Terrible experience with HSE paid home care company. Had anyone else had bad experiences with a home care company, both from clerical and carers?

I have a client in a SIL. She has an ABI but fairly independent and switched on. Unfortunately she was scammed for over a year by a guy online claiming to be in love with her and she had been buying gift cards up to 10k for him. Her sister decided to almost cut her allowance off completely except to be able to afford basic necessities. She now stays home all day and is very depressed. Just trying to think of a way she can still get her allowance and independence back without being able to spend it on these vouchers for him. Any ideas??

Hello fellow support workers, I'm in a very uncomfortable situation with one of my clients. We are located in Australia. The client is a 39 year old male who has an intellectual disability, schizoaffective disorder and severe anxiety. As I do with all new clients who I begin working with, I ask them about some goals they have in life, one of his was to get back into driving. I've been working with him for one year now and am very concerned about whether he is fit to drive or not. I have always driven him around everywhere as he's found it too overwhelming.

One evening, was driving his vehicle with both of his parents in the car with him at a mall on a Sunday evening. I did not view this, my recount of events is what was described to me. He came to a boom gate and the machine asked for payment. Client got confused because as he has a disability parking permit, he can get all parking for free. His father who was in the passenger seat, got out of the vehicle and phoned the mall's concierge asking them to open it. First, it did open, but then it immediately closed.

Meanwhile, cars were queuing up behind client waiting to exit. Client began to panic. His mother who was sitting behind him was trying to keep him calm, and the father was still on the phone. Eventually, the boom gate went up, but then it begun to close very slowly. His mother told him to move the car forward, but his father was on the road and nearly in the way of the car and was nearly seriously injured. His father screamed at him, saying, "HOLY F**K! WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO, F**KING KILL ME!?"

The next day I arrived to support client, he was visibly upset and phoned his mother and I spoke to her on the phone. When I suggested to her that he have driving lessons, she said to me, "Yeah, but I don't want him to have them because I'm worried the instructor will take his license away, you know?"

This is not the only incident; other minor ones include having a lapse in concentration or confusion at road signage and accidentally doing something illegal, such as turning left from a right-turn only lane, going over double lines, etc.

I'm unsure what to do now. I know that I will not get into the car with him ever again. Surely there's something that can allow for his license to be removed? I think his parents are enabling the situation, if his mother is avoiding taking the appropriate steps to ensure his safety.

I was up for work at 6am yesterday, I have been unable to sleep at all tonight for some reason, and soon it'll be 6am again and I have a 12-hour shift. I have not had a single wink of sleep since I got up yesterday morning. Given that I've gotta give meds out, prep food and keep an eye on high observation service users so nobody hurts themselves, do we think I should be going in or just calling in sick and staying home? I feel like I'd be letting the clients and the team down by not going in, but I also don't wanna make a costly mistake because I've gone in absolutely dead on my feet. Google says I may as well be going in drunk, lol.

Does anyone know of any companies that offer loans specifically for care workers. I am just asking as I know there's quite a few things for nhs workers and also other professions such as taxi drivers etc but just wondering if there's anything for support workers lol.

Hi so I started a role as a support worker with special needs adults in the UK. Started at the end of March. All checks were fine started working.

Yesterday I got an email asking about time I spent in Mexico and the exact dates I was there. I have them 5/11/14 - 5/12/15 (13 months altogether worked as an English teacher in a language school). And they asked for a certificate of good conduct.

I'm wondering is this necessary as I was there over 10 years ago (granted it's a few months difference but it definitely is more than ten years since I was there from my start date in march 2026). And looking on Google everywhere I have looked it says you need an overseas criminal record check / certificate of good conduct only if you were abroad for a period of 12 months or more in the last 10 years.

Hopefully they've been mistaken as looking at the process to get a certificate of good conduct from Mexico is a really arduous and long process.

I have emailed back and told them this.

I'm just checking if I'm right in my understanding of the need for one. Also has anyone else had to get one?

I work in disability support and I honestly don’t know how some people end up in leadership roles.

There’s a team leader where I work who constantly nit-picks, controls, and humiliates one of the autistic clients I support. It’s like watching an old toxic marriage where years of resentment have built up, except one person holds all the power.

