At Enliven Disability you can reach your potential while helping others to reach theirs. We caught up with Bre and reflected on her career journey to becoming a House Coordinator at Rowan in Taradale. Rowan is a residential service which is home to twenty-two younger disabled people living with complex physical disabilities.
Bre spent her twentieth birthday interviewing for a Support Worker role at Enliven Disability. Around four years after getting the job, Bre worked her way to becoming a House Coordinator at Rowan. After leaving school at sixteen, Bre worked in supermarkets and food outlets but never felt like the jobs were a good fit. In a 2020 interview with us Bre talked about how happy she was to have started working at Rowan, “I’m doing something with my life that is actually meaningful, I’ve loved it since I started, helping people just does it for me.” Today, Bre’s enjoying being involved in the decision-making during meetings. Her House Coordinator role includes making sure a house is in order, the support is being done at a high standard, that everything is flowing well, and everything is done as it’s supposed to be, I set the standard and strive for excellence.”
One of the things that makes coming to work exciting, according to Bre, is working with patient and understanding senior staff who encouraged her to advance in her career, “knowing I would be supported in a new role gave me the strength to apply. Knowing I had my Team Leaders’ full backing and support, I just went for it.” This team is passionately committed to helping the individuals they support. Their responsibilities and interactions with flatters and their team seem to give them a profound sense of fulfilment. Bre’s super strength is her genuine love of supporting others. She notices details and accepts only the highest standards of work delivery. For example, it’s important to Bre that a flatter is not left watching a TV programme on repeat, she keeps a mental note of what a flatter is watching and makes sure the programme changes and progresses, “it’s the little things that are the big things.” An absolute highlight for Bre was discovering that a flatter could feed themselves, “that just blew me away, it was the highlight of my week! At Rowan, we believe in every person.”
Bre’s realised that she’s a lot more ambitious than she had thought, “I never cared about ambition but since working at Rowan, I’m bored on weekends and can’t wait to get back here. I’ve learnt that I have the capacity to work a lot harder than I realised I was capable of.” Bre worked in special education for a short period, at first, she enjoyed the Monday to Friday routine and the set hours which “felt like a bit of a holiday” in comparison to the physically challenging residential services work she was used to. It wasn’t long before Bre returned to Rowan, “I found myself lying in bed at night wondering how the flatters were and thinking about how best to support them. I really missed Rowan.”
Bre chose disability services because of the opportunity to enable others, “disabled people are a lot more capable than people assume and they initially seem, you get to know each person” says Bre. A flatter may look unassuming at first, but if you get to know them, you’ll see for example they’ve got a brilliant sense of humour, “I enjoy the flatters’ jokes that they crack all the time”. To be successful in this work you need patience and empathy, “without those you have no chance!” This is a rewarding job even though it’s hard work.
We believe in you. We value you and your skills.
If you’d like to join us and discover what more you are capable of email careers@psec.org.nz or visit the careers page.
Help others to reach their potential while you reach yours!
