Meet Sophie Rolfe, a Gellibrand client for six years, and a young woman who works hard to achieve her life goals.
As anyone who has tried to learn it knows, Japanese is a difficult language to master. Gellibrand client Sophie Rolfe speaks it, but she did have a head start: she lived in Japan for two years when she was in primary school.
“It was a little hard with the language barrier and the American curriculum,” she recalled when I met her at Gellibrand’s Withers Street office recently. “I was trying to learn things that I’d eventually learn in high school in Australia.”
Sophie said it was in Japan that she received her ADHD diagnosis, which helped her to understand her learning processes better.
“Japan was a really good experience overall,” she said. “Everyone was so polite and it was interesting to see all the temples.”
Sophie has been a Gellibrand client for six years and is known for engaging in plenty of activities. For example, she’s played basketball since she was little and now suits up weekly at Werribee’s All Abilities Basketball Club.
“We play the same people every week, but we are quite competitive,” she said, adding that she won a trophy this year for her efforts. She is also studying, and recently completed a Certificate 1 in Transition Education.
“We did it at Jenny Burbidge Centre and I’m hoping to do more study next year. Right now, we are focussing on making conversations. So, this is good practice!”
Sophie would like her study to lead to employment – hopefully with animals.
“I love cats, but unfortunately I can’t have one at home (Sophie lives in Gellibrand’s Medfield accommodation) because my housemate is allergic to them,” she said, adding that she outworks her love for cats by visiting Melbourne’s cat cafes. “You can hang out with cats and order drinks, like a hot chocolate.”
If she can’t get a job with animals, Sophie’s next choice would be a librarian. She’s an avid reader, especially of the fantasy and sci-fi genres.
“I’m really enjoying this one called Spine of the Dragon,” she said, pulling the book out of her bag to show me. “It’s the first book in a trilogy and I’m trying to finish it before I go to Perth so I can get onto the second one when I go there.”
Sophie was born and raised in Perth and when I spoke to her, she was soon to head to Western Australia for Christmas.
“I will stay with my older sister. She is a support worker and she knows me better than anyone.”
Sophie also has two younger sisters and said she is “very close” with her family, especially her dad and stepmum. With her biological mother living in Alaska, Sophie said her dad and stepmum help her with anything to do with her support plan.
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