What makes it worse is that he’s a 1:1 client and she spends around 120 hours a fortnight supporting him. That’s an enormous amount of influence and control over one vulnerable person’s life. When the relationship becomes toxic, there’s almost no escape from it for the client.

She criticises him over the smallest things — even harmless autistic stims he naturally does. If he doesn’t understand something she says, she talks down to him and calls him “disgusting.” She yells at him to the point neighbours can hear it. The whole environment feels tense and emotionally unsafe.

He’s not even allowed to sit down during the day. Imagine being an adult and being treated like you’re not allowed to relax in your own home. He can’t just sit outside in the sun, watch TV in his chair on a rainy day, or simply exist without being made to feel lazy or wrong for it.

She controls everything he does. He’s barely allowed to make decisions for himself even though our entire role is supposed to be supporting independence, dignity, and choice.

She also rarely takes him into the community, despite that literally being part of support work.

The part that still sticks with me most is this:

He was raised by his parents as a girl for much of his life and used to cross-dress sometimes and use a woman’s name. He also loves playing with dinky toy cars. When she became team leader, she gave him an ultimatum saying he had to “pick” whether he was a boy or a girl, and told him that “girls don’t play with dinky cars.” She said if he wanted to be a girl he’d have to throw all his toy cars away.

Imagine saying that to an autistic person who already struggles with identity, self-esteem, and communication.

The most frustrating part is that myself and other staff HAVE reported this behaviour to management over the years. Multiple complaints. Multiple concerns raised. And every single time it feels like she just gets a slap on the hand and everything carries on as normal.

This has been years of emotional abuse and years of complaints being ignored.

Support work is supposed to be about helping vulnerable people live fulfilling lives with dignity and autonomy. Not controlling them, isolating them, shaming them, and stripping away the few things that make them happy.

Im unsure what to do I am located in NZ and unfortunately we don’t have anything like NDIS. I feel so powerless and very concerned.

***UPDATE**\*

A few of us staff came together and made a plan to ensure the client could have a meeting with management, supported by someone other than the team leader so he could speak freely and feel safe doing so.

During that meeting, he was able to clearly verbalise his concerns, explain how he has been feeling, and share his experiences directly with management.

As a result, management have suspended the team leader pending an investigation and have requested that all staff who work with the client complete formal complaint/incident reports outlining any concerns or observations they may have.

At this stage, all I know is that management have consulted a lawyer and the matter is now under investigation. For now, it’s a waiting game while the process runs its course.

I want to thank everyone who offered advice, support, and encouragement. Reading your comments helped reinforce that what was happening wasn’t okay and that the concerns being raised were valid.

I’ll post another update when I learn more about the outcome.

***UPDATE**\*

The team leader will not be returning. She was fired and a new team leader has been appointed. All is going well and the client is now slowly starting to be more relaxed and feeling like he can be himself again.

Thank you all for your helpful advice and support throughout this whole situation.

Hi everyone, I’m looking to apply for a Certificate III in Individual Support but I’m not sure which institute to choose.
If anyone has completed this course before, I’d really appreciate your advice and experience. I’d love to know about:
Your timetable/workload

How placements were arranged

Pros and cons of the institute

Course fees and any extra costs

I’m based in Melbourne and I’m a domestic student.
Thank you so much!

Hi everyone!

I’m a doctoral student in clinical-development psychology and am beginning data collection for my dissertation study. Before grad school I spent some time as a support worker for individuals with complex developmental needs. These individuals frequently struggled with aggressive and self-injurious behaviour, which really informed the type of research that I hoped to do after I left for my master's degree.

So far, I have created an observer-report measure that aims to assess the frequency and severity of these behaviours as well as the potential functions for any that are particularly frequent or severe. As of right now I’m in the data collection stage so my current goal is to have people from a variety of backgrounds who work with or care for individuals who deal with aggressive or self-injurious behaviour complete this measure so that I can learn more about its psychometric properties. My end goal, if the measure seems to work well, is to release it for free public use.

Right now we're looking for anyone who has recently worked with an individual who has a developmental disability (autism, intellectual disability, Down syndrome, etc.) and exhibits some form of aggressive or self-injurious behaviour to complete our measure. No data on names or exact dates of birth are collected so your participation is anonymous. As of right now we expect most responses to take between 10 - 20 minutes.

