I was asked on carecareers: What qualification do you have and how long did it take for you to finish your study?

When I finished school I wasn’t sure where I wanted to focus my career. My parents encouraged me to attend University until I made up my mind. As a compromise I studied externally and worked in retail so I still had some money to socialise with my friends. In this time I completed an Associate Degree in Law.

Not really having much interest or even confidence to work in a law firm, I enrolled in a Bachelor of Social Science. This time I studied internally and only worked part time. I was working as a Support Worker in a local childcare centre supporting a few children with disability attending the centre to actively participate in the program.

Once I completed this degree I started working full time in a non government organisation that supported people with disability. After working for about 12 months I decided to enrol in a Master of Social Science, focusing on human services management. I completed this part time whilst working in the field.

All up, I studied for quite a few years, but that is mainly because I was not really sure ‘what I wanted to do when I grew up’, and some of the study was part time. In saying that, I am not someone who would ‘do it differently’ if I turned back the clock. The journey has been what has contributed to me being who I am today. We all have our own journey to follow.    

Learn more about training and qualifications or contact the carecareers Careers Centre to chat to a Talent Advisor.

Do you have a question for me? You can anonymously ask questions to help with your career decisions, at Career Advice and Opinions on carecareers.

Did you know you can ask questions of our bloggers on carecareers?

Anonymous asked: I want to become a disability worker but I have no idea how to start or what training I need to do

Getting your foot in the door with an organisation to commence work as a disability support worker is not as hard as it may seem. I have interviewed so many people who have not had any formal training however provided great responses to questions around how they would practically support someone. Their answers may have stemmed from a previous role where their skills were transferable or they may have had a caring role they held in their family, community or friendship circle. Some people I have interviewed have not had any experience but displayed a genuine and passionate desire to work in this industry.

The great thing is that organisations are really keen to meet people who are enthusiastic about joining their organisation and supporting people living with disability to have valued roles in the community. Organisations recognise that some people entering the workforce will be starting from scratch, so they have great on-the-job training opportunities. Many organisations even offer traineeships so that formal qualifications can be gained whilst you are earning an income and with the support of the organisation.

If someone approached me and asked me how they could get work as a support worker I would encourage them to shop around. There are so many great organisations in the sector now, it is so important to find an organisation where your personal values are aligned with the organisation’s core values. Something else I would encourage someone to do who has an interest in the sector would be ‘try before you buy’. Contact the organisations you are interested in and ask them if you could spend a few days working alongside a team member to see what the job is really like. It will even give you an idea of how the company supports its staff and whether you think you will get the support you might need moving into a new field of work. If you are already working full time during the week, you could volunteer on a Saturday or Sunday for a few hours. Working in the disability sector can be pretty flexible.

Of course there are certain skills and personality traits that make a good support worker. For example, good communication skills, reliability, honesty, a sense of responsibility and a respect for difference. But something I have always believed is that great support workers are people who share the same interests as the person they are supporting, they are always looking for opportunities where the person they are supporting can connect with and form friendships with people in their community, and they are someone who is focused on finding ways that will better support a person to have an ordinary good life.

If you are interested in becoming a disability support worker, have a browse through the carecareers website, look in the Employer Directory and narrow down some organisations you are drawn to and make a few calls.

Read more about training and qualifications in the disability and community care sector.

We’re all working together to support our clients to achieve their aims and complete the activities on their roster so it’s really important to support each other.

At Skills Options, we have a staff meeting every morning. We talk about what every staff member is doing and any changes to rosters for the day. This meeting is very important as changes to routine often happen. It’s a casual meeting and it’s often the case that discussions arise from issues or problems that happened the previous day. Some days are more difficult than others, so having this meeting enables staff to talk about our experiences and gather information that can be helpful in the future. One new suggestion can benefit the client and also the staff who work with that particular person.

An example occurred last week when a staff member had changed a client’s plate to a flatter one as she had noted the client had previously refused on a number of occasions to eat lunch from a large bowl.
 
At the end of the meeting, we usually have a few minutes (before the clients arrive) to catch up on conversation about family, friends or what’s the best movie to see this weekend.

The age-old question “What do you do?” gets thrown around a lot in most social settings, especially when people are meeting for the first time. As with the other bloggers, I get asked this question regularly. After using my really brief “in a nut shell” statement – working for a not-for-profit organisation that supports people – many responses I get tend to make reference to how rewarding the work must be and how special I am for working with people who require support to live their life.  

Some people of course ask the question without really having an interest in my response, so my replies are varied. However, when someone shows a genuine interest, I will spend more time explaining what my role is really about.

There are so many different jobs within the human services sector, which range from providing direct support to people to specialist support services like speech therapy or occupational therapy. Then there are management and administration roles and everything in between. When I share my work roles and experiences with people I like to be able to break down some of the misconceptions or stereotypes they may hold.

I am an Operations Manager and oversee Self-Managed and Individualised Support Arrangements across New South Wales for the organisation I work with. I lead, support and work alongside a team of Facilitators who develop partnerships with people living with disability and their family members or support people. A facilitator acts as a kind of assistant to families, and assists people to self-manage or direct their own support as much as possible. A facilitator will provide guidance to a person and their family to recruit and employ their own support staff, complete administrative processes – around payroll for example – and provide resources and support to families whilst they work together to create a ‘good life’ for the person with a disability. While the facilitator plays an important role, they remain in the background while the individual and their family decide what times and what things they would like to do with the funding they receive.

After painting this picture it’s easier for me to explain that, while my role is rewarding, the rewards have little to do with the ins and outs of the role itself, and everything to do with being connected to and witnessing people with disability having maximum control over how their lives are lived. It is the stories I hear from people with disability who are living regular lives, having valued roles within their families, their workplaces, their social networks and their communities that keep me connected to this role and to this industry.

Does working in a role supporting people with disability and their families to create a good life for themselves make me a special person? Not at all. It has, however shaped the person I have become professionally and changed the way I believe paid services should be represented in people’s lives.