Clayton Roser has developed vital floristry and life skills through his time at Buds and Brews. Photos: Keeli Dyson.
An Illawarra florist cafe is creating a community of confident and proud young people with autism while giving them the vital skills to thrive in the workforce.
At the same time, Buds and Brews is working to break down stigma and support businesses to embrace neurodiversity.
The coffee shop tucked away in Unanderra’s industrial area is blending delicious brews, beautiful bouquets and delivering important educational opportunities for young people.
Buds and Brews managing director Jo Opie said the florist cafe offered a chance to teach hospitality and retail skillsets.
“We don’t expect all of our young people to become florists but they will have lots of skills in teamwork, negotiation, technical skills of stripping flowers and all those kinds of fine motor skills – they’re all in the floristry,” she said.
“Same in the hospitality, we don’t expect them all to be baristas but the skills that they’ve developed – customer service, handling money – all of those transfer into other jobs.”
The program, which is accessed through the NDIS, creates flexible opportunities to get ready for the workplace and improve social and emotional wellbeing. Through creating a space exclusively for participants with autism, it has also created a community.
“Having the tribe of just autistic people, they can talk about it, they can be proud of it, they are quite open about it now, they are genuinely proud to be autistic,” Jo said.
“I see these guys becoming more creative, being more curious, their confidence is going through the roof and it’s because they’re in their tribe and they feel confident to do that.”
Jo has watched how participants have grown through the program.
That connection with others is a key part of the experience for Clayton Roser, who has been participating in the program for the past 18 months.
“I’ve been a social butterfly for a long time so I feed on social interactions and stuff like that, so it’s good meeting new people and meeting new industries,” Clayton said.
He’s looking to use the skills he’s developed to pursue an interest in horticulture therapy, with his floristry skills directly transferring to his dream career.
But it’s also helped him develop additional skills and engage in experiences which improved his confidence and independence.
“I’ve learned how to make coffees, cook different types of meals and how to market stuff as well,” Clayton said.
“An interesting thing about this place is that you feel like an adult, you don’t feel like you’re less than, like there’s no restricted areas for us.”
It’s about more than just making coffee – the skills can transfer across many industries and workplaces.
Although the participants are equipped with all the right skills, breaking down barriers to entering the workforce continues to be a challenge which Buds and Brews is trying to overcome through industry visits.
“What we find at the moment is we get our young people to work ready and then there’s this stigma out in the community that says ‘I’ve got these two people I can have for this job, one is neurotypical and one is neurodiverse, I don’t know what I’m getting with the neurodiverse so I’m going to go with typical’,” Jo said.
“From our perspective, the neurodiverse people are a wasted resource in our community because they are fantastic in the workplace and we’ve just got to convince businesses of that.”
They are also hoping to get more people involved from the wider community, with the organisation already embracing hosting events for aged care providers.
“We have a group that does scones and sandwiches for them, we have a group that does coffees for them and we have a group who does bingo for them, so they learn lots of skills in three different areas and with bingo the prizes are flowers,” Jo said.
Flowers can be ordered online, with delivery available Monday to Friday between Shellharbour and Thirroul.
“If we had more people that knew we were here, more people that actually came and gave us a go, tried our coffees and bought our flowers it would be super,” Jo said.
The cafe is at 237 Berkeley Road, Unanderra and is open Wednesday to Friday and Saturday mornings. For more information visit the Buds and Brews website.
