Why I made the change to Interchange
– Judith Lawler, Interchange Australia Day Options House Coordinator
Prior to joining Interchange Australia I was working in the pathology industry doing venepuncture and while I loved my job, I always felt like something was missing in my day to day role. I knew that I enjoyed helping others in need although I never felt like I was able to do enough to make a real difference in someone’s life throughout my day to day duties in pathology.
I met a lot of people in my line of work from many walks of life and had some wonderful conversations about life, work, and the world around us. One day I found myself deep in conversation with someone who worked in the disability sector. It dawned on me that day that this is what was missing in my work, the ability to give back to the community, that forever rewarding feeling of being able to make someone’s life that little bit easier. So I set out to upskill myself and commence looking for employment in the disability sector.
I had been told by a number of locals in the area Interchange Australia was both professional and incredibly caring in the way that they conduct themselves and run their programs each and every day, so it was a certainty, when I saw a position advertised for the role of Day Options Coordinator at Springett House in Bowral, that I would apply. Much to my delight I was offered the role I had applied for and here I am eight years later, I have never looked back.
There are so many aspects of my role at Interchange Australia, our days are always filled with variety and opportunity to help our clients grow. My role in particular ranges from administration tasks, planning and coordinating activities and staffing, working with our clients on various activities and assistance with these activities as well as personal care and basically anything else that presents itself throughout each day.
The most rewarding part of working with interchange Australia, aside from watching our clients work to achieve the goals they set out each year, is watching their faces light up every day as they arrive to join in our Day Options Programs; the smiles and excitement on each of their faces show me that we are doing things right!
There are so many activities we run at the Interchange Australia Day Options program it is difficult to name them all, but we find our horticulture/agriculture program to be a huge hit in particular as everyone works towards growing their own organic fruits and vegetables to eat and learning how to properly care for the chickens and using the organic foods grown as well as eggs laid by the chickens in our cooking programs.
I also find out arts programs are receiving a lot of positive feedback with music, drama and creative arts all working towards performances such as “Rock The Houses” and “Stars On Stage” and our annual art exhibitions. These opportunities to showcase the work everyone has done throughout the year really demonstrates how far everyone has come in these programs as each and every year we all aim for bigger and better.
“…watching their faces light up every day as they arrive to join in our Day Options Programs…”
We have so many remarkable highlights and memories created every single day, that it is hard to pinpoint just one. But seeing our client’s not just recall everything they have learnt through our programs but put this theory into practice is a reward and great achievement in itself!
The thing I love most about my role is knowing that I am helping to make our client’s lives just that little bit easier and achieve their aspirations for the future.
