SUPPORT WORK
*Note: Identity-first language is used to reflect the preferences of the young people I work with personally, as well as a large proportion of the Autistic community.*
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I feel extremely grateful to have been a part of the Core Autism and Disability Services community since February 2023. Whilst at Core, I have been employed as a disability support worker, primarily working with young Autistic people. The role encompasses a range of different aspects, all with the main focus of helping young people reach their goals, whether that be personal self-care, engaging with the community, or countless others. To ensure participants can be the best version of themselves, it is important that I show leadership when helping them reach their goals.
As a part of this role, I have had to develop my ability to communicate in a number of different ways. This has been essential in my development as a leader, particularly in the context of working with young people with different communication needs. For example, I try to implement visual prompts for participants such as ‘First and Then’ boards to help show a clear picture of what their tasks are. This can be so helpful in allowing participants to understand what I am asking of them and can also be used when they want to ask something of myself. This skill is essential to me as a leader as there are endless ways to communicate with people, and finding the right way can be crucial to developing good rapport and gaining the respect of others. I have found this to definitely be the case when working with Autistic young people.
Over my time at Core as a support worker, I have learnt how incredibly crucial it is to ask for help when I feel like I need it. This is essential to ensuring that participants are getting the best version of me, to help, guide, and support them to be the best that they can be. If I am having a difficult time in supporting a young person with their needs, I ensure that I always ask parents/guardians, my director, Jess, or my operations manager, Cayleen. For example, at one point, I was having trouble supporting a young person to complete their daily tasks. In this instance, I went to Jess to ask for advice on how I could improve myself as a support worker, to ensure the participant was getting the best support. Through this experience, I learned how important it is for a leader to ask for help. Leading is not about thinking that we know everything, but instead, using the knowledge of the people around us to better ourselves. This experience has taught me to use the wonderful people around me to support my efforts in becoming the best leader I can be.
Another role that I have taken on at Core is training new support workers through shadow shifts with participants and being a team leader at social groups. This has been a great opportunity for me to put all of the things I have learnt about leadership into practice. Being a team leader of the social group requires supporting multiple participants of the group, as well as leading other support workers. In my infancy at taking on this role, I would often get stressed about the responsibility, however, I later realised that I possess all the skills of a good leader to be able to do this role effectively. Reflecting on these times allows me to see my ability to actively listen to participants and other workers and adapt each situation as necessary to ensure all needs are met. For example, I have found it extremely important to let participants tell me their needs, such as needing to leave the room and go outside for a break, rather than me trying to assume what their needs are. For me, the most meaningful part of these experiences is the appreciation that participants show, through their respect and rapport with me. In turn, this helps me be an even better leader for them.
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