Hi Samar, thanks for taking the time to have a chat with me about your work at Focus Care. I wondered if you could start off by telling me about your journey that has led to you working with Focus Care?

Hmm, what has my journey been? Gosh, where do I start?! A friend of mine thought I’d be good at training people for the NDIS Job Ready Program. The Job Ready Program trains people to become support workers and it sounded like something I’d be interested in.

So, I did the interview and got the job! I’ve been doing that work for about a year now and I really enjoy it. If you’d told me a year ago that I’d be training support workers, I’d say ‘no way in hell!’ I can be a bit shy to start with, but it’s been really good to give them an insight into what to expect in their role as support workers.

When I'm training support workers, I go into all of the details of the role of a support worker and what it involves. We talk about all aspects of the work, like personal care and social support and get really in depth in terms of what the support workers can expect in their roles.

What I really try to emphasise though, is the fact that we’re humans supporting humans we’re not there to tell people how to live their lives or what they can and can’t do, we’re there to guide them and we’re trying to help them achieve their goals. We’re trying to give the people we work with the best lives possible.

It sounds like you're really providing some valuable guidance for future support workers. And how did you become involved with Focus Care?

I met Christina, Focus Care’s CEO, at the graduation ceremony for the students from the Job Ready Program. She saw me present at the ceremony and afterwards she asked if she could get in touch with me. We went from there.

What is Your Current Role at Focus Care?

I currently work as an NDIS consultant with Focus. Recently, I’ve been doing the inductions for the new support workers in Melbourne where I’m based. We really try to make sure they’re well prepared when they start work with our NDIS clients.

I’ve also been working closely with our senior NDIS co-ordinator, James on simplifying our forms and procedures for support workers and making our inductions as good as possible.

It’s been really intense, but our goal is to make sure our workers are properly supported and that we’re always checking in with them and making sure they’re ok with everything they’re doing. I love working with James and we get on really well. We have the same point of view on the importance of support work.

 It sounds like you’re doing some really important work there. And what do you enjoy the most about your current role?

I really like collaborating and working with a team and finding those things that we can improve on. So far, it’s been going well and there haven’t been too many challenges that I’ve been too worried about. I think the work we’re doing will make a real positive difference to our support workers and the people they support.

Overall, I think things are improving in the industry and it’s good to be part of changing things for the better.

Fantastic. Well thanks so much for taking the time to sit with me, Samar, I know you’re busy. It’s great to hear that things are going well with your work at Focus and that you’re working on making some really great improvements to our processes for support workers.

Thank you, no problems.

Check this space next month for our next Focus On Staff Highlight!

Focus Care is an approved provider of Home Care Packages, and a registered NDIS Service Provider. If you are looking for home care or disability support, contact us today to see how we can help.