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Campaign stories
carecareers has created a series of television ads and behind-the-scenes Q&A videos profiling some of the people who work in the NSW disability and community care sector.
To gain an enriching insight into these people, their careers and the rewarding relationships they have with their clients, watch their videos and read their stories below.
Talia's story |
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Talia is a young girl with cerebral palsy who works with a team of allied health professionals, including her Speech Pathologist (Katelyn), Occupational Therapist (Jayne), Physiotherapist (Michael) and Case Worker (Ashley). One of the family's biggest goals has been getting Talia to high school and Michael, her Speech Pathologist, was involved in the process: "That transition from primary school to high school is really quite a tough one. Not just for the child, but also for the families as well." As part of the team effort, Ashley, Talia's Case Worker, spoke directly to the head teacher of the high school's support unit to let her know about Talia and her family. "We find if we work together, then there's greater outcomes for the family," says Ashley. Jayne, an Occupational Therapist, worked with Talia on handwriting and alternatives to handwriting. "We look at if they need any sort of modifications or equipment for the school...and we've implemented things like speech therapy and iPads for Talia," says Jayne. Talia was also referred to Katelyn, her Speech Pathologist, so that she could get support in keeping up in the classroom. "Michael and Jayne referred Talia to me to get that extra support. She made a lot of progress in a fairly short amount of time. Talia was coming back and saying, 'I feel more confident in putting my hand up and asking a question or asking for help if I need it.'" In Talia's words: "You're never gonna get something without trying. You need to try, otherwise you're not gonna get where you want to be...I just want to keep trying to do my best and see where it takes me." Read more about Talia's team of allied health professionals. |
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Maria & Gerard |
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Born with down syndrome, Gerard is a young man with many goals in life, one of which was to get a good job, and the second, to become a famous actor. Maria started working with Gerard at the beginning of 2008 and the two of them have formed a solid working relationship; built largely on trust in one another and Maria’s unflagging faith in Gerard’s potential to succeed. Within a short time Maria and Gerard worked together to achieve his goals, with Gerard winning Best Male Actor at the Australian Tropfest short film awards and securing a Part Time job. Gerard then secured a role as Theatre Operator at Riverside Theatres in 2011 which he is still doing today. "I like the staff of Riverside as they are nice people to work with and I like being around theatres," Gerard told us. Maria and Gerard both share the same philosophy in life, and that is, in Gerard’s words “To follow your dreams and go for it. Help other people. Help them to communicate. Help them to solve their problems and their other upsets. Help them to keep going.” Read more about Maria & Gerard's story. |
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Ken & Ange |
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Ken was the manager of a steel powder coating plant until, at the age of 44, he felt an overwhelming need to do something more worthwhile - to be more involved with his community. He applied for a job at Cerebral Palsy Alliance (formerly The Spastic Centre) and got it. That was 14 years ago and that’s where he began caring for Ange. Ange has cerebral palsy, is in a wheelchair and cannot talk. Their main method of communicating is by using the alphabet. Ange moves her head either to the left (which means start at A) or to her right (which means start at L). Ken then calls out the alphabet A, B, C, D, etc until she moves her head indicating the letter she wants. Then comes the next letter, and the next and so on. It sounds time consuming, and it is, but after 10 years together they’ve got it down to a fine art. One of Ange’s true passions is a ball game called Boccia which Ken assists her with. It is one of the very few times in Ange’s life where she has total control of what’s going on as Ken can do nothing and makes no decisions until Ange gives him an instruction. Thanks to their unique team work and absolute trust in each other Ange has won the national title three times in a row, but she hasn’t finished there. Now she has her eye on the biggest prize of all, a gold medal at the Paralympics. But perhaps the greatest reward comes to Ken as he says in his own words, ”Seeing her each day and the courage she shows really helps me in my life everyday.” Read more about Ken & Ange's story. |
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Linda & Mr Lam(1915 - 2010) |
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Born in Malacca in 1915, Mr Lam experienced a lot in his 95 years, with many ups and downs, bitter and sweet. |
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Regional stories
In 2010 a carecareers television program aired in regional NSW, showcasing some of the frontline support workers already working in the disability sector.
Read some of their interviews below or watch the TV program to discover the rewards and benefits of a care career.
