Support workers you do have options and not stuck , lets talk about it.

 So, this is a quick post to talk about Support workers, and the options you have. There is several options that we see are open to you to keep working in disability support. The first one is to stay a direct support worker, and being happy with it as many people are, but if you are unhappy with an agency there is several options to work around it.  The first one is really challenging is to stand up to the agency and to try to change it from the inside in, their also may be some situations where it’s a legal requirement  to report to the commission, things like unsafe practices, or restrictive practices used without the proper support and documentation, and processes and being used as a first line instead of a last resort, there is other options but we need to be aware that they are their for a reason and need to be updated not just eliminated.

The second one is to find a new agency but this can be fraught with danger as in small towns it may not be an option to go to other agencies or to move as you if you have reported bad behaviour and people taking advantage of other’s in the agency both support workers and people with disabilities, but it does happen that clients can take advantage  support workers so it is needed to have strong boundaries, and professionalism, this will vary from agency to agency.

Then the other option is to go to a private worker and to set up your own business but this is something that needs to be done with caution as it comes with much more flexibility but with that flexibility come’s a lot of danger, in that you may not have the protections of an agency so you would need to look into the insurances and how to structure a shift to have a proper income and this for some clients and support workers in regional area’s it may be the only option, but it something that you really need to consider and for some clients in supported housing their will be rules that you need to consider as well and what they can and can’t do due to the insurance.  I have talked about how choose and control is a bit of a myth when it comes to housing but we see that people need to be aware that at times it might not be practical for people to change providers and to work on it but we see it’s for insurance and their  just may not be the facilities to work with the person and lets be aware that for most people choose and control is limited by their options as well as it can be overwhelming to have to many options so we need to start talking about how we need to transition from  support worker lead care to client and support worker care in a mutual way in a person caring for a person in a  mutual benefit and to include people who are important in people’s life such as family, friends and other medical and care staff without overwhelming the person.

It's a challenge to be aware of and we need to start having this conversation to start change around how support is given and how support workers do have options, and going and training others is another option to be very aware of as well, and that might be in house in an agency or being an informal mentor but let’s keep the conversation going in what support work means for people.