Support Workers get the training that they need to ensure clients lead the support worker / client relationship and we are thrilled to be a part of it!
Hireup is a national NDIS organisation that connects people with disability with support workers. Access Ability Australia, (AAA) is proud to have partnered with Hireup recently to provide online communication training to some of their support workers.
Peter Willis, a General Manager at Hireup explained why this training was so important to the culture of Hireup. “Our philosophy is to put the power in the hands of the person with disability. We have developed tools to help clients with disability to choose their own support worker. We want them to be in control of their support needs and support workers being able to meet client communication needs is essential to a client led relationship.”
One of the Support Workers who undertook the Communication Access Course, Donna, said that she “Learnt how to communicate and better compose herself as a Disability Support Worker”. Peter added that the training was “thought provoking, challenging the assumptions that he and his fellow students had held.”
It is not an accident that AAA has such a strong commitment to improving access to communication through their work. Co-Founder Judy O’Connor is acutely aware of the challenges people with communication difficulties face, day in day out.
“AAA has an ethos of enriching people’s lives by confidently accessing the community. To us, developing Communication Access Awareness Training (CAAT)) was a no brainer”, said Judy, Director of Access Ability Australia and proud parent to a child with disability.
CAAT supports individuals and businesses like Hireup to gain an understanding of complex communication challenges while providing strategies to support clients with communication difficulties with dignity and empathy, Judy added.
Our other co-founder and Director, Maxine Parker, lives with single sided deafness and knows from experience that being hard of hearing can create a world of isolation.
“We show support workers such as those who attended training from Hireup that simple, adaptive measures can be implemented to support people with communication challenges to feel included. Effective communication enables full participation in the community and supports individuals to achieve their goals. Unfortunately, communication access is not well understood with little profile despite the profound impact it has on people’s lives,” said Maxine.
AAA is thrilled to see companies like Hireup acknowledge the difference that communication training can make to the client/support worker relationship. AAA’s Communication Access and Awareness Training takes an hour, is delivered online and is full of interactive activities. Both Judy and Maxine believe that there is no excuse not to hop online and begin your journey of becoming Communication Accessible. Your clients will thank you!
Visit our website training page to learn more.
