Adelaide Hills Recreation Centre
Stories of Inclusion / Adelaide Hills Recreation Centre
I have PTSD and Anxiety and for this reason I have an Assistance Dog named Hunter. Hunter helps minimise my anxiety and work with me to lower my PTSD triggers. When you have PTSD it can be misunderstood, come on suddenly and can feel terrifying in the middle of it all. I tend to stay”safe” to minimise the worst happening.
New experiences can be very difficult for me and Hunter will have to work quite hard. If the event gets more challenging it can be quite stressful.
I read some amazing stories about Cérge and saw the Adelaide Hill Recreation Centre just adopted Cérge. This is exciting and kind of scary to be honest. I want so badly to get into a yoga class or body balance not only for my physical body but for my mind. The idea of going to recreation centre I’ve never been to is terrifying. They are usually big and loud and everyone seems to know what to do but me. I never know if I’m in the right place the right clothes and there are always too many mirrors.
Before I decided to attend Adelaide Hills Recreation I looked on the Cérge website and went through their Visual story. I was able to see each room, the equipment, entrances and toilets. I also read through the noises that may be heard, I need this for myself but also for Hunter. Along with smells, for obvious reasons. This relieved so so much anxiety. Just knowing what I would see and what the venue looked like reduce my anxiety and made me enthusiastic to visit.
When I arrived I was greeted so openly and warmly by Nathan. I had already sent a notification so I knew, they knew I was coming and that was great. I didn’t have to feel awkward and on edge about Hunter which triggers anxiety which makes Hunter work harder which gives anxiety and around and around we go.
I had a look around the facilities and I have picked the 8am Yoga class and I am excited for this to begin in my life! I am so pumped! It’s been a while since I felt like this was achievable for me!
I would love to see Cérge in places like all small businesses, shopping centres and hospitals this would help me reintegrate into society so much easier.
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Mum life already has my senses overloaded at the best of times. Not to mention adding to that ADHD and getting overwhelmed or overstimulated. I find loud places can be really difficult at times and it’s not often you find a recreation centre that doesn’t have that Bang, Clang Squeak vibe.
I have two children and they hadn’t ever tried Squash and seeing Adelaide recreation centre had Cérge I felt supported enough to go and show the kids a cool new sport.
Cérge has a great amount of information, everything you could possibly want to know is in the website. The Visual Story gave me the senses and there was no sugar coating, it stated I may smell body odour, rubber, deodorant. It stated I may hear squeaking if squash balls, stomping, shouting and heavy breathing. This! This! Is SO valuable.
No businesses “promote “ body odour and heavy breathing l, they have glossy webpages and a bunch of stuff that doesn’t help so many of us. This IS what we need to read and know to see if your venue is accessible to us.
We arrived after letting them know we were an hour away on the Cérge app. I was greeted by a friendly and open Taylor who was happy to show us around. She was very inclusive and more than happy to help us.
When I asked about wheelchair access she showed us where that was. There are 2 entry points for wheelchair, a ground level for basketball courts, squash and badminton.
They also offer walking football which I thought was very cool and felt like more people could access this as an option.
We were allowed to have a hit in the squash courts as the children had never seen the sport before. It was so fun! Tiny little ball and very different than other sports they have tried! they both loved it!
The whole Rec centre had an inviting and friendly atmosphere. I really loved that I was so prepared because I had been able to “peak behind the curtain” before I arrived. This made a massive difference to me as me and also as a mum. It also helped prepare both of my kids :)
I can’t wait to visit more places stress free!