New purpose-built Novita Christies Beach Therapy and Community Hub launch

Novita’s new purpose-built Therapy and Community Hub at Christies Beach is set to deliver better outcomes and an enhanced experience for kids, young people and adults living with disability in Adelaide’s South.

The Christies Beach Therapy and Community Hub will be officially opened by Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC, together the Honourable Nat Cook MP, Novita President, Andrew Daniels, and Chief Executive Officer Greg Ward this Thursday, 2 March 2023 at 11am. Media are welcome to attend.

Novita Chief Executive Officer Greg Ward says that the new hub is an important part of Novita’s strategy to expand further into local communities. 

“We are thrilled to be expanding our services in the southern suburbs because we know there are many benefits that come with new and purpose-built facilities embedded in local communities. The new hub will provide improved facilities and resources to support client goals, build greater connections and relationships in the community to foster inclusion, and help reduce travel costs for those who receive a service in the outer south.” 

The modern and accessible hub will offer a broad range of services, including Novita’s therapy services, goal-oriented programs such as Step Up Life Skills, Transition to Work and other community programs for adults living with disability, as well as an assistive technology showroom displaying a selection of products from our NovitaTech retail store in Hindmarsh.

Mr Ward says that the new hub will offer something for a wide range of people.

“The new Christies Beach hub is an inclusive environment for people of all ages, with vibrant therapy rooms and activity spaces which help our staff to design activities to support the specific goals of each individual client.”

Novita clients Jake O’Reilly, Emel Ozbek, Angel Heard-Gates and Angus Hincksman will be at the launch to share their stories about how they are achieving their goals with the support of Novita’s tailored services.

Meet our Novita Christies Beach Therapy and Community Hub Ambassadors

Jake O’Reilly is a 15-year-old Christies Beach High School student who lives with intellectual disability. Jake loves doing Cosmic Kids Yoga, playing Minecraft and uses Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) to communicate.

Angel Heard-Gates is a 14-year-old Christies Beach High School student who lives with an acquired brain injury and is very happy her services are closer to home as she doesn’t like to spend too much time travelling in the car.

Angus Hincksman is a 16-year-old Westminster College student who lives with cerebral palsy and is currently ranked number 3 in the world in middle distance running in his running classification. Angus is working towards the Paris 2024 Paralympics. 

Emel Ozbek is 19 years old and enjoys listening to music, drawing and doing puzzles. Emel, who lives with cerebral palsy, participates in Novita’s Transition to Work and is currently doing the cooking program and training in the Novita café.

Amelia Edwards is a Speech Pathology Clinical Lead at Novita and has over 10 years of experience working with people with complex communication needs across a range of settings. In 2015, Amelia completed a PhD exploring how parents of children on the autism spectrum make decisions about interventions for their children. Amelia is passionate about the inclusive education of students with disability, in particular students who communicate using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). In 2021, Amelia completed a Master of Education (Inclusive Education) with Distinction, and she is on the Board of Directors of Inclusive Educators Australia.