One afternoon in late December 2023, I met Megan where she lives in one of Gellibrand’s shared houses. Normally, she’d likely have had a joke for me – like Why did the horse cross the road? Because it was the chicken’s day off – but she was tired from a big day at Meaningful Activities in Partnership (MAP), including her ‘Make and Bake’ session.
“I made Christmas cake today,” she said, adding that she got to taste it. “It was good,” she smiled.
Megan said she’d been a Gellibrand client for “a long while” and there were lots of things she enjoyed doing, including cooking with her housemates. “Pasta, I like cooking pasta,” she said when asked what is her favourite food to prepare.
Just then one of her support workers had to briefly interrupt and ask Megan if she wanted to go to basketball that night. She nodded and smiled again. Though Megan loves her sleep-ins – and watching Everybody Loves Raymond and TikTok comedy – one of her goals is to keep fit and exercise more, including her daily walks. She also loves keeping her mind active, including helping edit Gellibrand’s Annual Report each year.
When asked what were her other favourite things to do, Megan said, “I like going out on the weekends.” In 2023, she got to go out for longer than a weekend too, travelling to Cairns for a holiday. The trip represented the achievement of a goal she’d had for many years and she enjoyed river cruises and a visit to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. “I like animals,” Megan said. The holiday was a step in the direction of her ultimate holiday goal: a trip to New York.
Megan is close to her family and loves spending time with them. She tries to every month go overnight to her Aunty Pam’s house and then visit her father who lives in an aged care facility. She also has lots of good friends at Gellibrand, whom she loves to make laugh by cracking jokes.
At time of writing, she was disappointed to have missed the Gellibrand Christmas Party on 1 December because she’d had a short stay in hospital, but she was looking forward to Christmas Day – and to eating more of the cake she’d made. Megan hadn’t yet got her Christmas shopping done, so that was on her to-do list, but, for now, it was time to help her housemates cook dinner and then get ready for a big night of basketball.
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