from home).
There are many possibilities, as this form of peer support aims to respond to you and your needs and to empower you to make informed decisions, to act with confidence and independently, to protect the rights and the rights of your child/ren with disability, and to take care of your health and wellbeing.
Peer Network Assistance
ACD Tas’s Peer network assistance aims to strengthen and assist individuals within their newly forming, existing or exhausted peer networks. Peer Network assistance connects people with lived experience of disability and parenting and caring, with a community of support.
When you access this form of peer support you may already be part of a peer group or network (formal or informal) or want to connect with or to consult with one (if you are a community or government stakeholder).
The ACD Tas. Peer Connectors or Group Facilitators may have provided you with ideas, information, mentoring, demonstration, and community linkages as required by the network, or they may have introduced you to service providers or linked you to community or government stakeholders who want to hear your voice on the matters that effect you and your family (E.G. Surveys on Education, Disability Royal Commission events, NDIS Every Australian Counts events etc.) or connected you with relevant events or community activities.
There are hundreds of possibilities. ACD Tas acts like a big sister network, assisting to build capacity and confidence of families to care for themselves and their family members, to empower their children with disability, and to take part in the broader community and have a voice to influence positive change.
Peer Leader Assistance
This form of Peer Support empowers current and emerging peer leaders to gain and develop specific skills by access to mentoring, training and education.You may have been informed about free training opportunities, or been nominated to attend training, or received free training through ACD Tas. (e.g. Grassroots Leadership for Social Change, Social Role Valorization, Advocacy/Self-Advocacy, Facilitation).
You may have been assisted with an idea you have or been connected to peers to discuss an initiative you are involved in and want to take further.
You may have gained support or strategic guidance or connected with peer mentors in order to increase your influence in the community and have a voice on matters that effect you and your family.
There are many possibilities.