Geoff’s new chapter – familiar music, specialist support
Geoff* spent several weeks in a hospital ward where memory changes and frequent distress left little room for the life he once enjoyed as a university geography lecturer. When clinicians explored discharge options, they needed proof that round-the-clock clinical tasks and intensive behaviour supports could run smoothly outside a medical setting.
Achieve Australia’s clinical team met the ward staff at Geoff’s bedside, listed every daily requirement and matched him with a light-filled house in Sydney’s north-west. Continuous nursing support was already an integral part of the roster, and a behaviour-support framework is reviewed weekly by external practitioners. Before move-in, the house team completed extra coaching in positive-behaviour approaches and gentle communication, with a specialist phoning in each week to refine the plan.
On arrival day the bedroom television played a nature documentary, and an Elvis playlist waited on the bedside speaker – familiar sounds chosen to ease the change. Within three weeks the distress noted on the ward had eased.
Mornings begin with documentaries; afternoons bring unhurried chats; evenings finish with Geoff choosing his favourite Elvis track. He now greets team members by name and asks who’s rostered next – small signs that memory is settling into the new routine.
Weekly clinical reviews still track medicines and behaviour data, yet to Geoff those details are invisible. What he notices is that the music starts when he wants it, support tasks run on time and conversation is never rushed. For his family – and for the hospital team that referred him – the shift shows how Achieve turns highly complex behaviour supports into the calm predictability of everyday life.
*names changed to protect privacy
Achieve Australia is a for-purpose community organisation that has been providing accommodation and services to people with disability since 1952.
We champion social inclusion, focusing on the individual needs and lives of the people we support