Helen is one of our Supported Independent Living (SIL) participants in Western Sydney. We support Helen to increase her independence in areas of daily living skills such as cooking, cleaning, budgeting, and planning. Helen identified the long-term goal of aspiring to learn skills in employment and gain a job, she mentioned in 2019 she worked for ‘The Big Issue’ and was interested in re-connecting with the program. After a short period of time, Helen was back in contact with Chris from the Big Issue and in April 2021, Helen was inducted back into the program at the Redfern Office. This was a wonderful opportunity for Helen to reconnect with Chris and other employees who she had friendship with in the past, at times Helen was overwhelmed with happy tears!

Helen has worked extremely hard to plan for her new job, she has been supported to budget her money to save up to purchase the magazine amongst other things in her general routine. Helen has now been provided with a uniform, which includes a hat, bag, vest, and an ID card to commence her role. Helen is selling the Big Issue every Thursday at a Western Sydney Train Station and hopes to increase her days or work moving forward. Helen is excited to be supported with working again to earn some additional money, build her social skills by regularly connecting with members of the wider community and to gain additional purpose in her life! Well done Helen!

For more information on the Big Issue, please follow the below link https://www.thebigissue.org.au/