The Masters · our program for adults

Social contact you choose for yourself.

The Masters is our program for adults, built around what you would actually want to turn up to.

What it is
Who it's forAutistic and neurodivergent adults who have been isolated for a long time
What it achievesRegular social contact they choose for themselves
How it worksAdult social supports, employment planning and transition support, built around what an adult would actually turn up to

What we know about this stage

Adult social life runs on work, venues and sport.

If you are outside all three, there is no default way to other people, and unlike school, nothing comes along to build you one.

Underneath that often sits years of attempts that didn't work. Declining the next offer isn't avoidance. It is a reasonable conclusion drawn from experience.

What people tell us

It has been like this for a while.

People tell us it has gone on long enough that they have stopped describing it as a problem and started describing it as how things are.

Offers come occasionally, and most of them were designed for somebody much younger. The part of the plan meant for building something often reaches the end of the year untouched.

What is hardest to find out

Where the options are. Between a day program and nothing at all, there is very little on offer, especially outside a city.

The Masters

Adult-shaped, and built around what you would want.

What it provides

Regular social contact, on your terms

Something worth turning up to, designed for adults

Work tested properly, even if you were written off for it years ago

Support through the practical changes: moving house, changing services, or losing a carer

You join once, as a member, and we start from what you would actually want rather than from what happens to be on offer.

The regular evening runs whether or not anybody is having a hard week, so there is always something to come back to.

MembershipOngoing
Built aroundWhat an adult would actually turn up to
CoversSocial life, work, and the practical changes
DeliveredOnline, anywhere in Australia, and in person around Ballarat

Available at this stage

  • A regular adult social evening
  • PEERS® for Young Adults, where making and keeping friends is the goal, not attendance
  • PathWays, for work
  • LiftOff, for the practical changes
  • Online gaming clubs
  • Functional assessment

Which of these, and when, is something we work out with you.

What we believe

We believe there is a difference between having support and having a life.

The usual view

Most providers believe an isolated adult needs more support hours.

What is actually happening

But in reality, the hours are often already there, and they aren't producing a social life. What's missing is anything the person would genuinely want to turn up to. The adult world organises social life around work, pubs and sport, and if you sit outside all three there's no default, and nobody builds you one. Offer a day program to an adult who has been declining offers for years and you'll get one more decline, and the file will record it as their choice. More hours of the same produces more of the same.

What we do instead

That's why we built The Masters around what an adult would actually cross a room for, rather than around what is easy to staff. A regular evening that runs whether or not anybody is having a hard week. PEERS® for Young Adults, where making and keeping friends is the goal rather than attendance. PathWays, for people who were written off for open employment years ago and never tested it. And LiftOff for the practical changes: moving house, changing services, losing a carer. It is adult-shaped, and we start from what you would want rather than from what is on offer.

Take the first step

Let's talk.

Request a call back and one of our team will ring you at a time that suits. It takes about fifteen minutes and it's free. If you'd rather, a parent, carer or support person can make the request for you.