support practitioner

speech pathologist

occupational therapist

disability support worker

physiotherapist

Cerebral Palsy Alliance

This was my first serious job working inside of the health profession. So naturally it was a real learning experience.
My typical day would be starting early in the morning at one of two group homes with 5 residents in each. 
The weekly morning shift included getting all clients up and ready (with the assistance of another worker) for their day. 
Incl: Transfer from bed, Shower, PC, Clothing, Breakfast, Packed lunch for the day and all other belongings to go with client. 
Cleaning, making beds and washing. On occasion someone would stay home and i would stay to assist.
When the residents come home in the evening, there would be afternoon snacks, showers and activities, dinner and all support to get in bed in time to finish shift at 930 pm.
I completed a number of training courses through the company including,
Bowel care, What is CP, First Aid, Tube Feeding, Health and Safety,
Sexual Harassment, Medication, Work relations, Motor Neurons, food preparation and general knowledge.
I found my experience with the company life changing at the point of time and am very appreciative of all the relationships created.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The training and support you receive 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
High need clients involve risk, clients are vulnerable and you do not won't to make any mistakes as you can be deemed negligent, the hours are shift work so lots of nights and weekends until you are there for a while and become selective if the hours you are offered. Transporting clients in wheelchairs is also a risk, there are procedures in place however you can not predict what happens out in the roads. It is a big responsibility to keep clients safe. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very supportive, also extremely busy, you have to manage your time efficiently to make sure everyone needs are met. There are a lot of procedures you must follow correctly for the role to rum smoothly. However they are all in place it is just a matter of following them accordingly. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Physical and mentally can be hard

The management of CPA is really good. Usually, the Support Worker has to work hard with clients who are mostly dependent on their personal care. Some Residential Facilities are under staffed and the support workers are highly stressed. Some senior support workers try to dominate, harass and control the casual staff. Clients are generally friendly except for a few elderly clients in one or two places. Centre managers are friendly and supportive. Has a great opportunity and CPA's own facilities for higher studies free of charge. Their training wing ensures that all staff skills are up to date by providing periodic training including Firstaid, cert III, and cert IV, free of charge to employees. Very good pay rates.

Cerebral Palsy has made a commitment to provide the best possible care to the people they support. Cerebral Palsy works hard with individuals, families, planners and staff to ensure that every client of theirs is maximizing their quality of life and changing lives for the better. Staff are well trained and most people drawn to the profession are positive hardworking individuals that share Cerebral Palsy's vision for the disabled people they support. Working with individuals with various disabilities requires support workers to be flexible and learn to actively listen. Many individual and group milestones are being achieved through the hard work of management, ground staff and most importantly each individual with a disability living their best life.

Management don’t care about their workers. The houses are constantly understaffed and they don’t care about over-working you. You can become an acting manager to progress however when you step in as acting manager for when house manager are on leave, - you get less pay as they don’t give you an increase in pay for the manager role and you don’t get any loading shifts which is where most of the money is at so it’s not worth it at all to do the training. They also don’t really care who they employ, I worked with lazy people, phone addicts, and there can be huge conflicts, and a particular person in the house giving everyone stress and grief and they won’t move them or do anything about it.

Overall good place to work, I had many roles in my time at CPA, all offering many challenges and professional growth. Keep in mind, your 'why' in doing this role and keeping your mind open to new ideas and connecting with customers and the internal stakeholder. I have gained many insights and perspectives which will serve me well in my future career. 

so far i am enjoying the job , the manager in my group home is nice and supportive .

The only issue i am having is one of the old staff that have worked in the house for 15 years is too pushy , controlling and complaining in every thing you do . She always wants you to do things exactly in her own way which is wrong in any organisation . Every one can not do thing exactly in your own way .  She been picking on every thing i do . so far i have reported to the manager to talk to her . She does,t have any authority to actually review my performance because she is not the manager . other staff are very supportive and nice 

Too many staff employed for the job available
Great training- restricted environment to use skills
Poor - manager was inexperienced and unsupportive
Workplace culture poor. Negative environment, staff unhappy, staff on edge in fear of losing job. The clients were wonderful however not suited for a lifestyles program. The clients money needed to be spent elsewhere because they were unable to participate in most activities being provided

What is the best part of working at the company?
Always required worker, no issues with shift 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Serious communication cancel issues: doesn't like any criticism, even if it is positive may lead to improvement .

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Not open to equality and diversity 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Good working routine, however, impossible to get ahead if you are interested in doing better

I love my job in Individualised programs at cerebral Palsy alliance. Everyday I either get to hang out with a person I have become friends with and have a new adventure or I meet someone new and find out how I can change their lives for the better.

Honestly the only downside to the job initially would possibly be that sometimes you may have to help with person care. However form experience you become fine with it fairly quickly once you get the training and start to know what your doing.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Support practitioner 68 salaries reported	$36.19 per hour
Speech pathologist 38 salaries reported	$77,500 per year
Occupational therapist 9 salaries reported	$90,000 per year
Disability support worker 3 salaries reported	$33.43 per hour
Physiotherapist 11 salaries reported	$89,545 per year

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