‘I’m having so much fun’ Iva says as I assist her with hanging the clothing onto the racks.

Iva is a gentle, creative young lady who excels at piano and colouring.

When I met Iva, she wanted to contribute and be part of her community doing something that she loved doing... although she didn’t know what this was yet.

She had already decided that she would prefer to volunteer, as she said that paid employment would be too stressful at this point.

Iva has Autism and is highly anxious with meeting new people and in new situations.

Through exploring Iva’s different interests and talents, we wrote a list of possible positions we could research into for a volunteering position.

This did take time, but through this exploration Iva found the position that was perfect for her.

Iva volunteers three hours a week for Anglicare op shop. With the support of the Autism Association of Western Australia and the staff at Anglicare, Iva has slowly become more confident and competent with her tasks.

Iva’s tasks include;

- sorting through DVD’s and CD’s, discarding the scratched ones

- Hanging up clothes and tagging them, waiting to be priced

- Putting the priced clothes into their appropriate place, colour coordinated and neatly, within in the shop

Iva has learnt many skills during her time at Anglicare. For example, she is now confident to go out onto the shop floor and talk to the manager independently.

Iva’s goal at Anglicare is to eventually greet the customers and learn the till.

It is great to see how far Iva has come over such a short time through her volunteering at Anglicare. It is exciting to see Iva grow each week, I feel privileged to be a part of her journey.

Iva Luketic
Midland