Our Australian research project first visual report

The Plumtree Family Storytelling project took place in Sydney in October. It collated the stories of families who have a child with a disability. Families were interviewed and coached to tell their stories on video. The interviews focused on the process they went through to receive individual funding, the use they make of it to assist their family in for instance purchasing resources or services, the impact that the funding had on their child and by extension on the whole family. Looking forward to our February 2015 next working session!

The families reflected on their experience with caring for a disabled child, from the time they received the diagnosis, through to making contact with Plumtree and commented on the lessons learned along the way. These lessons were analysed thematically and the interviews were post-processed so that these lessons be easily shared with other parents. A trailer introduces the project and provides the context relevant to Plumtree present and future audience. In total, just over an hour of video materials were produced.

The Storytelling project provides unique learning materials for other professionals. The potential to develop relevant and appealing staff training programmes from parents’ stories is great, as families reflect on their reactions to the services provided by Plumtree. Additionally, these parents’ experiences with the system can offer valuable insight for NDIS policy and implementation.

Implications and future uses: This project reinforces our experience that families learn best from each other – and provide engaging content for their peers - potential Plumtree new clients who search for relevant services via the internet. Parents have clearly stated that they receive not only new information, but also knowledge, from other parents: that is, information about what is available, but with the added value of a genuine evaluation from someone like them who has tried and tested the resource or service in question. It is this knowledge that sets apart the Plumtree Family Storytelling project!

Short URL: http://tinyurl.com/Playlist4Plumtree