I started with one client in February 2022. Over the time we worked together he got through a TAFE course and into full-time work. He did that. But I was there for the enrolment forms, the assignments, the bad weeks and the drive there.

I work on my own on purpose. Agencies rotate staff, and for a lot of people that's the whole problem. You get used to someone, they leave, and you start again with a stranger who hasn't read your file. With me there's one person, and it's the same one next week.

I'm not going to write the paragraph about how much I care. Everyone writes that paragraph. What I'd rather you knew is that I've been doing this since February 2022, the feedback I get is that I'm useful to have around, and I turn up when I say I will.

How I work

• I read the plan before the first shift, not during it.
• I ask what's gone wrong with support before, because it usually has.
• I write notes, and you can read them whenever you want.
• If I'm running late you'll hear from me before I'm late, not after.
• If I think something isn't working, I'll say so.

One more thing, because it's the bit other workers don't offer: I'm good with tech and I'm good at teaching. Phones, computers, forms, systems, whatever has stopped working or never made sense. If there's something you want to learn to do yourself, that's my favourite kind of shift.

Outside work

Tech, cooking, and fixing or assembling things. If something's broken or came in a flat pack, I'll have a go at it.

Want to talk it through?