About Us
Life Stream Foundation
Formed in 1984, Life Stream Foundation provides services to people with an intellectual disability: facilitating the development of skills, independence and friendships through participation in community sport, recreation and leisure. This provides our members with improved quality of life, personal development, the opportunity to achieve, a sense of belonging and most importantly improved self esteem.
Over the last 24 years, Life Stream Foundation has worked hard to ensure sport and recreation support services are available to as many Queenslanders as possible. During this time, we have relied on community support and limited state government funding.
Funding
Life Stream Foundation is primarily self-funded. Approximately one third of our funding is from Queensland government, specifically Disability Services Queensland and Sport and Recreation Queensland. One third of funding is generated through our group programs. The remainder comes through fundraising events, such as the annual Corporate Rowing Regatta and Rock the Boat, other corporate sponsorships, and grant applications. We are consistently applying for government grants and seeking the support of corporate sponsors.
Events
Rock the Boat is a major organisational fundraiser held in May each year with the support of Brisbane Lady Mayoress Lisa Newman and prominent business leaders Steven Wilson, Tim Crommelin and Vern Wills. There is also a Brisbane based Corporate Rowing Regatta held on the last Sunday of May with community partner Commercial Rowing Club. Mackay provides a venue for the largest regional triathlon in Queensland, held between August and October, which is an opportunity for elite athletes and community members including people with disabilities and children to compete together.
Staffing
The majority of Life Stream Foundation direct support services are facilitated by volunteers in group programs. We currently have approximately 80 active volunteers who give their time on weekends and nights, providing support to Life Stream Foundation members to participate in programs. If you would like to become a Life Stream Foundation volunteer, please email
info@lifestream.org.au and your email will be forwarded to the appropriate regional coordinator. There are currently 6 full-time and 6 casual Program Officers delivering 1:1 support to approximately 110 people each week. If you would like to become a Life Stream Foundation Program Officer working in the field of 1:1 programs OR at school based sport programs, please email
info@lifestream.org.au and your email will be forwarded to the appropriate regional coordinator. Life Stream Foundation consistently provides approximately 10,000 participation opportunities at each year.
Life Stream Foundation Organisational Staff Chart
Quality Assurance
Life Stream Foundation receives funding from Disability Services Queensland for the coordination of Mackay individualised support and group leisure program services in addition to Greater Brisbane region’s individualised support programs. Therefore Life Stream Foundation is required to work through a cycle towards independent certification against the
Queensland Disability Service Standards. Life Stream Foundation was required to develop and implement our own quality management system in a way that suits the needs of our organisation and the needs of members.
After this initial cycle, Life Stream Foundation undergoes annual maintenance audits and is required to recertify every three years, with yearly maintenance visits to track continuous internal improvements.
Life Stream Foundation endeavours to increase the involvement of members and their support networks in the Quality Assurance process. Life Stream Foundation members have an important role to play in monitoring the quality of services they receive.
There are opportunities for members and support networks to be involved in the organisational aspects of Life Stream, including the Continuous Quality Improvement Committee, which looks at ways we can improve the standard of services that Life Stream Foundation provides for its members.
A review has recently been conducted by Life Stream Foundation staff, looking at the 10 Disability Service Standards and how they are applied in Life Stream Foundation service delivery (specifically DSQ funded programs). Please refer to the
Service Standards Review. If you are aware of improvements that can be made or evidence that we have not documented, tell us what we need to do via an e-mail on the Contact Us page of the website or give us a call. If your suggestion is suitable and within our capacity, we will add it to the improvements list and our continuous quality improvement register until it becomes a part of our practice. It will then be transferred to our evidence list.
If you have questions regarding Quality Assurance, service standards or would like to express interest in how you can be involved in this process, please contact Kim Usher at the Brisbane office on Ph: 3891 5466 during office hours.
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