It’s true – EPIC Assist (EPIC) is 30 years old!
We’ve come a long way in the last three decades. From our humble beginnings as a four-person team in 1990’s North Brisbane, to spanning three states and four countries, it’s safe to say that we’ve had some great adventures and got a pretty EPIC story to tell.
In celebration of our 30th anniversary, we’ve created an infographic board game to explore how our disability employment services are continuing to make an impact three decades on. So, without further ado, chuck your thimble, top hat, boot, or pawn-of-choice on the “Start here” square, and roll the dice to get us started.
Meet the EPIC team
Meet EPIC! We’re a passionate bunch of Employment Consultants, Business Development Managers, Mental Health Consultants, and much more. Here in Australia, we have 250 staff members working towards one shared goal—finding and maintaining meaningful employment for people with disability.
And for 1 in 3 of us, this is a purpose that’s very close to our heart – 1 in 3 EPIC employees has lived experience with disability. Every day, we draw upon these valuable insights and life experiences of our staff with disability to better meet and understand the unique needs of our job seekers.
By our sides, we have our wonderful EPIC Ambassador team matching each and every stride. Our dedicated team of Ambassadors support us to create positive change every day and are essential in our job seekers’ success.
We span across three states and four continents
Our goal has always been to reach and support as many people with disability as possible. Over the last 30 years, we’ve been expanding our impact to stretch across three states down the east coast of Australia.
In the last decade, we’ve taken to the seas and have sailed our way across to Europe to open EPIC branches dedicated to strengthening and supporting disadvantaged communities across the divide. Our teams in Slovakia, Scotland, and Czech Republic are committed to enacting legislative changes and creating more inclusive and diverse communities.
We’re changing the employment game
Over the last 30 years, we’ve worked alongside over 1000 employers to assist them to hire people with disability. In fact, we’re currently working with over 1250 employers to make this a reality.
By taking the time to understand their business needs and find the right person for the right job, many of these employees have gone on to revolutionise their roles and become a key player in the organisation’s success. As a token to this, over 300 employers have placed two or more of our job seekers in the last year, which we think is EPIC.
To empower these businesses to be more disability confident, we decided a few years back to go above and beyond and deliver disability and mental health awareness workshops directly to their doorstep. Over
30 businesses later, our customisable training courses are building the steppingstones to creating a community of inclusive and accessible workplaces.
Creating opportunities for everyone
Not everyone fits in the “traditional” employment mould.
That’s why we have delivered five art exhibitions featuring the works of amateur and professional artists with disability. For many of our artists, this is the event that sparks a passion for art and helps launch their career.
Research shows that artists with disability earn 42% less than artists without disability. At EPIC, we don’t think this is right. We’re all about levelling the playing field for people with disability and creating communities that value and welcome people with disability. We make our art exhibitions absolutely free to enter and 100% of the profits go to the artists.
Employment support
Everyone has a right to meaningful employment, and over the last 30 years we’ve been working hard to make this a reality.
One in five Australians live with a disability, but many still struggle to get their food in the door. In 2019 alone, our disability employment services assisted over 5,600 people on their employment journey.
It’s safe to say that our employment services have grown immensely since we first opened in 1990. We still remember back in 2001 when we reached the EPIC “1,000 participants placed into employment” milestone. Since 2009, we’ve been supporting up to 10,000 participants annually, and have helped tens of thousands of people with disability on their employment journey.
We go above and beyond
Detour time. Here at EPIC, we’re committed to investing in the success of our job seekers, employers, and local communities. Being a not-for-profit means we are able to go above and beyond for our job seekers. In fact, in 2018 we contributed in excess of $1 million to our community through community grants, donations, supporting school students with disability, and our specialised mental health services.
Mental health support
We understand that looking for work can be a challenging time. That’s why back in 2013 we launched our specialised, free Mental Health Consultancy to give our job seekers the best chance of employment success.
Creating diverse, inclusive, and accessible communities
We invest in the communities that we proudly served. We’ve awarded over 50 community grants to like-minded local groups and organisations to support them to create more inclusive communities.
Resources
We’re committed to reinvesting our surplus back into supporting people with disability and other businesses to reach their potential.
We recently donated our surplus furniture to businesses and charities in need. From filling cabinets and tables, to fridges and microwaves, we believe that it is extremely important for us to give back to the community that we belong to.
Donating our surplus furniture is just one way we are able to help other business build a stronger community. Throughout our 30 years, we’ve organised donation drives to support our job seekers to access interview and work clothes, supported our job seekers to organise transport to and from work and appointments, worked with people with disability and their employers to implement life-changing workplace modifications, and that’s only the beginning.
Training
We’re here for our job seekers every step of the way. Whether it is assistance writing resumes, interview training, or enrolling and sourcing education and training courses, we’ve helped hundreds of job seekers get the support they need.
And so much more
We’ve seen and done seem pretty EPIC things during our three decades of disability employment services, and we’re committed to making the next 30 just as EPIC.
If you are not already connected with EPIC, contact us to find out how we can support your employment journey.
