Being a Support Worker
As a NDIS support worker we deal with people with disabilities who are suffering a form of loss. This loss can be in relation to ones mental and physical health such as mental disorders, neuro degenerate disorders, the loss of a limb, the ability to walk, talk, see.
As a support worker our domain is not in the treatment of mental and physical health conditions. We can assist, and can play a role in being a positive force in our clients lives but our purpose is more focused on assisting our clients with their goals. The most common of these goals is fostering ones clients independence and supporting them in the choices that they make.
Each client has unique set of needs and therefore the role of a support worker for each client is unique too. No two days in this line of work are really the same. Some clients need help getting to and from appointments or getting to the shops, some need help at home with the cooking, cleaning or laundry. Some even enjoy someone over simply for a cup of tea, or to go out for a coffee.
Tasks such as cleaning a clients home or bringing back a clients shopping may seem simple at first glance but you would be astonished about how much it means to some people. The amount of gratitude you experience at times really makes you feel that you are truly making a difference in a clients life, that you feel like an asset, and as a result you’re happy to move mountains for them. Figuratively speaking, of course.
When I first started in this line of work I used to dwell on this notion of loss and how my clients have lost something. I would often ask myself how I would want someone to treat me if I lost something along the lines of what my clients have experienced. I started to think about the things in my life that I have lost or that I am eventually going to lose, my youth, loved ones, opportunities. I’d start to realize that in life, father time eventually takes everything away. The reality of this particular rule of life does sound daunting, but the more I’d think about it, the conclusion I started to draw was that loss is a necessary part of life. It exists to make us value, to be grateful and to appreciate what we already have.
If there was a spectacular sunset happening at every moment it would not be so special. It is the fact that its brief explosion of light, colour and warmth that is short lived that contributes to its overall beauty, uniqueness and value in life.
My change of mindset though the progression of being a support worker began when I started to feel that much of the role wasn’t really encompassed around the notion of a clients loss, but more so about what a client already has, in what he or she can be grateful for and what he or she can already do. Eckhart Tolle famously stated , ‘Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance’ and is a quote that I feel as though I have better understood in undertaking this line of work.
Being a support worker and meeting the clients that I have had on this journey is truly a privilege. It is something that I authentically enjoy and is a part of my life that I am truly grateful for. I am looking forward to more.
