I joined Your Caring Way back in 2020.

I was volunteering and studying through Your Caring Way’s RTO program when we last spoke and they were both amazingly positive experiences.

Back when we last spoke, I said one of my goals was paid employment.

I am now in paid employment. I work for Empower Autism. I was actually referred to it by my Your Caring Way Placement Officer

My Placement Officer really encouraged me to put out my resume and apply for the job and go for the interview; not only did I get the job, but I was also able to work with my boss about what hours worked around my caring needs.

I absolutely adore my job. I am very lucky to work with a great team. I have a phenomenally supportive boss and the most powerful part of that was when I came in I did feel like a carer who was returning to the workforce, I now am still a carer but I’m also a really valuable part of a Team and I don't think I would have gotten there without the occurring waiting at all times. I was really encouraged to feel a sense of pride from the knowledge that I'd gained and the experience I'd gained as a carer.

I’m so grateful to my placement officer for sending me the job and stepping me through the process.

I had a great instructor when I was studying at Your Caring Way who used the analogy of ‘all carers carry their caring hat in their hand at all times.’

We put it on, we take it off, but it's always there. The empowering thing about work is that I take off that caring hat, but I keep all the skills that I gained from being a carer and they're immeasurable, they're greater than any study.

I come to work with the ability to respond quickly to problems I am not phased by things going wrong.

I’m great at setting a schedule because it's part of my life.  I’m great at time management and I don't know a carer who isn't.

Where do I think my job and Empower Autism will take me?

Big news for you guys, it already has taken me.

I not only have been given additional training through work but I was actually offered a Postgraduate degree directly thanks to my volunteering and paid employment combined which has been credited as experience within the industry so I will one day be a Master of Human Services, thanks to Carers Queensland and Your Caring Way.

Without the steps that I had taken through this program, this would not have been an option for me.

My education was stalled as part of my responsibilities as a carer.

This program has allowed me to continue to be the carer that I want to be but also be the person that I want to be and have the future that I want the option to have.