Function Lifestyle Group

Did you know that we offer Wheelchair Accessible car hire over the weekend? Call 53 793 863 or email [email protected] for more information! 🚗

The Australian Government has extended the School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI) until December 31, 2025. Eligible families can apply until December 31, 2024, to receive free home internet until the end of 2025. Existing participants will have their service automatically extended without additional checks.

Eligibility:
1. Have a child enrolled in an Australian school (up to year 12).
2. Not have an active nbn® service at home now or in the past 14 days (mobile internet does not impact eligibility).
3. Live in an area with access to a standard nbn® connection.
To check eligibility, call 1800 954 610 (Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm AEDT) or visit their website www.anglicarevic.org.au/student-internet

Most people have encountered bullying, whether personally, through their child, or someone they know. From August 12-16, 2024, Australia observes its key bullying prevention initiative—Bullying No Way: National Week of Action—bringing together schools and communities to find solutions.
Bullying is defined as the repeated misuse of power in relationships, causing physical or psychological harm, whether in person or online. It can be overt or covert, direct or indirect, verbal, physical, or social. The impacts on students can be severe, affecting school engagement, academic performance, and overall wellbeing, with long-term effects on both physical and mental health.
Effective bullying prevention requires cooperation between parents and schools, but this can be challenging. Some parents struggle to engage due to their child’s reluctance to disclose bullying, or their own emotional responses. Research shows younger children typically turn to parents for help, while older students confide in peers. This gives parents of younger children a crucial opportunity to teach social strategies and build resilience, though many feel unprepared to do so.
Common advice like “just ignore them” or “walk away and tell the teacher” often fails. Instead, children should be equipped with strategies that don’t escalate the situation. Planning responses and role-playing can help prepare children to handle bullying effectively.
I thought I would share with you some strategies that you can share with your child to combat bullying when it is happening. Because bullying is repetitive, you can help the child plan what they might say or do next time it happens. You can do this through role playing, to help them be ready to face any situation that comes their way.
Bullies target individuals for a reaction which makes them feel powerful. If we take away the reaction that the bully is looking for or if we make it less fun for the bully, they are more likely to stop targeting the individual. These strategies have worked for some people:
• Call it out – eg. Frown and say, “Oh, that was actually really mean!”
• Pretend that you agree with them – eg. “You are right, I do struggle with reading. Noone is perfect”.
• Show (or pretend) that you are unbothered by what they say – eg. “Nice insult. A bit unoriginal though. I give it 3 starts out of 5.
• Use humour – eg. Laugh and say, “Haha good one. I would insult you back, but I not going waste my breathe on you.
• Directly ask someone to intervene or help – eg “Hey (friend’s name), back me up here!”

Happy International Left Handers Awareness Day! 🌍✋
Today, we celebrate the uniqueness of left-handedness and raise awareness about the journey of developing hand dominance in children. Whether your child is left-handed, right-handed, or still figuring it out, it’s important to understand that hand dominance is a natural process that unfolds over time.
Most children begin to show a preference for one hand around age 2-3, but it’s normal for this to fluctuate until about age 5-6. Encourage your child to explore using both hands during this period, as it helps them develop the fine motor skills they need for writing, drawing, and everyday tasks.
If your child shows a preference for their left hand, celebrate it! Left-handedness is linked to creativity, problem-solving, and even sports. Provide them with left-handed-friendly tools, such as scissors and notebooks, to make tasks easier and more comfortable.
Remember, there’s no right or wrong hand—just the one that feels right for your child. Supporting them as they discover their dominant hand helps build confidence and ensures they can thrive, whichever hand they choose.
Let’s celebrate the lefties in our lives today and every day! 💪🎉

Shine – Our comprehensive group-based program offers personalized support within a collaborative setting. We currently have openings for immediate start.

To support our children with their emotions, we need to meet them where they are at. When your child is upset, it is not the time to educate them. Simply be with them and connect and this will help them experience emotional regulation.

Horizons Program is a 1:1 program perfect for individuals who are unable to attend group or do not enjoy groups. We focus on community inclusion, increased confidence in everyday tasks and ensuring the participant is able to do more of what the love to do.

You may have noticed we have been a bit quiet on socials, but things have been full on behind the scenes at Function Lifestyle Group. Last year our business changed direction, we no longer have our team of Allied Health Professionals however, we still have our talented and amazing Director and experienced Occupational Therapist Kirsty Armstrong covering Insightful OT. We are super excited to share with you our new programs we now offer under Function Lifestyle Day Supports with a passionate team of Disability Facilitators and Therapy Assistants, we can’t wait to start sharing more. Over the coming weeks you will see some changes on our page as we merge our two pages into this one easy to follow page where we can share all the exciting things happening at the Function Centre and Kirsty can share her wealth of knowledge on all things OT and child development. Stay Tuned 🎉

Home Function Lifestyle Group is based in Horsham, Victoria. We can provide day supports to people in the Wimmera and Occupational Therapy consultations via telehealth across Australia and face-to-face sessions to people in the Wimmera, Mallee and Western Victoria.

It's time to announce changes! What better time than at the start of the new year!

The company responsible for running Function Therapy , Function Lifestyle Group, have decided to change direction and we are no longer offering a group private Occupational Therapy service.

