What attracted you to work at Brandon?
I was at a kid’s birthday party and a mum there was talking about her job at Brandon and how much she loved it, so I looked into it. Brandon was a different kind of care role, supporting people to live independently… a different approach, with more direct support. In my previous role I used to support 14 people at a time, so you didn’t get to know the people you supported – at Brandon you do.
What’s a typical day for you?
Eight people live in the service, but I focus on supporting two young ladies. I support them to get up and ready for the day, enabling them to make their breakfast. The people we support are busy every day, out and about. I support them in all aspects of daily living, encouraging them to be independent.
What challenges you in your role as a support worker?
Everyone has days where they don’t feel themselves, and for the people we support that can be the same. This is a new experience for me, learning how to support someone when they’re frustrated or upset, but I’m getting lots of advice and training from my team and Brandon. It’s a great challenge learning to try different approaches and gaining confidence to support people as best I can, through those times.
What do you find most rewarding about working as a support worker?
Encouraging people day to day and seeing them being independent and living an ordinary life. I also love building relationships and getting to know the people. It’s so different to what I’m used to - it’s a nice job to have.
Fun. Enjoyable. Rewarding.
Kylie - Support worker
What are you most proud of since working for Brandon?
Building relationships with the people I support. I’ not a confident person and one day I was supporting someone to go out and we bumped into their mum. She’d observed me supporting her daughter and commented on what a great job I was doing - it was a real confidence boost.
And lastly... What three words would you use to describe your job?
