Empowered at GCASA

16/02/2026

03/12/2025

Today is International Day of People with Disability!

We want to acknowledge the brilliant and beautiful work of our Peer Educators - Bethany, Bry, Rachael, Ben, Leigh, Ellie, Joshua, Maddy and Josh - who show up in their role to share and educate other people with cognitive disabilities about healthy relationships, respect and responsibilities with such conviction and excellence.

We acknowledge all the participants in our programs who have welcomed us, and shared their time, their joy, their challenges and have taught all of us so much along the way.

It is a honour and privilege to do the work we do 🌈✨

02/12/2025

We're finishing up programs for the year and it was so fabulous to get to know the folks at Yooralla Drouin Community Hub 😊✨️🌈 We love our graduation celebration sessions... delicious food, certificates, balloons, goodie bags and a bit of music 🎵🎶

27/10/2025

It's always a great time with the Yooralla Drouin Community Hub! Thankyou for joining us at the EmpowerED Community Forum - we loved having you there ☺️

🎉 Today Greg and Emily proudly represented Yooralla at the EmpowerED Community Forum with GCASA in Morwell!

The EmpowerED program has been developed to support people to better understand their rights, build respectful relationships and stay safe. ✅

Our Drouin Community Hub participants are already halfway through the newly launched program and are loving it!

A big shoutout to EmpowerED Coordinator Renee, Manager Alisha, and the nine incredible Peer Support leaders who make this program possible! 🙌

17/10/2025

Meet Rachael!

Rachael is a mother of two adult children and Nanna of 3 grandchildren. She lives independently and has an intellectual disability. Rachael is a long-standing self-advocate and has previously been an integral member and project worker at New Wave Gippsland (a Gippsland wide self-advocacy group) for over 10 years. For the last 5 years, Rachael is a member of the Community Advisory Committee (Community Voices) at West Gippsland Health Care group.

Rachael has also been involved with the Sexual Lives & Respectful Relationships program since 2009, when she undertook the LaTrobe University training for this program with Helen and Alisha. In 2020, Rachael won the Janice Slattery award for her excellent work in the Sexual Lives and Respectful Relationships program. Rachael has been an important part of the change to the new EmpowerED program. Rachael is currently a Peer Educator and regularly delivers the EmpowerED program alongside other peer educators, supported by sector professionals, to her peers. Rachael also speaks regularly about her work and life experiences at various events.

31/07/2025

Can you even call it work when you're having so much fun?

Last week we finished our first ever group with young people from Overcoming Obstacles. We valued our time with the group so much, they have taught us many things that we will take with us throughout the program.

Thankyou Lou, Miranda, Britt, Maddy and Micah for being such awesome, insightful, fun, creative, hilarious and talented humans ✨🌈

We are thrilled to express our heartfelt gratitude for the incredible collaboration with Empowered, GCASA, and Federation University in launching a pilot program aimed at empowering teens! 🙌

Together, we have created a safe space for young people to learn essential skills on how to navigate their communities and online environments. The program not only focused on safety but also delved into critical topics such as respectful relationships and consent, fostering a generation that values mutual respect and understanding.

A huge thank you to our partners for their dedication and expertise in making this initiative a success. We are excited about the positive impact we’ve made together and are looking forward to collaborating on more programs for adults in the future. Together, we can continue to create a safer, more informed community for everyone! 💪💖

23/07/2025

Meet Bry!

"Bry is a Peer Educator in the EmpowerED Program. They care a lot about helping people and want to make the world fairer for everyone. They use their life experiences to question unfair systems and to do their best to make sure people from vulnerable communities are heard.

In their spare time, they enjoy gardening, drawing, and baking. They really love animals and like going out in nature to look for frogs, toads, and birds—especially the native swamphen, which is one of their favourites."

Image description: A person with shoulder-length brown hair and round glasses is smiling and leaning against a large, lifelike, orange-brown frog statue. She's wearing a light-colored, floral patterned top. The frog statue is very detailed, and is part of a larger outdoor display or exhibit. The background includes greenery and trees. A metal fence is visible in the background, providing a boundary around the exhibit. Parts of other plants and landscaping are visible in the image.

18/07/2025

Come and work with us!

Gippsland Centre against Sexual Assault is recruiting people to join our team of Peer Educators. These roles are for a person who has lived experience of cognitive or intellectual disability and who would like to learn and teach others about Respect, Rights and Relationships. It's a wonderful role, working with fantastic people, doing work which can make a difference in the lives of others with cognitive disability, their support networks and the community.

For more information, scan the QR code and if you'd like to talk more about the jobs, please contact me.

For more information: https://lnkd.in/gp3wDkcF

08/07/2025

Meet Josh!

"Hi, I’m Josh.
I’ve been a Peer Educator with the EmpowerED team since January, and I really enjoy being part of this amazing group. Each of us brings something special to the role, and together we make a strong, supportive team. This experience has been a really positive change for me, and I’m excited to take on more challenges and continue growing with EmpowerED at GCASA.

One of the reasons I applied for this role was to improve my motivational speaking skills. It’s something I’m passionate about.
Outside of work, I have a wide range of interests that keep me active. I’m passionate about AFL, social media, animals, dining out, photography, and film production. I also enjoy socialising, spending quality time with family and friends, and keeping fit at the gym."

Image description: A man with short brown hair is smiling and looking at the camera. He is wearing a short-sleeved, white button-down shirt with a black paisley-like pattern. The background is a vibrant mural with vertical streaks of various shades of blue, white, and light pink, with abstract shapes and what appears to be a painted floral design next to the man's left shoulder. Some small parts of the flowers are visible and there are white flowers near the bottom left of the image.

02/07/2025

Meet the EmpowerED team!

Over the coming weeks, we will be introducing our team members, one by one.

For now, let us introduce the EmpowerED team.
From left to right - Ellie, Ben, Beth, Bry, Alisha, Josh, Renee, Skye (& Grant), and Rachael.

This photo was taken in Melbourne when we attended the SASVic Right to Recovery Conference. We were given the amazing opportunity for some of us to speak on a panel about what rights and recovery look like for people with a disability.

Image description: A group of people standing on a paved walkway underneath a sculpture of metal frames that form an arch. There are colourful lights in the arch. The group of people face towards the camera, all smiling.
The walkway is light gray concrete. Several people are standing in a line, facing slightly toward the camera, beneath a structure of light gray metal frames that form a series of intersecting, angled arches. The arches are a modern, artistic design. Colorful, multi-colored light is visible within the frames. A light tan or cream-colored Labrador retriever wearing a harness is also present in the lower portion of the image, positioned a few feet behind and slightly to the right of the group.
The background features trees, indicating an outdoor setting. Sections of a city building can be seen through the archway structure.