This decision has not come lightly, but due to the various pressures of running such a practice and with the additional uncertainties of the NDIS, we have decided that this is the best move forward.

Over the past 6 months, our staff have found alternative employment and our senior OTs have started their own private practices - Britany Van Duin is operating "Therapy for Growth" and Lauren Agar is operating "Amplify Independence Occupational Therapy".

We feel privileged to have been able to assist so many people in the community over Function Therapy's 9 years of operation and we thank you all for your support. We have made some amazing connections and Function Therapy will always have a big place in our hearts.

However, we have been restructuring and we are excited by the possibilities for the future. We are still going to be providing some Occupational Therapy services through Insightful Occupational Therapy which will be conducted by myself, Kirsty Armstrong, and my support team. We encourage you to like our page, where I will be sharing information for parents and educators on early years development and across the lifespan, as well as on different topics that may be of interest to the general population.

We will also be having a larger focus on disability supports as we provide more opportunities for people with disability through Function Lifestyle Day Supports.

We invite you to find out more about the services that we are moving into, as we complete our restructure away from Function Therapy.

Home Function Lifestyle Group is based in Horsham, Victoria. We can provide day supports to people in the Wimmera and Occupational Therapy consultations via telehealth across Australia and face-to-face sessions to people in the Wimmera, Mallee and Western Victoria.

You might have noticed that we have been pretty quiet on here recently. You might have also heard that we have stopped providing many of our supports that we were previously offering. There is a reason, and it is a BIG one! We have been working behind the scenes to change the direction of Function. Stay tune over the next few days to find out what is happening!

Greta (St Brigid's College) recently joined us for work experience to see what being a community OT would be like. Greta was given lots of different experiences from sessions with children to chair fittings with our older adults. Greta said she really enjoyed the wide range of activities she participated in, and that OT is something she can see herself doing in the future.

With so much sickness in our community at the moment, please remember to stay home if you are unwell. We would much rather you cancel your appointment than attend when sick :)

Phone outage: If you are trying to call the clinic and you're with Telstra you will get a message saying the number is not available. Please call us on 0490 058 717 while Telstra are fixing this problem

It’s so lovely to see our local Arts Council catering to everyone in our community 😊

🌈HAC's Sensory Sensitive Show tickets are still available 🌈

Book now at www.horshamtownhall.com.au for a relaxed and comfortable performance ⭐

This week we had the pleasure of having year 10 Horsham College student Kayla join us for work experience. Kayla has had a great week working with our OT's and therapy assistants to get an understanding of what being an Occupational Therapist will be like. A big thank-you to all our staff for making Kayla feel welcome and by taking the time to allow her to join your therapy sessions.

We always love being able to introduce new staff (particularly clinical staff)!!.

Molly recently joined our team 2 days a week as an experienced OT. Molly enjoys working in complex home modifications and has just started training to become a hand therapist.

Please make Molly feel welcome by giving her a big thumbs up 👍

New year, New Look!!! Not only have we changed uniform, we have also freshened up our newsletter. We hope you enjoy the read :)

Function Therapy Allied Health Services | Telehealth | NDIS Function Therapy Allied Health Services is a dynamic and expanding allied health clinic with experienced therapists, offering a wide range of services to clients, families, residential care homes and workplaces. We provide home, community and clinic based services to people and organistations across...

Easter opening hours: our clinic will be closed from Friday 7th April until Tuesday 11th April. We will be back to normal operating hours from Wednesday 12th April.

Happy International Day of Happiness. Every day is a fresh start, make sure you fill your cup with what makes you happy.

Be Mindful. Be Grateful. Be kind.

Chelsea joined the Function team as an OT late last year and has quickly become a much loved (and slightly cheeky) team member. Chelsea enjoys all levels of OT, but has a particular love of helping the elderly remain as independent as possible in their homes and the community.

Happy International Women's Day to all the wonderful women of the world.

Dem new uniform feels!

Shout out to the team at Hip Pocket Workwear Horsham for their patience with us and managing a team of women changing their minds a million times!

Hi Ho Hi Ho there's only 5 days to go 🎄

11 Days of Christmas at Function Therapy! We can hardly believe tomorrow is our last one!

Today we have Jenelle with one of our best sellers! Jenelle thinks these are a great tool for children to keep them on task and encourage time management.

These are selling like hotcakes. With so many different varieties, come on in and find one that best suits your needs at Fidgets and Widgets!

10th day of Christmas at Function Therapy!

Today we have Lauren, our other Therapy Assistant. As with everything Lauren does, she has decided to do her day differently to everyone else and wear her choice!

Lauren is pictured in one of our body socks! Lauren uses these in alot of her therapy sessions to provide deep pressure to those with sensory needs for it. She finds it calming and surprisingly comfortable!

Limited stock available now at Fidgets and Widgets!

Function Therapy believes creativity is something special to be explored and developed in everyone.

We have just renovated out beautiful back area so that some therapy sessions can be held out there but we are lacking colour!

We are putting out an expression of interest for a January school holiday activity in which people in our community could come and join our fun in decorating! We will have terracotta pot bases, paints and brushes at the ready.

Register your interest by commenting, private message or call into the office!