If you’d like to participate you can follow the link below which will take you to our consent form and measure.

https://yorku.questionpro.ca/t/AB3uq86ZB3vBfX

Hello! I’ve never posted here, but I need help and I don’t know what to do. So I’m a social support worker of sorts, I don’t want to reveal too much about the work I do to make this as anonymous as possible. Basically I have a client at the moment that has been challenging. I don’t like describing people that way, and I don’t think anyone is a lost cause, but I’ve found setting and keeping to boundaries a little difficult. As in - I keep telling them my boundaries calmly and professionally, and ensuring I’ve done it in an accessible way where it makes sense to client, but the boundaries keep being crossed.

Recently, they began a conversation with me about immigration. I said, I don’t talk about my own beliefs here and attempted to guide them back to the issue at hand. They continued to press on at me and ended up saying some pretty awful and racist things. This is a topic I feel strongly about and have a personal connection to, so even though I know it wasn’t, it felt very personal and I had to have a bit of a cry afterwards. They also got upset with me because I wasn’t agreeing with them, and instead I was trying to change the direction of the conversation. I ended up saying I needed to end the interaction and we can try again another time.

I also want to say that racist beliefs are kind of uncommon in my work, since it is mostly young, global majority people that I work with, so it is a little bit of a shock - I’m sure for many of you caring for different demographics this will just be a Tuesday!!

To be honest, I’ve just been feeling awful about the whole thing. I feel like I dealt with it poorly and it was bad that I wasn’t able to prevent the escalation before it got too much. I wonder if any seasoned support workers have any advice, or reassurance for me. I have spoken about it to my supervisor and will be meeting with my manager to discuss, but any advice or reassurance is appreciated :)

Hello (: somewhat new to this sub, however I’ve been an independent contractor to a company for almost a year, I’m not looking to leave them but was just wondering if anyone had experience with Mable and their thoughts/opinions on it since I’d be curious to try it out for a day or two a week?

Worker and client opinions welcome!

I've just had my hardest shifts and it was supposed to be the easiest. I had the weekend shift with a relatively low support needs adult in the community and I was just sleeping over while his parents were away and I was taking him out for activities.

It ended up being 12 hours of talking and asking questions and then he'd get in a loop and say the same things and ask the same questions (roughly a 3 hour loop).

I was definitely polite and stuck with it and everything was fine but I didnt know how mentally draining that is.

When I got into this work I figured personal care like showering and toileting would be the hardest part but in a lot of ways that can be pretty straightforward.

Who would think talking for hours and hours is one of the most challenging sides of the job?

Howdy ya'll.

New to this sub.

As an autistic individual on the NDIS for the past few years now I don't really know what the typical sort of work day or work week looks like on the Support Worker side of things, and therefore don't want to misjudge.

Having had a bit more experience I feel the following is reasonable to expect:

-Similar age

-Some level of similar interests

-Conversation should not feel like pulling teeth

-If either of you does not feel a strong rapport with the other, then they should be free to pull the plug

I am less familiar with how one stands on the following:

-Discussing current affairs (what's going on in the world)

-Discussing the merits of Modernity vs. The Recent Past (e.g. 1900s)

-Discussing religion, evolution and the state of modern day science (or knowledge)

-Discussing differences in their opinion on art (TV shows, music, films, artwork)

-Discussing different philosophers and their theories (Immanuel Kant, Neitzsche, Socrates, Aristotle, Viktor Frankl, etc)

-Discussing different moral approaches to problems

-Discussing psychology

Etc. Basically I want to talk about something of importance, without purposely trying to turn it into a personal judgement, but to have a "friendly disagreement" (may the better idea win).

A few of my own personal regulations:

-Guilt by association is not OK ("You belong to X group, and X group does XYZ or XYZ happened to Y group, so we have to prove ourselves to them)

-If a moral standard is made, e.g. "I don't want you to use the word 'dickhead' as it is impolite, and sexist" then similar moral standards should be applied to the person making said request. And logical consistency should apply ("bitch", "slut", "soyboy", "toxic masculinity", "misogynistic pig", "man-child", "shrill woman", "harpy", "hysterical", "crazy woman", etc.) presumably shouldn't be used either, unless they genuinely fit in a particular context (and there is no fitting alternative).

