Accessible Activities in Sydney

We recently sat down with Clair who is one of our support workers at NNA Direct Support Service and our Employee of the month for August! Clair shares how her career into disability support came about, how much she loves her job, gives her words of wisdom to others thinking about joining the community service workforce. Tell us a little bit about yourself and how have you come to be a Support Worker? I came to Australia probably 26 years ago now and travelled around. I then got married and had kids so was a stay-at-home mum for around 10 years. But I decided I wanted to work in aged care and complete all my studies I don’t know how I became a disability support worker, it just happened!  I started in a nursing home and then went out to do some home and community work. What I found in disability support work was that customers need someone to talk to all the time. So, I chose to carry on because of that - so I could help people get out into the community and be a bit more independent. But I never take over; I just help people to do the things they want to do themselves. What does a typical day look like for you at work? It all depends on the person, everyone is different. Some people need help with personal care, so normally I would help them get ready for the day. You’re taking care of their dignity and checking that their hair is neat and that they're ready to go out. I’ll normally take customers shopping or we will go and have a coffee or lunch, if that’s what they want to do. I talk one customer to the movies, but whatever it is we do together, I’m just there to ‘help’ not ‘do’. It’s really nice to see the positive change in customers from when I started working with them to now. For example, before I met some of the women I now support, not one of them had had a breast screen, so I helped organise that. I had another customer who hadn’t been to the dentist in 15 years, so I’ve helped them get to appointments. Have you had a rewarding experience with a client at NNA Direct Support? The biggest one would probably be a dentist trip. One of the ladies I work with didn’t smile because she had a black mark on her front tooth she’d had it maybe 20 years. She didn’t really like to talk to anyone or even smile for a photo as she was embarrassed. So I organised a dentist appointment and it was just a hole. They put a filling in and now she will smile at people and talk to people at the supermarket. Before, she didn’t even want to go out. While it is a really simple fix, it made such a big change in her lift. It’s great to see her smiling. What do you like most about working with NNA Direct Support? Whenever I ring up, the team are great. The guys make me giggle and they have a sense of humour; they are very bright and bubbly. They are always there to answer my questions. They are also very understanding and have been so lovely to work with. Do you have tips for someone that is thinking about getting into Support Work? I would first say, you must love it to do it. People can sense if you don’t, so that would be my main piece of advice. I would also say, don’t take over. It’s their house, you’re doing things they want to do, and your job is to help them. It’s not about if you want to go to Big W and shop, it’s about if they want to go and shop. You’re there to support them. For example, you can’t sit there and read a magazine if they want to chat to you. It’s not a babysitting job, you are there to support people at home and in the community, and help with whatever they need. It is a really rewarding job if you do it properly, so that is my advice. A big thank you to Clair for taking the time to sit and chat with us. We are so glad to have you as part of the team at NNA Direct Support Service. Thanks for giving our customers a reason to smile 😊