Ryan Tindal
Director - Skilled Carer
What do we stand for?
We are here to provide more than just care, we support families, participants, support workers, care teams and the community to understand disability, reduce stigma, grow capacity, promote happiness and achieve dreams.
Disability is an under skilled industry, a lot of companies are flowing into the sector for a cash grab opportunity. Thousands of companies have popped up in the last couple of years, that is not an exaggeration.
Some platforms match participants with support workers.
But what advice or support is this care giver receiving if any and from who? Are they a sole trader and have they changed industries? That’s great if so, there is a tremendous need for various skillsets joining the industry. It’s important to create this diversity within the industry and appeal to the participant’s tapestry of passions and needs. Do these newcomers have knowledge or experience with how to handle individual behaviours and create positive change with our most vulnerable of the community? Do they understand the psychology and biology behind the individual’s traumas, neuro diversion, autism, ADHD, intellectual disability and more? Do they have the growth mindset that is necessary within the industry to understand that when you meet one person who is neuro diverse… then you have met one person that is neuro diverse?#1
I posted a video on the 9th November ‘22 featuring Dylan Alcott who is an amazing advocate for disability. He said to the media that all the questions asked were negative ones at this press conference he was speaking at with Anthony Albanese. He says the NDIS is “bloody awesome… through the review report into the NDIS we found that kids with early intervention under the age of 6 had double the number of friends” of those without access. Point being, YES! The NDIS is BLOODY AWESOME.
I’m positive about what I can provide to others. It’s so easy to be affected negatively by reading and hearing some of the commentary around the issues within the NDIS. But, it has transformed people’s lives for the better and we are so lucky that we live in a country that supports those with extra needs the way Australia does. If you grow up with a disability in a middle eastern country it’s very depressing, other westernised countries don’t have anywhere near the support we get here. Using a professional outfit and paying a premium from your plan will benefit your family and your loved ones. You can absolutely find support work organisations or sole traders that try to fill gaps and have different people arriving at your house every week to provide support, plugging a square peg into a round hole and seeing what fits. Maybe this works, and there are many people out there with all the necessary qualities to be terrific, selfless, high integrity support workers. They are, however, often limited by their experience, knowledge, clinical support and expertise in how to implement and introduce strategies and mindsets successfully.
All kids need confidence in their environment, relationships, routine, structure and certainty. It is our job to provide that to our kids and they trust in us, as parents and professionals.
A successful rapport that has been formed over weeks, months and years is going to reduce anxieties, allow the individual to take risks in stepping out of their comfort zone and enable positive growth. This is because they can trust that they know they feel safe, they are willing to spend some poker chips and play a hand from time to time. What happens with the pot is solely in the hands of the person in a position of responsibility. Is it successful and a catalyst for compounding growth… or is it an event that ends not as expected, is handled poorly, causes further trauma and anxiety where poor guidance is given, and undesired behaviours are entrenched.
Why choose us?
We make life easier for the family.
That's how I see my role. It’s what has created success for others as a teacher, as a support worker and now as a company.
In my opinion using a boutique of handpicked, morally driven, selfless, empathetic, passionate people is better than a large company whose primary focus is revenue and throwing support workers into participants and seeing what sticks. Yes, there is security in police checks and confidence that the person has experience that they say they have. That is in the best interest of the platform to corroborate.
You show me the incentive and I’ll show you the outcome.
My focus is to provide levels above matching participants with support workers. It's to micromanage the relationship, provide the feedback, review documents for plan renewals, provide clinical knowledge and expertise that have been accumulated from thousands of hours in the classroom with all sorts of diverse backgrounds, disabilities and individualities, provide behaviour support plans and offer what none of these other companies do.
These strategies above are used in special needs schools to enhance and build capacity and achieve individual goals. What we know about disability is that it is extremely individual, what works for one will not work for all.
Having cohesion within a care team and a successful relationship is dependent upon having the participant, the support worker, the family and the clinical team all in the loop and on the same page. When you can understand and know what's important and when you have high integrity, people with strong moral fibre whose prime objective is to achieve capacity and goals for the participant and to provide a level of commitment, rapport, connection, routine and structure that gives that individual the confidence to take risks and put their poker chips on the table and play some hands. We know that trauma sufferers need that structure and routine. How can I possibly benefit from different support workers coming in everyday and a complete uncertainty of his walking through the door. When it comes to behaviours, understanding the individual's triggers and what they need to thrive are crucial for the success of the individual.
