“I care for my sister and my parents. I became a carer in March 2020.”

“Luckily, I was off work for a bit more than a year, which gave me the opportunity to get a lot of things done and put a lot of things in place.

“I’ve had a really good experience with the Your Caring Way program. They’re very good especially when it comes to study options.

I managed to register with Carers SA and learned about Your Caring Way through them.

In April last year registered myself and my brother-in-law because we share the caring of my sister.

They sent a letter out, then rang me, and we talked about study opportunities because I didn’t want to go back to doing the job that I was doing before. I wanted to be more involved in community work so went on to study a Certificate III in Community Services through Carers Queensland’s RTO.

It has been fantastic because I have a dear friend now that lives in Tasmania who also is a carer and did the course with me. I completed the course in December 2020.

The trainer that I had, Mark, I need to say, you couldn’t find anybody better than him. He was absolutely amazing, the advice and the input and the training method that he had worked incredibly well for me, considering it was all done online.

John Larkin was my initial vocational coach then Tracy Pfitzner, I also worked with Shauna Gallagher who was great and very good with her follow up in regard to work opportunities.

While working with Your Caring Way, Shauna suggested a number of Admin roles that were available. Then, just by chance, I happened to be at my sister’s house and somebody from a company called Total Support Services in Adelaide came to visit her and talk about a carer for her down the track. I asked if there was any work available in her organisation and it started from there.

Next week I will start casual work, as a Support Officer with Total Support Services. I’ll be going to people’s homes and doing with them what I do for my sister and my parents. It’s home-based support.

My goal was to find employment that allowed me to work part-time so that I’d continue to spend time with my sister. Now that we have supports in place for her I can do other things with her too.

Your Caring Way has absolutely made a difference in my life.”