Tristan and APM Communities Transcript

Tristan: My name’s Tristan Orchard. I’m a senior local area coordinator here at APM Communities.

I’m originally from Darwin and also Faye was so she reached out to me via the community capacity building side of APM Communities and invited me to play some wheelchair basketball and that’s how we connected.

It’s been brilliant. I started I started off as a trainee and within three years of being a senior local area coordinator here now and just the progression has been really great. And also like the work, it’s quite rewarding as well.

Faye: community capacity building is about creating opportunities within the community for people with disability to participate, helping them achieve their goals and live the best possible life they can and as independently as possible. We try to do that without utilising NDIS funding. 

So, we’re really looking at working with community organisations such as sporting clubs, peer support advocacy groups or mainstream organisations such as health or education.

Tristan: It’s been quite a journey because I started with APM probably six months out of spinal rehab.

So it was quite, you know, soon after having a disability I guess.

And I’ve learned to kind of deal with my disability as well as working in an environment with people with disability.

So it’s kind of been a personal journey and a very professional journey at the same time, being able to, you know, connect with participants on a level as well – being participant myself – and it feels like it gives me a little bit of an edge.

But it, it really does feel that like connect with them on a different level as well as helping them understand what the NDIS is responsible for and going through it with them. Yeah, really enjoying it.

Faye: Tristan has the benefit of being able to build rapport with participants, so naturally with the lived experience, he’s always so open and empathetic with people. 

So he can really go and really relate to people by explaining his personal circumstances. And he does that in such a respectful way.

So it’s not to belittle anybody and their problems and barriers that they’re going through. It’s just to share, so he can really turn around people’s perspective, or if they’re going through challenges in their life, he’s really inspiring for participants as well.

Over the years his confidence has grown. He’s very ambitious, he’s very determined. I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody with the determination that he has. Not just in his professional life but also in his personal life.

Tristan: APM has really kind of allowed to keep me going and be really flexible with my sporting commitments as well you know, keeping up with work commitments also.

There’s a lot to look forward to with APM. I feel like they’ve definitely given me the feeling that I can continue to progress in my career within APM and that’s regardless that I have a disability.

They’ve given me that belief and I also feel like I have that, you know, potential to keep going and I’m really looking forward to the future.