It was seven years ago when the Brimble family packed up their house and moved to the Central Coast. A new start. Abbey Brimble, then aged 11, was also about to meet a new team of support workers.
“When we first moved to the Central Coast, Abbey didn't have NDIS behaviour support plans or anything,” says Nichole, Abbey’s mum.
“We were using people we knew through primary school who were teachers' aids, and they were working independently with us. But when Abbey's behaviour changed and we needed a lot more support, it was when we moved to Hireup for behaviour support.”
Abbey joined Hireup in 2017, with her mum Nichole as the account manager. Now, when Nichole finds people through avenues other than Hireup, she gets them to join Hireup as support workers, “mainly because Abbey has restrictive practice plans and behaviour support plans, so we needed an implementing provider.”
“The interaction between Hireup, us, and the support workers means that as a parent for Abbey, I don't have to worry about sorting out payslips and payroll. Or the training and the NDIS stuff that needs to be done. That's all taken care of by Hireup,” says Nichole. “That makes things a lot easier for us as a family. It's a lot of extra things that I don't have to worry about.”
Abbey’s support team of five have diverse experience. Some have learnt on the job, others have had experience through family connections, or their own experience of working in the disability sector.
“So that brings a whole different level of care. For me, I didn't work for the first 15 years of Abbey's life, but I've been able to take on a part-time job since having support workers trained and helping Abbey. I can spend time with my younger child as well.”
Having a support team has also allowed the Brimble family to be together as a family.
“We're able to spend time together as a family with the support workers, who support Abbey to be a part of family occasions that sometimes we'd pull away from because Abbey wouldn't cope with all the noise or the different activities that we do.”
“We even took support workers away on our first family holiday in a long time earlier this year. So those sorts of things, that's where I think Hireup and the support worker team that we've had, have made a really big difference to all of us.”
Nichole says that building a team of Hireup support workers has meant that Abbey could have a say, too. Abbey could teach them what she wanted and how she wanted things done.
“Abbey doesn't have verbal communication. But she’s got so many cues and so many ways of telling you what she likes, what she doesn't like, who she likes, who she doesn't, and what she wants to do.”
“Working with Abbey is always a unique experience and everyday is different,” says Katelin, one of Abbey’s support workers who provides two-to-one support.
“I feel like I’ve connected with her on so many different levels and being able to show her what the world has to offer is really special to me. We have had a lot of fun times at the zoo, aquarium, mount Penang gardens and the beach. She makes me want to be a better person and I’m glad I got to be a part of ‘Team Abbey’.”
Nichole’s advice to support workers is to “work really hard to figure out how the person you're supporting communicates and listen to what they have to say in any form that it comes.”
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