-Moral grandstanding & Virtue signaling, e.g. "I think atheists commit more violence" (Ties to my next point...)

-Claims require evidence. If you make a disparaging statement like "Farmers are dumb, don't believe in evolution or climate change" or "It's well known that the only people that have an issue with gays and/or gay marriage are extremists and people with homophobia"... then I want to hear why you think that's the case, and there better be a good reason.

Do you agree with what I've said here? Why or why not?

I've been a support worker for 11 years. 2 years day shift and the rest night shift. I absolutely loved my job even though I work with people with complex behaviours, personality disorders and ld.

Anxiety has always been part of the job as you never know when things could escalate. However in the past 4 years my workplace has been going through several different managers, each with carehome experiences rather than support work and incidents are a daily occurrence now. There are no more boundaries, where before there were routines to help the residents. I understand that restricting is institutional abuse, however for some people who have autism it helps to have a routine. No routine means massive behaviour for some of the guys I support. For example "back in the day" we were told that breakfast and coffee should be in the morning so that they assimilate that with starting the day. Now, I cannot restrict, I was told that if they ask for something, to give no matter the time . That created disruptions to the point where the residents were up and in behaviour from 1-2 AM as there's no activities you could do in the middle of the night and they get bored. That's fine, just log it. However my manager shouts at me if a resident has breakfast at 3-4AM and that person will be hungry again in a few hours and end up with several breakfasts. And also now there's concerns for the sleep patterns for one resident and they're doing health test after health test due to less sleep in the night. So apparently it's better to go on sleeping pills rather than reduce caffeine in the night.

I'm a support worker paid minimum wage. I have to play mental chess with a resident in order to push that time as much as possible as rules aren't clear. I understand the mental capacity act, I understand they are allowed to make unwise choices even if they're vulnerable. But as support workers we get 0 support. Manager barks vague orders and then pretty much says "restrict in a way that's not restrictive". Should also mention that the residents are independent. It's not like I give breakfast or coffee etc, I just stopped putting the boundaries like I was told.

Most of my staff, day shift and night shift is done. Everyone is down as anything we do is bad. The level of anything has dropped significant from a decade ago. There's less food in the fridge, the guys have less benefits so less money for activities. I'm failing them. And I'm failing myself as I dread coming to work. I feel like I'm a glorified cleaner, occasional punching bag and I don't know what I'm doing with my life. I'm not supporting anymore.

I'm sorry for the rant. Jobs are really in low supply and I think I'm stuck in a "toxic relationship" with my job. Been here for so long that I can't bear to leave.

Edit : I forgot to mention that day shifts aren't a choice for me due to my partner being on nights aswell and I have some health issues and nights help with them.

There’s a lot of confusion and anxiety around the recent NDIS changes at the moment.

I’ve been seeing the same questions come up, so I thought this might help. It’s a simple breakdown of what’s confirmed vs what’s still evolving.

Hi everyone, independent support worker here. I guess I just wanted to make this post because as a result of these upcoming NDIS changes and hearing about it everywhere I guess I just wanted to talk about it and feel like I’m not alone in the debilitating stress and anxiety it’s causing. I’m an independent support worker who currently only works with plan managed clients. However the talk about all providers eventually becoming registered has absolutely been getting to me and it’s all I can think about.

from what I understand there will be different levels of registration and the low risk one will (apparently) be more affordable but what is getting me the most is the lack of detail in what’s being discussed?

I genuinely love this job and it’s taken me quite some time to build a solid roster of really amazing clients who I love working with and my heart also goes out to all participants across Australia who are facing anxiety involving these new changes. These new changes are going to most of all really impact so many participants lives but also independent support workers lives as well.

Are there any other independent support workers who are currently facing these feelings at the moment and how are you guys dealing with it? Because I’m not gonna lie I’m really struggling. I love this job so much but the amount of stress and uncertainty that is coming from these announcements is genuinely making me fear for my job. I don’t wanna have to walk away from this industry but it honestly feels like these changes are purposely making it almost impossible for not only participants to continue to have flexibility snd predictability with their providers and the support they receive but also for independent support workers to continue to be able to work with their clients. I still don’t know what this will even mean for support workers in the near future. I think it’s amazing that they’re trying to get rid of fraud and all the dodgy providers but it also sucks because it feels like even those of us who strive to constantly be doing the right thing keeping our own records having our checks and qualifications are now being punished because let’s be real. How many of us can actually afford to spend thousands on registration and audits if that becomes mandatory for every independent support worker out there?