Meet Helen
Helen is a Part Time Disability Support Worker with On-Focus in Lismore. She also works with the NSW Fire Brigade and is a mother of two children.
Does working Part Time in the disability sector gives you time to do all three of your roles?
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It does. It gives me great flexibility. It allows me to be at home of a morning with my children to get them ready for school and their daily activities. I then go to work and do my job and then I’m home again for the kids in the afternoon to go through what they’ve done and experienced for the day. And then of course, with nights and weekends I get to work for the fire brigade. |
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Was there something that really surprised you about the job, that you hadn’t expected?
Just the diversity between each of the clients and how their needs are all individual. Every day is different, it’s not the same routine every day. We have a different day every day which makes it really interesting to come to work because you just don’t know what you’re going to be up for.
What are some of the goals that your clients have?
We have one client who has the goal of catching a bus independently. We have another client whose goal was to get his drivers licence and we have just achieved that with him, which was a very amazing process to go through.
We have other clients who have wanted to transition from living at home to living by themselves in the community, and we’ve just achieved that for another young client.
Meet Bree, Jeremy and Cassie
Bree, Jeremy and Cassie are Disability Support Workers with Greenacres Disability Services in Wollongong.
Bree was working in a call centre before getting her job at Greenacres, Jeremy has been in the sector for 21 years and Cassie made the move to her current role while studying psychology.
Bree
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Did you have any qualifications before getting this job? No, I had come from a completely different industry. I was fortunate enough to step in and they gave me all the training that I needed. I’ve got my Certificate III and IV in Disability now. What would you say to someone who is looking to get into this type of career? |
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I guess it’s not what you see on the outside. Being on the inside, it’s completely different. It’s a fun environment and I work really well with my guys. I get a lot of support from my team as well - it’s pretty cool.
What are some of the things you’ve learnt?
It sounds very obvious, but patience is the biggest thing I’ve learnt. I never really realised how impatient I was. That is one thing in this industry you do need - patience.
Jeremy
Can you tell us what happens where you work?This particular site is a community participation program so we try and do as many things as we can out in the community, rather than having centre based programs. We like to be out and about, keeping busy. We do everything from drama to bowling, to going to cafes. What do you love about your job? |
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I think it’s the interaction with the guys and having a good team of staff – people to bounce your ideas off and have some fun with.
As a team leader, what do you look for in team members?
It’s mostly about personality - what the person’s like. One of our staff members was a walk up off the street. She made a phone call to me and asked if she could come and talk to me about it. I just got a really good vibe about her and she’s one of the better workers that we have in the team at Greenacres.
Cassie
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into your role?
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I started out like anybody else I suppose. After school I was doing a few jobs here and there while I was trying to get myself through uni. I was doing psychology at the time and I ended up having a child while I was at uni, so instead of sticking to the psychology path, I decided that I needed to go out and get a job, and I could see that disability was a great way for me to use my behaviour management skills that I’d already built up and learnt. |
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So what is it that keeps you here and out of psychology?
I still feel like I’m making a difference here. I can put in and I can get back from the guys. We set their goals together and we implement strategies together. I get to see them achieve their goals and I think what’s more important and better than that, is that when you see them acknowledge their own achievements. You can’t express to people how amazing it is to be a part of that process with someone.
Can you tell us about some of your team?
They’re a great team of people. I wouldn’t trade them for the world. Honestly, they give each other support and they’re diverse, which I think is very important for our service users. We have a broad range of people that come to the service and I think it’s very important that as a team you are also offering a broad range of people to assist them and provide support.
When you get to work with a team of people like that, by sharing all of those experiences together, you create such a strong bond. I don’t think that’s something you would be able to easily find in another industry.
