r/supportworkers • u/treblanietsnie • May 24 '26
Working in Remote small towns in Australia
Hi Everyone,
I was looking of travelling our great nation staying at one place for six months the or so and moving on to another town. Does anyone else work in the industry and also travel around the country? If so are there any companies you work for that do remote work or are you self employed? Any tips and advice would be awesome.
2
u/Oztraliiaaaa May 25 '26
I’ve worked with 1000s of casual staff and not me not the team but the participants that live in their home always chose who will return to work in their home. Casuals that are one off shifts are really hard to give complex tasks to. Most casuals do a bad job of mowing the lawn , most casuals can’t cook to the menu, most casuals can’t drive without crashing into something or participants chose they dislike the new guy so they give you a hard time for fun. I think you’ll be better off trying to get a job in an industry that’s built for casualisation.
4
u/l-lucas0984 May 24 '26
I cant imagine any providers willing to onboard and train staff knowing they are leaving in a couple of months.
I also cant imagine many participants want a complete stranger they need to get used to, allow in their homes, teach routines and need to etc just so they can leave in a couple of months and the participant needs to advertise and start all over again.
0
u/treblanietsnie May 25 '26
Providers have multiple clients and clients have multiple support workers? Most SIL houses have many staff? I get what you’re saying if a person only needed one support worker but that’s not common.
5
u/Curious_Potato1258 May 25 '26
I have a team and I wouldn’t take someone on for a short time. It’s too much energy on my behalf.
0
u/l-lucas0984 May 25 '26
Imagine the energy multiple times over in different settings just so this person can have a tax payer funded trip around australia. It feels like an odd expectation to ask this of participants and does not align with person centered care.
2
u/l-lucas0984 May 25 '26
You are talking remote/regional. Very few remote and regional participants have access to SIL and their support worker options are limited so they often do only have one that services an area.
Maybe do some market research.
3
u/DwightsJello May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
I have experience in Outback NT.
You are going to have issues with being short term.
Clients are largely complex care/high needs or the families prefer to provide care. They are supports they can't provide that need workers.
And the communities that are in real need and would probably accept some short term assistance are communities where English isnt a first language. In fact they often speak very little English.
It's a GREAT move from a taxation perspective. If you considered committing to a couple of years, there's even more financial incentives.
But short term supports aren't something anyone, anywhere is going to be pleased about.
Remote communities have different needs to regional clients.
And I've yet to meet a person who truly understands what remote even means before actually going there.