About Us

our story

BEHHA was established in 1977. Since that time we have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to providing support services to people with an intellectual disability. We have a long tradition of assisting the residents of our service to build meaningful lives in their local community.

Our residents work, attend day programs, pursue leisure and recreational interests, and establish friendships and networks of support in their community. We believe our residents have the support and encouragement they need to imagine and create their own ‘good life’. We have had a person-centred approach to our service delivery for many years and this can be seen in the diverse and interesting lives our residents have chosen for themselves.

Bankstown East Hills Handicapped Association now known as BEHHA Enterprises Inc. was formed in November 1977 by a group of concerned parents headed by the late Claris Napthali. Concerned that their school leaving children from the Carolyn Chisholm school were not eligible to attend the nearby sheltered workshops and were in danger of losing what skills they had attained with no further activity in sight. 

Pat Rogan the member for East Hills was approached and he in turn contacted the Revesby YMCA about providing a room at the “Y” to set up an activity centre. Initially there were 10 attending the “centre” increasing to 25 who paid a nominal fee. 

My introduction to the Bankstown East Hills Handicapped Association was in 1980 when I had a knock on the door one evening and three people presented themselves, one of which I knew, Michael Smith. The other two were the late Claris Napthali, the first Secretary of the Association and Joe Brent, Director of the Revesby Y.M.C.A. who I did not know at the time. Their mission was to encourage me to take on the role Treasurer of the Association which had formed November  1977 and was in need of a Treasurer. 

Michael Smith was the auditor at the time and knew of my involvement with the Padstow Heights. P. & C Treasurer/organiser for the “Tuck Shop” and as my children were now in high school was of the opinion that maybe I had spare time on my hands despite the fact that I worked full time. After some reluctance I agreed and hence my involvement for the next 40 years. 

The chief goal of the Association besides the daily activities was for the “trainees” to achieve living independence. To this end we had a kitchen installed in our room at the “Y” weekly cooking lessons with a teacher from the Padstow TAFE and all our fundraising efforts were with the aim of purchasing a group home and establishing an independent living program. 

Vince Martin, ex- member for Banks, was the President and through his influence in 1983/84 we became the beneficiary of the Revesby Workers Community fundraising appeals, who sponsored us for two years and enabled the Association to purchase the Hedlund St. Residence. There was a “but” attached to the fundraising and at the time members (of which there were very few) sold raffle tickets most Saturday nights at the RWC Shows The raffles were signed records of the artist performing on the night., the benefit being that we saw some wonderful artists at the time. i.e Dame Vera Lynne, Tom Jones, Harry Secombe to name a few. 

1988 Bankstown East Hills Handicapped Association became Incorporated with a new name change to BEHHA Enterprises Incorporated (Enterprise after our location) 

1995 we had the great privilege of a visit from the Rear Admiral Peter Sinclair Governor of NSW and his wife Shirley Mrs Sinclair was the Patron of the Quest that year and was most impressed with our group that she came in contact with at the “Ball” and wished to visit to our training centre and also the Beamish Street home. 

In order to commence our independent living program Hedlund Street required a further bedroom, lounge room, bathroom and laundry. Fortunately in our infant stages we were on a fairly friendly footing with the federal government department (Dept. Social Security) and I was advised to put in a submission for the funds required. Looking back it was a very naïve hand written submission but nevertheless we were granted a loan for the extension. 

Beside the purchase of Hedlund Street, I was also involved with the architect and builder re the extension to the house, purchasing the furniture and furnishings. The first residents moved in 1985 

We had by this time outgrown the “Y” as we were doing more light contract work. Considerable time was spent searching for a bigger premise to expand our contract work and we settled for Enterprise Avenue, Padstow. The late Pat Rogan the member for East Hills was our President at the time and he had little time for looking for new premises. Again I was dealing with renovations to the factory to suit our needs. Fortunately my next door neighbour was a builder who helped us out on these occasions. During this time I stepped down from the management committee but remained on the Residential Committee. I therefore have been the longest continual committee member of BEHHA becoming President in 1993 and for the next 23 years. 

It became clear after a few years at Enterprise Ave, that once more the workshop had outgrown the premises. By this time the workshop had gained bigger contracts and there was no storage room or space for trucks loading pallets etc. So the search was on for a new site. Hence the move to Ladbroke Street and again I was involved in renovating the factory to suit our needs. The move was successful and we had gained some very important contracts.