You don't have to explain yourself here.
First Step Support Services is a lived-experience-led NDIS provider, built by people who actually get it — for participants, families and support workers across Geelong and Melbourne.
It started with one person who couldn't find support that fit.
First Step didn't start as a business plan. It started with a gap — between what the system offered and what neurodivergent and disabled people actually needed. Here's how it's grown, one honest step at a time.
One person, one idea
Shay Cole started First Step from her own experience navigating disability and support systems that weren't built with neurodivergent people in mind.
Handpicking the team myself
Shay personally handpicked every support worker who joined First Step, building a team from the ground up around the same conviction: support should be respectful, flexible, and led by the person receiving it.
Lindsey and Teah joined
Lindsey came on to run Support Work operations, and Teah joined to lead Allied Health — the team First Step needed to keep growing without losing what made it work.
37+ people, still growing, still ours
Today we're a full team across Geelong and Melbourne, working toward full NDIS registration — and we still make every decision the same way we did on day one.
As a child, I wholeheartedly believed I was the only one born ‘different’ and ‘weird’. I came to learn I just hadn’t found my place yet in a world that felt really scary.
Our Values
Not a list we wrote for a policy folder, this is genuinely how we try to show up, every day, for every person we support.
Lived experience at the heart
First Step wasn't built from a textbook, it was built from actually navigating disability and a system that wasn't designed with neurodivergent people in mind. That's still what shapes how we support people today.
You lead, we walk beside
We don't rush you, push you, or decide what's best for you. Your pace, your goals, your choices, we're there to support them, not steer them.
Neuroaffirming, always
No masking expected, no "fixing" agenda. We use identity-first language because that's what's asked for, and we treat different, not less, as the actual starting point.
Honest conversations, not forced positivity
If something isn't working, we'll say so, kindly and directly, rather than pretending everything's fine. Trust gets built through honesty, not perfect smiles.
Big feelings are welcome here
Disability, trauma, and hard days don't always look neat or predictable. There's no shame here for a rough day, we make space for all of it.
Showing up, especially on the hard days
Progress isn't a straight line. When things feel tired, stuck, or heavy, that's exactly when we're still here, not just for the easy wins.
Two ways we walk alongside people.
Support Work
In-home and community support matched thoughtfully — not just by availability, but by personality, interests and communication style.
Community accessIn-home supportCapacity buildingAllied Health · Therapy Assistant Program
A bridge for families locked out of ongoing speech pathology by rebate limits or a small plan. Assessment with a Speech Pathologist, then affordable, supervised ongoing sessions.
Speech pathology supportSupervised by Dee WardropSocial communication
The people behind First Step.
A small, real team — not a call centre. These are the people your family will actually talk to.
Shay Cole
Lindsey
Teah
Rochelle
Tayla
Where you can find us.
Geelong & the Bellarine Peninsula
Melbourne — West
Melbourne — North
Melbourne
What families and participants say.
Ready to take the first step?
Reach out for a no-pressure chat about support work, allied health, or just to ask a question.
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