Sally’s story

Sally became a client of Plan Navigators a couple of years ago and through support and positive role modelling from her Mentor, her life changed dramatically.

Sally now lives in her own home, is able to manage her household bills, works part-time, is learning to save for holidays (as she loves going on them), socialises with her friends and is learning new skills like cooking healthy meals and planning dinner parties. This is just a taste of what a good working relationship can achieve.

Over the last couple of years, Sally has been supported by Plan Navigators to learn the skills to take on more responsibility for managing her own funding and employing her Mentor Dawn directly. Sally started with Plan Navigators by asking us to employ a person with whom she already had a trusted relationship. Sally did not want to recruit a stranger, but a familiar face who could support her journey. Our Shared Managed Model provided the flexibility for Sally to learn how to coordinate and direct her own day-to-day support and staff. Plan Navigators were engaged to be the employer of Sally’s chosen staff.

“It is good being able to have my own life, make my own choices, and have my own staff whom I know, trust and have fun with. They support me in whatever I do and guide me to do what is safe or not to do.” – Sally, Plan Navigators Client

After a couple of years, Sally started to need a more flexible staffing arrangement. Some of the issues faced by Plan Navigators being the employer of Sally’s staff were the conditions set out in the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award. We started to discuss with Sally the opportunity to take on being the employer of her staff and the support available to help implement this.

Most people’s concerns are about dealing with the ATO, super, contracts, industrial relation laws and insurances, staff checks and balances, and employer obligations. To help overcome these concerns, we built a service around Sally that included linking her with a Book Keeper, a payroll tool and having a Service Support Coordinator whom Sally could contact to help troubleshoot issues and answer queries to help understand what it means to be a good employer. By Plan Navigators providing people living with a disability with the right support and tools, we help enable them to have more control of their lives.

Sally has grown in confidence and thrived in all aspects of her life, knowing she is believed in and trusted with such a big responsibility. We can’t wait to see what goals Sally will tick off next!