My Story

My name is Lou Howard and I’m the founder of Orbis Support Services. 

I’m a single mum to an adult daughter who is an NDIS Participant ━ I’m what NDIS call an “aging carer”. I have the ‘organisation’ gene, and it’s gotten me through some of the hardest times in my life.

Future Planning was daunting for me. The mere thought of it would bring tears to my eyes ━ of course I knew it was necessary, but it was a reminder that I wouldn’t be here forever. 

In the past, the easiest thing for me had been to put it all in the ‘too-hard basket’. It didn’t feel urgent. But there was always a niggling feeling that wouldn’t go away – if I waited for a crisis to happen before I did anything, then it was going to be too stressful and not done right. What if I needed to go into hospital? Or on a brighter note, what if I wanted to go on a holiday? I knew where everything was kept, but no one else did.

Future Planning was as much about me as it was about my daughter’s hopes and dreams for the future. How was I going to make sure that she would go on to lead a fulfilling life after I die? Who would take care of my daughter when I’m not here, for whatever reason? Who would protect her?

Twenty years of being a real-estate agent and understanding property matters ━ and twenty years of coping with complex family law matters ━ equipped me with a distinct set of skills and knowledge.

I tackled future planning like it was a job. With the help of a mentor: I did my research, identified problems, came up with solutions, engaged with people (organisations and professionals), made plans, navigated around obstacles ━ and I built my own future planning filing system.

I realized that if others were as overwhelmed and frightened as I was to get started ━ and I had figured out a way to get it done ━ then this would be a valuable service for families just like mine.

This is how Orbis Support Services and the Orbis Atlas was born.