Linda & Mr Lam
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Linda & Mr Lam's answers below have been transcribed from the carecareers TV ads and Q&A videos they appear in. |
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Get to know Linda |
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Watch Linda's Q&A videos. I saw an ad in the local paper and said “Hmm, sounds like it suit me. I’ve never ever worked in a hospital, I might give myself a go, see how I cope with it”. Firstly I wanted to change careers, secondly, the ad said I needed a nursing background and I’ve got it, and the ad also said I have to bi-lingual. Is working in the sector different to how you previously perceived? Yes it’s different. In previous jobs it needed more technical skill, but this job is more interpersonal. For example, in a hospital you look after someone only within the time that they are there. Once they leave the hospital, you stop the relationship. In this job you keep following-up, it’s a continuous job. One of my clients has been with me for ten years. I’m still going to him. Who do you think is best suited to working in the sector? Have a lovely heart, most important. Skill yes, it’s better to offer skill as well, but we train our staff. We are facing the elderly and they are all different characters. Some of them have had very tough life experience and you have to fully understand why they behave like that, and you’ve got accept it. What has the work taught you about yourself, others, and people your work supports? I say, it really inspired me a lot, for instance, by interacting with different elderly, their life experience, the way they face difficulty. You’ve got to be very flexible at the time you deal with them. I learn a lot from them. After working in this industry, I’ve found I’m more positive towards life, even when problems come up I always look at them in a positive way. |
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Get to know Mr Lam |
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(1915 - 2010) What do you like most about working with Linda? I feel Linda is attentive, cooperative and very communicative. The shock, suffering and depression I endured after my wife passed away has been lifted by Linda and the workers. The caring, love and spirit from the volunteer workers have helped me resolve many psychological issues. And receive the warmth from human beings. How has it been being involved with the carecareers TV shoot? Regarding this TV shoot, I can’t say the length of it is short, nor is it too long. It’s enough for me to have the opportunity to express my years of life experience and my understanding of society. The fact that I can have this team of workers helping the elderly express their true feelings, and the brilliant director, I am very pleased with. If you were to employ your own paid care worker, what qualities would you seek in them to support you? The qualities your team possess are what I am after. But the time is limited to heal my emptiness because there are only a few hours consultation each week, and my children need to work. I think my view would represent half of the elderly population.
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Ken & Ange
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Ken & Ange's answers below have been transcribed from the carecareers TV ads and Q&A videos they appear in. |
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Watch Ken's Q&A videos. Somebody with compassion, that’s the main word that I use, you’ve really got to have compassion to do this job and to do it properly. You’ve got to have a lot of other attributes as well, a lot of patience, whatever you do for them, you’ve got to try to do it the way the want it done, I feel that’s very important. What attracted you to the sector? I’d have to say, just being able to help people in your work and having that fulfilment of doing a job, not just doing a good job but making a difference. I felt like I really needed to try and make a difference in the community and that was the thing, when you’re doing that type of work you go home at night, when you put your head on the pillow you know you’ve done a good job, you know, or it’s not that I wasn’t doing a good job, I was doing a good job before, but you’ve made a difference to somebody else’s life. Why would you encourage friends and family to enter the sector? I think it’s one of the most fulfilling things you can do to help people, and the feeling you get of being able to help somebody. I find that all the time with different things that I do with people with disabilities, they really appreciate it so much and they’ll thank me, even people that can’t talk but they’ll go out of the way to find a way to say thank you, which I admire in them, and quite often I say to them “It’s my pleasure”, and I really mean it. What has the work taught you about yourself, others, and people your work supports? It’s taught me a lot about myself. Firstly, when you go to work you might have a bit of a headache, but when you get to work, that doesn’t mean anything. You’re working with somebody that firstly can’t get themselves out of bed, can’t get dressed themselves, can’t get themself breakfast or clean their teeth. Whereas I might have a bit of headache I’ve been able to do that all myself this morning, I haven’t needed anybody to do that for me. |
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Get to know Ange |
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What do you like most about working with Ken? Ken means everything to me because without Ken being involved in Boccia I won’t be able to play Boccia. Although there’s other carers involved with me, Ken and I have an understanding of each other that makes it easy, because Ken knows what I’m trying to do in the game environment. How has it been being involved with the carecareers TV shoot? It was good being involved with the carecareers campaign because I learned a lot about filming. I thought just a couple of people would be needed to make an advertising campaign. I was wrong. There was almost twenty people that make a movie. If you were to employ your own paid care worker, what qualities would you seek in them to support you? Well I have some experience in employing carers when I was going to school and I had to have a tutor to help me with my homework and was my house manager. I saw they had patience, be able to communicate with people with disabilities, having a sense of humour and having, well, knowledge about education.
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Regional NSW to experience growth
Kurrajong Waratah and the state-wide carecareers employment campaign has organised a forum in Wagga Wagga for more than 40 local residents and service providers, to learn about how they can transition into a rewarding career in the disability and community care sector.
Read the media release (pdf)