Support close to home with Bunbury disability service centre

A new disability service centre was officially opened in Bunbury this week to provide those in need of help with support closer to home.

The centre, which was originally planned to be opened in March but was postponed due to the pandemic, was officially opened by Disability Services Minister Stephen Dawson on Tuesday.

Senses Australia now has a team based in the Bunbury CBD to further support the South West community with disabilities by offering access to services including speech pathology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, social work and psychology.

Senses Australia chief executive Lisa Brennan said the facility offered a therapy space and a gym area for delivering therapy services.

“The Bunbury Service Centre allows us to service all of our clients in the upper South West region, so that in addition to our Busselton and Margaret River centres means we can now service all of the clients in the South West,” she said.

We have over 300 clients that we deliver services to in the South West ... and this centre is part of our strategic plan to deliver high quality services closer to where our clients live.

“Particularly for this region, this centre supports clients to get the same quality of service as families living in the metro areas.”

Minister Stephen Dawson said it was great Senses Australia was able to open an office in Bunbury.

“They’ve been servicing the South West for the last few years ... it’s great this year they’ve been able to open the office to make sure people in Bunbury have somewhere to access,” Mr Dawson said.

Bunbury MLA Don Punch said he was struck by the connection between the staff at the centre and the people using the services.

“I think it’s really critical in our South West that we make sure that people have as much access as possible,” Mr Punch said.

Centres like this really help to drive accessibility, particularly with people who may have hearing or sight disabilities, so being able to provide the resources and support to enable people to live within our community is great.

“Bunbury is leading the way, but the whole of the South West is really keen on the notion of making the South West as accessible as possible for many people with different abilities.”