The right support makes all the difference

Meet support worker Jodie and her flower girl Amara

It’s the 13th of May, 2022 and an incredibly special day for Hireup support worker Jodie…her wedding day. It’s also an exciting day for her client Amara who is a part of the bridal party as Jodie’s flower girl. 

Rewind one year ago and Jodie is having her meet and greet with Amara and her mother Ilse. “I always know within the first five minutes whether they’re the right fit”, says Ilse. “Amara's non-verbal so we needed someone that is quite animated and has a great personality that can interact with her. As soon as I met Jodie I just knew.”

For Jodie, this was her first time supporting someone with specialised support requirements. With support from Ilse and Jodie’s ‘can do’ energy, Amara and Jodie’s support connection was meant to be. “Ilse was more than willing to train and explain everything,” says Jodie. “Once you meet Amara, you can't not fall in love with her, and want to be around her and get to know her.”

Amara and Jodie’s support shift includes feeding by using a feeding tube, personal care and plenty of activities and games. “Usually I arrive, take over from the other support worker and finish giving Amara her food. Then we go for a nightly walk if it’s not too cold,” says Jodie. If the weather isn’t nice I’ll put a mat down and we lie on the floor and we’ll pretend we’re running through a park or we dance to music and watch TV.”

“It’s really important that Amara’s support workers are patient and communicate with Amara,” says Ilse. “Amara is non-verbal and communicates with her eyes and can move her legs. When Jodie is feeding her, she'll make up these great stories. Like, "Amara what's for dinner tonight? Oh, we're going to go to McDonald's. Oh, we're going to have nuggets and sauce.” And if Amara starts kicking Jodie will be like, "Where are we running to Amara? Are we going to run a marathon?" And they have these great little backwards and forwards and Amara really responds to her, which is fantastic.”

Amara and Ilse were referred to Hireup by their support coordinator. “I'm extremely busy, I work seven days a week and I need something that's online that's really easy for me to find my own support workers, book them myself and move shifts around,” says Ilse. “I love the fact that I've got the freedom to book who I want when I want, however I want. It works for me, for the support workers and for Amara.”

Jodie chose to work at Hireup for the benefits of being an employee and working for a registered NDIS provider. “Being an employee is easy. Everything's taken care of, you don't have to worry about the admin or risks of working on a contract,” says Jodie. “All your taxes and insurances are taken care of. All you need to do is submit your timesheets and everything's good.” 

After one year of working together, Jodie, Amara and Ilse are like family. So much so that Jodie asked Ilse if Amara would be the flower girl at her wedding. “When Jodie approached me, it was quite emotional and she started crying, as she was asking me,” says Ilse. “For us, Amara gets ignored, not on purpose. And I understand that people don't see her as somebody they can interact with and talk to, so we get a lot of people that don't even say hello to her, or they might just say hello and pat her and leave. So Amara doesn't get included in a lot of things. I mean, she's certainly never been asked to be a flower girl because logistically it’s hard and maybe it's not the prettiest thing to have in your wedding photos. The fact that Jodie asked us was pretty special and we love that she's included Amara.”

For Jodie, wanting Amara to be her flower girl was the obvious choice. “As soon as we were planning to have flower girls, Amara was the first person that came to mind,” says Jodie.

“When I asked, Ilse and her husband Romero both got very emotional and asked if I was sure I wanted Amara as she may scream or laugh during the ceremony. I said, ‘That's what makes Amara, Amara. Of course we’re sure.’”