By Margaret Maccoll
When Leanne Walsh’s son Curtis was born 13 weeks premature and diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy it was “heart-breaking, life-changing and challenging”.
Curtis is now a 22-year-old man whose greatest loves in life are music, motorbikes, sport, the Noosa Tigers Australian Football Club and his friends at Sunshine Butterflies.
Giving Curtis the life he now enjoys was the driving force behind the establishment of disability support service Sunshine Butterflies of which Leanne is founder and CEO and which currently assists about 500 members and employs 55 people.
During Curtis’s pre-school years the family lived in the border town of Albury Wodonga where they could access services from NSW and Victoria.
Leanne was very involved in and on the committee of a small educational playgroup, which gave her an insight into setting up such an organisation.
On moving to Noosa to be near family when Curtis was about five years old Leanne found it lacked support, respite and information.
“I got some families and friends together to create a board so we could start a not for profit charity and disability service to provide everything I wished I could have accessed when I was a new mum,” she said.
Leanne had a very clear vision to create a “one-stop shop” for individuals living with disability and their families to provide information, support, resources and programs from a network of services.
“There was no flexibility within the sector,” she said. “I wanted that to change. I wanted to create an organisation that had family values and a real sense of community surrounding it. We have achieved that. As Curtis became older, I could see the gaps in service delivery and saw the need for creative life skills programs. I also discovered that there were so many young people without a service to attend during the week due to not receiving funding when they left school.
“Curtis didn’t particularly enjoy school so it was important that he didn’t join a traditional post-school service that lacked flexibility and would only allow him to attend a couple of days due to his funding. I wanted him to enjoy programs and activities that were fun and interesting and mostly I wanted him to be kept busy every day of the week. We made it our mission to make sure everyone out there could come to Sunshine Butterflies.”
The day programs started with Curtis and two other members, whose families agreed to pool their post-school funding so they could all have a five-day program and employ two staff to kick the day program service off.
“Our programs gradually increased starting off with swim clubs, support groups and family care support and case management,” Leanne said.
“Our growth has been quite rapid with many new programs being offered which increased our membership. “Opportunities to grow have increased with sponsorship and fund-raising opportunities and community support has been overwhelming to help us construct Our Backyard.”
Three years ago with $50,000 won in a Dick Smith Foods competition and another $50,000 raised with the help of the community Sunshine Butterflies had the $100,000 deposit they needed to buy a five acre property, Our Backyard, at Cooroibah, where they could achieve their vision.
“It is a learning, education and recreational facility, which provides life skills and learning opportunities to people of all ages and abilities,” Leanne said.
“Once completed, Our Backyard will allow us to provide existing services as well as many new exciting programs including job creation opportunities and animal enrichment programs for our members and the community.”
The programs already operated by Sunshine Butterflies are staggering.
Leanne said while their core business was to assist families when their children go through different life changes and when difficult challenges arise the list of programs continues to grow to meet the needs that arise.
“We have two swim clubs at Noosa and Kawana, three family support groups throughout the Sunshine Coast, an early intervention program for the little ones, social clubs, siblings programs, social enterprises, job and business creation, puppet disability education programs, in home and community based respite, post-school programs that include woodwork, art, drama, music, cooking, gardening and farm programs and after-school sport and fitness programs,” she said.
“We are lucky to have amazing staff and volunteers who facilitate weekly fitness, yoga and tai-chi sessions for our members to enjoy. We also have a fabulous fortnight of fun held between each term.”
The activities and programs at Sunshine Butterflies that Curtis enjoys have given him the confidence and social skills to enjoy a fabulous social life and learn new skills at his own pace. Curtis now oozes confidence and cheekiness.
It’s not only Curtis who has benefitted from Sunshine Butterflies.
A variety of people use Sunshine Butterflies services, from parents attending a support group or someone accessing the swim club to a school leaver joining a post-school program.
Also on offer is a personal fund-raising platform on the organisation’s website where families can reach their fund-raising goals to purchase essential items that can’t attract government funding.
“We have families all over Australia using our fund-raising platform,” Leanne said.
“Volunteers and student placements are also a massive part of our organisation – they use Sunshine Butterflies to learn, connect and get their foot in the door of the disability workforce”.
There are many stories of success among the organisation’s 500 members. One young man with Aspergers who Leanne is very proud of joined the service a few years ago after moving from interstate where he was home schooled and suffered severe anxiety.
“He could not engage or socialise and was often physically sick with nerves. Our music program co-ordinator introduced him to the drums, which he became very interested in which helped him with his confidence and social skills to get over his anxiety,” she said.
“His drumming ability is amazing and he now gives other members lessons each week. His confidence and social skills have improved beyond anything we ever imagined. We have now employed him as a landscape labourer in the Sunshine Gardens Landscaping team. His family is so proud of his achievements and the young man he has become. “Unfortunately his mum passed away a couple of years ago. She would have been so happy to see how far he has come and that everything she wanted for him has happened.”
One program the organisation is excited about is their animal enrichment program being design and developed to offer animal assisted therapy. The benefits of animal therapy are increasingly documented and the program has already gained attention from people across Australia and media outlets with TV show Totally Wild to screen a segment on their farm later in the year.
“Animal therapy is very special,” Leanne said.
“The animals love being with our members who brush, stroke and pat them.”
Sunshine Butterflies does not receive any government funding, so an income stream was created to pay for all operational costs and program expenses.
This has been achieved with the setting up of a first aid training business, Allability Training, and a landscape and maintenance business they call Sunshine Gardens.
Both social enterprises employ qualified and experienced staff who are paid above award rates. The businesses return 100 per cent of profits back to the organisation.
With no reliance on government funding, Sunshine Butterflies is well-placed to transition to the NDIS and help
families to benefit from the opportunities it may bring.
“(We) no longer see ourselves as providers who deliver programs and instead see ourselves as innovators who create new products and services that deliver specific life outcomes for our members,” she said.
“It’s been exciting empowering families and helping them to think outside the square and see their excitement knowing their sons or daughters will have a life full of endless opportunities.”
While Leanne admits to underestimating the amount of hard work needed to set up Sunshine Butterflies to her “it has been worth every single battle and challenge to do so when I think of my son’s happiness and other members and families who all benefit from what started with a vision.”
