History of Breakaway Toowoomba Incorporated
Breakaway Toowoomba (originally known as Toowoomba and District Respite Care Association - Menukah Services) began in 1986 when a group of parents united to provide a respite service for families in Toowoomba and nearby regions.
Prior to this time respite resources were severely limited and rural families were often disadvantaged by their distance to support.
This basic service was run by parents who volunteered their time. Funding then became available from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Housing for staff wages and the rental of the premises. Shortly after, the Department of Health responded by providing the resources to purchase a house at 294 West Street where centre-based day respite was provided.
Toowoomba and District Respite Care Association - Menukah Services was instrumental in changing the focus from centre-based group support to an individual, community based approach and successfully lobbied for the additional resources to be provided for the new style of support from the Department of Families, Youth and Community Care now the Department of Disability Services Queensland.
The programs were expanded so that families had a choice between in-home care, community-based support and short-term centre based support depending, on their individual needs.
During this time, a grant from the Jupiter's Casino Community Benefit Fund was received. The funding received from the Casino Fund enabled us to build a house at Highfields for the purpose of offering opportunities to people with disabilities to visit the guesthouse for short-term stays. The stays at the guesthouse by the family members, (generally a week at a time) provides the parent/carer with an opportunity to have a break from their on-going caring role.
Due to Toowoomba City Council business accommodation regulations, Toowoomba and District Respite Care Association - Menukah Services was required to vacate the premises in West Street and find an alternative office venue. In August 1999 transferred its office accommodation to 29 Hill Street Toowoomba.
Since that time, the Management Committee and staff have been focused on developing on-going quality improvement strategies and practices within the organisation. The Queensland Disability Service Standards and The Home and Community Care Standards have been utilised to develop a framework for quality improvement.The organisations Strategic Plan also identifies strategies and goals for on-going quality service delivery that are in line with the standards.
In July 2004, the organisation moved to 10 Rens Street and is now identified as Breakaway Toowoomba Inc. A re-structure occurred in June 2005. During this time of change, the organisation has continued to evolve and grow resulting in more services being made available to a greater amount of families.
Breakaway was granted certification first in February 2007 and again in April 2008 by the internationally recognised quality assurance authority the Institute for Healthy Communities Australia (IHCA). This certifies that Breakaway Toowoomba has demonstrated compliance with the Disability Services Standards and indicates to our staff, carers and community that they are able to feel confident about the standard of support that they will receive.
With the community's rapidly growing needs for the services provided by Breakaway Toowoomba, we acknowledge that there is a need to respond quickly and efficiently with an adequate infrastructure. Hence, in early 2008 Breakaway Toowoomba purchased 1500sq metres of land at 461 Bridge Street for the purposes of building a second Guesthouse. With building not yet underway, already significant interest and support has been generated.