Happiness of the participant should be our primary focus.
A revolving door of carers and support workers is not going to be able to achieve anywhere close to what's possible when connection is nurtured from the ground up. From someone who genuinely cares and wants to learn and know about the individual whilst being there as a friend and mentor.
What does the disability look like from the inside?
I have seen a lot of discussion around the cowboys in the NDIS and various companies and how they are exploiting people. This is an immediate need and something I am passionate about working to fix.
For every argument there is 2 sides. We all are inherently biased towards our own point of view. Psychology tells us that humans believe it is much better to feel right than be right. It’s why corruption and immoral behaviour occurs in all areas in of life. But I’m here to focus on the disability industry and share my company’s aims, goals and drive I have for leaving my career as a classroom teacher in special needs and creating something that I hope creates truly enduring sustainable positives to families and the industry.
A problem I found with achieving long term growth and goals when working in schools was that getting everyone on the same page and with the same mindset was impossible. A student may interact with 20-100 teachers within a school. To expect that every staff member will know the strategies of how to help that student succeed is not realistic. Every staff member of a school has different career goals, teaching styles, patience levels, and we are all human and sometimes have things happening in our personal lives that affect our moods and emotions. This is obviously the same in every industry and with people all over the world. So, the only thing we can be certain of in maintaining consistent care of our children is what we do as parents and care givers and how we educate them to deal with their emotions and situations. In order to support them to be productive and conscientious members of society who can continually grow and be happy.
“I support the participant by focusing on educating and supporting the people in the care team; mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, support workers and other professionals that support the individual at the centre of care. “
By being a sounding board for support workers I can be a positive influence on their mindset, and I can give them appreciation for the other side of the picture. I can introduce strategies to assist the participant and to support the mental health of the support worker, so they continue to do the work they love and influence sustainable growth. By contacting families and helping them with their plan review and writing refences, quotations and narrative around the support the individual needs I can help the family get the most out of their care. I have worked in special needs settings with at risk kids and those in horrible living situations with traumas, autism, behavioural and learning difficulties, ADHD, intellectual disability. I have worked with their care teams, I have created individual learning plans, I have worked with hundreds of individuals via advice and collaboration with psychologists and occupational therapists to create safe environments that enable an individual to succeed, whatever that looks like. And it does look very different for each individual.
I have had my mindset around how to help these individuals succeed moulded for 12 years so its not reasonable for me to expect someone with a completely different experience to have the same mindset as me. We are all in this together and we all want to achieve goals, dreams and build the capacity and independence of the individual at the centre of care. We just struggle to understand each other at times.
What support do we provide?
- Support workers will put the family first.
- Behavioural strategies to enable greater outcomes in the home, reduce anxieties and build capacity.
- Participant Action Plan that outlines course of action for red zone behaviours.
- Participant Snapshot of behaviours, triggers, likes, dislikes, rapport building tools that enable success and avoid triggers.
I provide free consultation to discuss any participant’s needs, we can be as informal as a sounding board or as intricate as helping to design and implement practical advice and strategies individually tailored to the participant and their environment.
We are readily available 7 days a week and eager to take your call.
#1 “Dr Stephen Shore once said, “When you meet one person with Autism, you’ve met one person with Autism”. This is a popular quote that highlights how Autism is very diverse. Autism is a lifelong developmental disorder that affects an individual’s perception of the world and their interaction with others ("Ambitious about Autism", 2017). As it is a spectrum disorder, individuals are affected differently despite sharing some common traits. Those include having difficulty in communication, social interactions, and having a restricted set of routines as well as repeated behaviours. However, like typical developing individuals, people with autism have different personalities, likes and dislikes. In many ways, Autism can impact an individual, but it does not define him or her. Therefore, we should not judge them based on their diagnosis and instead interact with them and try to accept and understand them as different individuals.” Reference When you meet one person with Autism, you’ve met one person with Autism (healisautism.com)
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