Sandy the Support Worker | Community organisation

Sandy the Support Worker

Phone: +61 425 730 629

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16.01.2022 Everyone Should Have a Personal Plan When I first started working as a support worker every client had to have a Personal Plan. What is a "Personal Plan"? It's a document which describes a person's goals in life, usually two long term goals and 10 short term goals that are small achievable steps heading toward the long term goals. Every three months these plans are revised and altered based on if there have been any problems or if any new goals need to be added. Every day ac...tions are taken to ensure both the client and all the support workers are on track to achieving both the long and short term goals. Sounds great doesn't it. If you think you need a Personal Plan contact me now

11.01.2022 Why are so many Support Workers Bad The way support workers are seen is negative. It is a job the attracts bullies with around a third of the workforce being bullies who quickly are promoted through to top positions who then employ like minded people ie other bullies. Another third are religious minded people who are interested in recruiting people into their religion and securing their spot in heaven by doing good deeds. This group are a difficult bunch they tend not to wa...Continue reading

06.01.2022 WORK LIFE BALANCE, GOAL SETTING AND CONTINUITY. Early in my career my employers were careful to drive home the importance of work life balance. However, they weren't so great at helping me implement this idea. Refusing a shift often resulted in no further shifts being given fundamentally making me unemployed without actually sacking me. It wasn't until I started working privately that I was able to implement a real life work balance. I felt like a support working machine: w...orking, going home sleeping and then working again. This is why support workers burnout rate was very high at that time. I suffered and my children suffered with my high volume of work and my low hourly rate of pay. I barely saw my children and sadly missed out on a lot of their childhood milestones. My clients got the exhausted version of me. Nobody was benefiting except the middle men/women. The NDIS has really cut out many of the slave driving middle men who took the majority of funding leaving people with disabilities a sub optimal service and support workers with very little quality of life. The difference in the service I am able to provide is in a completely different league now. The relationships I have with my clients are secure and directed with a great more deal of clarity. This makes goal setting and achieving goals highly likely. This gives clients a linea approach to achieving goals, continuity and stability in their lives. I earn more per hour which means I am able to work less. My clients pay less per hour for a better service. I have fewer clients and am able to provide a more person centred approach. There being no middle management means that my clients and I have to work through any problems we might have. The service providers would get a complaint and remove the support worker. This gave no opportunity to work through problems or resolve conflicts. The fact that my clients and I must work through our conflicts this provides a more realistic experience of conflict resolution for myself and my clients. Being profient in conflict resolution with me is a transferable skill which can be generalised into my clients overall life. It has had the unexpected fantastic result of both myself and my clients moving into much more effective communication making goal achievement a much smoother process. This is a direct consequence to being able to provide continuity. I am able to negotiate holiday times and the shift times around my clients needs. I haven't had to call in agency staff because I'm working now with two other support workers. This is wonderful because I can have time off making me a nicer human and a better Support Worker. It is fantastic to have time to do gardening, singing and music lessons and a good nights sleep every night not worrying about if I will have a job next week or not. I actually love my job.

05.01.2022 The Subtle Art of Supporting People I've heard Support Workers described as "Glorified Taxi Drivers", "People who get paid to have a cup of tea" and "Baby sitters for disabled people". I've been asked if I just sit around all day doing nothing. Some people have said to me, so you're a cleaner are you (cleaning a very admirable profession but often not seen that way). What makes matters worse is that I don't really know how to describe my job in a simple sentence. I ofte...n revert to: Its kind of like nursing and kind of like cleaning and little bit like counselling. My son put it this way, "You're like a multi-tool" That's a pretty good description. I do different things for different people. No two people are the same therefore no job is the same. I'm not often the support person for just one member of the family. I usual support everyone in the family in some way. I'm sometimes the only support one person has. I might be writing a behaviour plan or pruning a tree. I might be cleaning the house and doing adhoc counselling. I might be tearing up carpet, cleaning out garages or assisting in repairing a car, bike or plane. I might be taking a dog or two for a walk. I'm often considered an extended member of the family and mostly I feel appreciated and loved. I also appreciate what a gift it is to be included in a person's life in the way I am included. Its a wonderful privilege. I unashamedly love all my clients in that very unique support worker way. Unconditionally, as a professional and as a fellow human walking beside my clients and their families through every aspect of life. There is an art to good support work. Sure you can do a surface job and just do the bare minimum or you can be the instigator of change and a bridge from unhappiness to happiness. An advocate for diversity and a person who takes on the awesome responsibility of educating the broader community about the ordinariness of life with a disability. You can be the quietly orbiting support for people to achieve their goals or you just clean a house and brighten up a day. There are so many subtle nuances that make a good support worker. We are few and far between. There aren't any good training manuals written by actual support workers and the teachers in TAFE courses usual haven't worked in the industry for any length of time with actual clients. Hopefully these scribblings will help others.

05.01.2022 Who Pays The Price For Services. People with disabilities pay for their support workers through NDIS funding these days which is great once people have gone through the awful application process and usually a review or two to finally get an adequate amount of funding. The NDIS is paid for by tax payers like an insurance situation so that if any of us end up with a disability our lives can continue without having to worry about paying for things like prosthetic limbs, wheelc...hairs, shower chairs, or support either from support workers, physiotherapy or other specialist services. As for support staff they can be directly employed by the person with a disability at a price negotiated between the worker and the person with a disability. That usually works out around the price you might pay for a cleaner around $40 -$50 an hour. Then the support worker pays for their superannuation and insurance, holiday pay and sick leave out of that amount. That is about is about $25 an hour after those costs. So for that amount a person with a disability could pay for 30 hours of support a week which would enable them to have help morning and evening and some assistance on the weekend. Working out to around $1,200 - $1,500 a week If a person with a disability goes through a service provider the cost starts at around $50 and hour and can get as high as $100 or more. The support worker usually gets $23 of that per hour super annuation is taken out of that and the company pays for insurance. Support workers are usually paid on a casual basis therefore don't get sick leave or paid holidays. The rest of the money is profit for the company and goes toward paying for office staff. If you have the confidence to employ your own support worker you will definitely be getting more hours for your money. The support worker will be paid a little bit more and distribute their income as they see fit either into super or savings. I would recommend a contract or an agreement after a trial period be signed to cover such things as shift cancellation, holidays per year and how costs can be covered. I recommend employing a minimum of 2 support workers so that they can cover each others shifts if one is sick or on holiday. There are advantages to getting support staff through service providers. They do the hiring and firing so you don't have to do that. Staff are usually well trained and the training is updated. The staff are supervised by a third party and complaints can go through them. The service have a pool of support staff so if one gets sick or goes on holiday there's another one available most times or agency staff are employed through the service provider. Any disputes you might have with your support worker are handled through the service provider. However, if you use a platform such as Hireup or Marple all disputes, hiring and firing are done between you and the support staff and no shifts are covered by a pool of support staff because there isn't one.