A commonly asked question is can a support worker be a friend? If your goal is to help the person you support to build friendships, then my view is that the answer needs to be no. There can be a murky invisible line between friends and support workers because they Read more…
Sometimes amazing, beautiful, wonderful, well-intentioned humans can do some not so good things without intending to that have bad outcomes for people with disability. Even us parents who love our disabled kids dearly do and we don’t even realise it. We’ve grown up learning our beliefs about people with disability Read more…
Decide what kind of business legal structure (if any) you want to set up – incorporated association, company etc. Get an ABN – or a WPN if you decide not to set up a business structure. Get insurance – workers compensation and public liability insurance policy Work out how much Read more…
1.They set boundaries Employees must understand that there are rules that they must abide by and procedures that must be followed. They must understand that failure to follow them has consequences. 2. Safety One consequence of not having policies and procedures in place is that there is no safeguard in Read more…
Friendships can’t be forced. But there are things we can do to increase the chances of friendships forming. Janet Klees proposes 5 Ps Janet Klees is a Canadian expert in building relationships between people with and without disability. She proposes these 5 Ps: Person – know in depth the interests, Read more…
Building friendships for our family members with disability isn’t easy. How we define what a friend is will be really important for how we go about supporting friendships. If we don’t know what a friend is, then how can we know if we have them or not and our strategies Read more…
It’s a scary thing leaving your vulnerable loved one in the hands of others. We have all seen those stories in the news. It sure leaves a terrible fear in my stomach when I think about it. But being there every day, day after day to make sure things are Read more…
Participative v Authoritarian Do you believe your staff love their work and take pride in doing the best possible job? Or do you think that they see it as a burden, and just do it for the money? These assumptions can influence how you deal with people. Douglas McGregor in Read more…
As a leader part of your role is to help your team to be very clear on their purpose and where they are heading. Writing a manifesto can help you clarify what you believe and what type of contribution you want your team to make to your family member’s life Read more…
Trust is Key When your family member’s support workers feel you trust them, they will be more willing to voice concerns and offer suggestions to improve on the way things are done. If there is trust among team members they can focus on delivering the best outcomes without the worry Read more…