Talia's team
The questions and answers below have been transcribed from the carecareers TV ads and Q&A videos that Talia's team of allied health professionals appear in.
Get to know Michael
Michael is Talia's Physiotherapist.
What attracted you to work as a Physiotherapist?
I think once I got into it, I wanted to sort of help people, especially with kids. Initially, I didn't really know much about paediatrics for physiotherapy, but once I got into it and knew what was involved and that sort of thing, I knew that's really what I wanted to do and get into.
I think, especially in paediatrics, because it's much more sort of long-term with the kids, so you're seeing them from babies up until they're older and at school and that sort of thing as well.
So that's what really just drew me to it, is having those more long-term therapy with the kids so you can see the differences that you do make and just ways you can help the kids and the families...
I knew it would be a lot of fun but also very challenging as well because, especially in kids, you've got the kids to work with, also the families as well, to try to achieve their goals and everything there.
What do you enjoy most about working in this sector?
I guess the beauty about it is it's so varied. Every child's different, and that's what I like about it. So you have patients throughout the day and each child is individual. They have their individual needs and goals you've got to work on. So, throughout that day, you've got a lot of variety. So it's gonna be different every day.
So you can see from babies to school-age kids to.....a whole range of conditions and disabilities and that sort of thing as well. And that's, I guess, one of the highlights...and just working with kids, seeing how hard they work to achieve their goals.
What are the key challenges you face working in this sector?
The challenging thing is trying to win over the kids and the families as well, especially initially. You'll have some kids, especially younger ones, who may not quite sort of respond to you, so they may get a bit upset...
So that's part of the challenge but I think also part of the joy of trying to work out the best way, I guess, to win over the kids and the families...to build that rapport and to be able to get them to do the things you need them to do...
So that's, I guess, probably the main thing which is both a challenge but also really good when you find those little cues that sort of work for you as well.
Get to know Ashley
Ashley is Talia's Case Worker.
What attracted you to work as a Case Worker?
I've always wanted to work with children so that's, I suppose, the biggest attraction. But I like to see people achieve things that they wouldn't normally be able to achieve without some guidance. And just seeing them change and be able to do things that they want to do is the biggest buzz.
What do you enjoy most about working in this sector?
Just seeing the kids achieve so much and their families being able to do things that they never thought that they could do. Often we come into working with them and they're struggling and they're in crisis.
And hopefully, most of the time, by the time we're finished working with them, they're able to kind of manage their own kids and get services that they need and they can go on little things, like they can go grocery shopping with the kids, which they weren't able to do before because of behaviours or transport or something or other.
So just being able to help them get access to things in the community that everyone should have access to, that they struggle with for one reason or another.
What are the key challenges you face working in this sector?
Resources, I think. There isn't enough services out there to help families who do have different struggles. So, you know, waiting lists or age criteria that don't fit the needs of the child or different things.
I think there needs to be more money and more effort and more workers put in the industry, because it is such a large one and families are missing out and things are getting left too late because they don't have access to those resources or they don't know that there are a lot of people out there that can help them. So I think that's probably one of the biggest challenges.
And lack of funding for the families. They struggle to pay for therapy, so the kids might miss out because they can't afford it.
And if they get that therapy in those early stages, then they can excel even more. Or purchasing equipment and stuff like that can be really big struggles for the family...
What is your most memorable project or experience working in this sector?
That would be Talia's starlight wish. Not long after I first started working with her...I could see it would not only benefit Talia but also the family. They'd had a lot of surgeries and they hadn't been away as a family for a long time and being in hospital on and off all the time was just really draining on them.
So I contacted the Starlight Foundation and did the application and spoke to them about the needs of the family. It took a little while to get going because they changed over staff and everything, but I kept going back to them. And they got a volunteer to come out and speak with Talia about what she might like to do.
It involved animals and they got to go down to Mogo Zoo and stay there for about four or five days and do different animal experiences and stuff. I was just so happy to hear that they had a great time and it went perfectly for them.
Get to know Jayne
Jayne is Talia's Occupational Therapist.
What attracted you to work as an Occupational Therapist?
I just wanted to work in a role that was helping people and this sounded a bit more interesting, sort of working with people in everyday living type things.
What do you enjoy most about working in this sector?
I take inspiration from the kids. So all the kids that we see have a physical disability but they just get on with it and don't complain and I just think they're great.
I'm just amazed at some of them, how happy they are and manage things...I mean, some of the kids, you know, have got...significant disabilities but they find ways around it.
You know, we can learn from them how they've managed it and then pass that on to someone else.
What are the key challenges you face working in this sector?
Originally, when I first was looking for a job, it was hard to find a job, whereas I think now there's a lot more jobs out there. But also from the point of view of the OT role, I think what you need to know now, and in the use of technology, it has just broadened so much. You need to know a lot more now than maybe when I first graduated.
So I think for students coming through, that's a real challenge sometimes. Just how much they need to know for the job, but it makes it interesting and there's always something new to learn, so it doesn't get boring.
Get to know Katelyn
Katelyn is Talia's Speech Pathologist.
What attracted you to work as a Speech Pathologist?
I always wanted to work with children. It's just something that I'd been interested in and I'd had a few family and friends who had had disabilities themselves, so I'd had experience with kids with disabilities and I was just interested in the field. I researched what was around and speech pathology just kind of really sat well with me.
What do you enjoy most about working in this sector?
I love my job. I think it's really rewarding and really...it's such a fun position to work in. You know, working with kids, we have a lot of laughs. You do. You get to spend a lot of time on the floor, you know, playing with them, which is really fun, but doing it in a way that promotes their development and their learning.
So I think it is a really rewarding job and if you love working with people, it's definitely a good position to get into because you do get to work so closely, not just with the families and the children, but also within a team, so it creates quite a strong network around you. I'm very happy with what I'm doing.
What are the key challenges you face working in this sector?
I think, for us, not having, you know, enough staff to be able to see these kids until they go to school. That's always challenging.
I think we could always do with more. We have fairly long waiting lists because...it's a funding thing and needing extra staff. So that makes it challenging because sometimes you can't always give as much as you want to families because you have to try and share your service around to everybody.
What is your most memorable project or experience working in this sector?
Talia's a beautiful girl. She's such a lovely personality. So, yeah, I loved working with her because you could go in and have a chat and she was just happy to do whatever you wanted.
And her mum was brilliant...because I only saw her once a month she needs to be doing it at home, so her mum was really great at pulling everything together at home.
And so it was really nice to see that change. She made a lot of progress in...a fairly short amount of time because of all the hard work her mum and her teachers had put in as well.
