Deb & Ian
The two of us.
Deb and Ian’s shared work supporting people began in 1980. Their background spans wellbeing, homes, food, gardens and community, including wellbeing services on the Sunshine Coast from 1999 and customised retreats from 2001. That shared experience informs the practical, personal approach we bring to Sunshine Life Skills.
Deb and Ian
Deb
Deb has worked across health and wellbeing settings, retreat and accommodation management, community living and hands-on work with people. Listening, clear communication and practical help have been at the centre of all of it.
At Sunshine Life Skills, Deb's starting point is getting to know you — what matters to you, what's getting in the way, and what a manageable pace looks like. Her approach is patient and practical: working alongside you as you build confidence with everyday activities, rather than doing it for you.
Ian
Ian's background is in practical education, permaculture, sustainable living and community projects. He likes understanding how things work and breaking complicated tasks into steps that make sense.
At Sunshine Life Skills, Ian's approach is learning by doing: explaining the options clearly, practising useful skills, and helping you find ways of doing things that fit your life. Your choices and goals stay at the centre.
Working together
Deb tends to lead on listening, planning and pacing; Ian on the practical how-to. You'll usually work mainly with one of us, and we'll bring the other in where it helps. Either way, you're working with the people who run the service — not a rostered worker you haven't met.
If that sounds like the kind of support you're after, we'd like to hear from you.
Completed training
- NDIS Commission Worker Orientation ("Quality, Safety and You")
- New Worker NDIS Induction
- Supporting Effective Communication
- Supporting Safe and Enjoyable Meals
- Sentrient Infection Prevention and Control
The other things we do
Sunshine Life Skills is one part of a broader working life on the Sunshine Coast — accommodation, small-scale wellbeing, permaculture, practical education and community projects. The thread through all of them is the same: working closely with people, listening to what matters to them, solving practical problems and sharing what we know.
These are separate from Sunshine Life Skills, with their own services and their own prices. They're here because they're where our experience comes from — and because you have a right to know what else we're involved in.
Sundeck Gardens
Beachfront apartments, Cotton Tree
A long-established apartment complex opposite Maroochydore Beach, a short walk from the river, Cotton Tree Park, cafés, shops and public transport. Deb and Ian manage the day-to-day running of the property. Some Sunshine Life Skills participants may choose to start their program with a stay at Sundeck — and if your NDIS plan includes Short-Term Accommodation funding, it may be able to help with the cost. Read how it works.
Beach Health Retreat
Personalised wellbeing, beachfront Maroochydore
Deb and Ian founded Beach Health Retreat in 2010 as a small, personal alternative to the large retreat model: private accommodation with wellbeing programs shaped around one person at a time. The lesson from years of one-to-one work is simple and it's the foundation of Sunshine Life Skills: people are individuals. Good support starts by getting to know the person, not by fitting the person to a program.
Bellbunya Eco Community
Sustainability and community, Sunshine Coast hinterland
An intentional eco-community on around 40 acres, as much about the human side of community — communication, cooperation, shared responsibility — as the environmental one. Ian has contributed as a permaculture teacher, trainer and consultant; Deb on the practical, people-facing side — communications, bookings and the organisation behind the community. Bellbunya adds something that matters to Sunshine Life Skills: community participation. Independence doesn't have to mean doing everything alone.
Noosa Forest Retreat
Permaculture eco-community and education, Noosa hinterland
A grassroots permaculture community and education centre in the forests of the Noosa hinterland. Ian has been one of the driving forces behind its development — designing, teaching courses and building food-growing systems; Deb's involvement has been in the community side: people, communication and organisation. That's where Ian's habit of breaking a big task into steps you can actually do comes from — and where we learned that useful skills are picked up most naturally by doing them in real places.
A beachfront apartment complex, a health retreat, a permaculture centre and an eco-community look very different from the outside. For us they've built one set of skills: working with people from all kinds of backgrounds, one-to-one attention, listening, teaching practical things, growing and cooking food, organising, adapting when plans change, and helping people get more confident doing things for themselves.
Sunshine Life Skills is its own service, with its own agreements and boundaries. Nothing here is a condition of working with us, we'll never suggest any of it as one, and choosing not to use any of it changes nothing.
Start a conversation
Tell us what you would like to work on.
No pressure and no commitment — a first conversation is just a chance to talk it through.
We usually reply within 2–3 business days.