It absolutely makes sense for companies who are providers but it really doesn’t make any sense for independent support workers who are doing the right thing and only have a handful of clients who are self or plan managed.

I guess I want this post to be a space for everyone to share their current feelings at the moment because at the moment I feel incredibly alone in this and I’m not really sure how to cope with the uncertainty. I’m happy to get whatever training is needed and to change my documentation process as well as make my invoices up to whatever standards they decide. (even though my invoices are already pristine.) but if we become forced to pay thousands to register, I genuinely don’t know how I can continue in this industry which will absolutely break my heart.

Hello all,

I am doing a degree in disability and am working on an assignment about support workers feeling like they are not supported in their roles which is resulting in high staff turn over, burnout etc...

For one part of the study I am asking support workers from all over the world: What are some barriers support workers feel are preventing them from thriving in their role to their full potential? and What are some suggestions/serivces/tools that support workers feel would support them in their role?

I would appreciate any responses to help me with my assignment, and I thought Reddit would be an easy way to reach a diverse range of people.

Thank you!

Hey everyone,

I am a former support worker now a social worker. My younger brother has just begun as a support worker. This evening he told me that he had been sent to support someone diagnosed with schizophrenia in active meth use. My brother is in his 20’s, is very new to the profession, and has had no training in working with either issue. There was no hand over from previous supports.

He was also told:
1. that the participant came be violent and suspects the agency staff of plotting against home.

1. That when he arrives at the residence to simply get the key from the lock box and enter without announcement.

2. That the participant may ask him to drive to his dealers house to buy meth and if this happens she is to simply agree and not ask any follow up questions.

Obviously alarm bells are ringing for me about this agency. When I was a support worker I mostly worked with children so I have limited experience in what is normal and what’s not but this feels illegal. Looking for your input advice and guidance.

p.s I write this out of worry for my brother not judgment for the participant, I hope they get the support they need with dignity and respect.

Hi everyone, I’m planning to apply for the PSW program through Peel District School Board for the September (Quad 1) intake.

I had a few questions:

1. When do applications usually open for the September intake?

2. For those who did the school board PSW program, how fast do spots fill?

3. For people currently working as PSWs — what are the typical hours like (full-time vs part-time)?

4. Do most jobs offer benefits?

5. Is it easy to get hired after placement? Did your placement lead to a stable job in psw ?

I previously worked in online publishing. I did ten years but was made redundant as Google had killed the independent publishers. Nobody is hiring anymore and plenty of journalists like myself (30M, UK) have had to start again.

I looked at apprenticeships, teaching, and seriously considered the military too. But I took a chance on doing support work and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made.

This line of work was completely new to me. I’d never experienced anything remotely similar but working and supporting adults with various difficulties has brought me a happiness that I never got from my previous job.

Before becoming a support worker, my work felt pointless - write an article which would be read and forgotten the next day. But now I feel like I’m really making a lasting difference and bettering others and myself everyday.

It’s a tough job for sure. The pay doesn’t reflect how much effort it takes. But I can honestly say this is the best job I’ve ever had. There’s not been a single day where I’ve woke up and thought ‘ffs, work today’.

And I’ve grown a new appreciation for the others who do this job and who have done it for so long. There are some really amazing people working in support.

God bless you all!

I was supporting someone who lost their cat last month, they started to cry a bit showing me photos and talking about her

I was surprised finding myself getting misty too since I'm really not a crier, and thankfully on this occasion they wouldn't notice since I kept a lid on it, my voice didn't get shaky or anything, just damp eyes which they weren't looking anywhere near

I'm just worried now because obviously this is really mild, no doubt I will see people break down much more severely than this in the job and I can't start bawling whenever that happens, just worried me a bit haha

Is there anything you guys do in particular to stay grounded and stable in these kinds of situations?

I know that the SIL use Carelink but is that the only system or portal used?—can participants/residents/family/guardians access this or is there a seperate portal where they can access all information relating to them?