Guiding your workers

Suitsme only hires workers with the skills and qualifications required to work in this sector. Suitsme also tries to have a range of workers for you to choose from, so you can find a worker who you click with.

Once you’ve found a worker who suits you, they are still going to need some guidance about what support you want and how you like to be supported.

Your Profile

Your first opportunity to guide workers is in your profile. Workers will read your profile when you request a booking with them. In your profile, you can tell workers how you like to be supported.

When you signed up with the app we asked about things that are important to know. You can edit these at any time.

Some examples of things you could include in there are:

“Loud banging sounds can be a trigger for me. When triggered, I become fearful and want to get away from the sound as soon as possible. I need you to help me get somewhere safe, to be with me while I calm down and to debrief with me afterwards.”
“It’s important to me that you respect my decision if I tell you I’m not up to doing a planned activity.”
“Sometimes I’ll tell you I don’t want to do a planned activity, but it’s important that you try to motivate me. Give me encouragement to try the activity. If I still say no, try making me again after 30 minutes.”
“I can sometimes be a bit forgetful, it’s important to me that we sit and write a To Do list at the end of every session.”
“I find it hard to concentrate when there’s lots of noise around me. It’s important that we find a quiet place when we are chatting.”
“If I seem to be hallucinating, call my GP and if they’re not available call MHERL.”
“My mum helps me a lot and keeps track of things for me, it’s important to keep her updated.”

These are just examples – you can put anything that is important to you. If it is important to you, then it is important that your worker knows.

We also ask for key contacts who we can get in touch with if you are unwell. You can edit these at any time too. If you mention someone as important then you should add their contact details so staff can find them if they need to.

If there is other information that you want workers to know then you can include it in the “About me” section of your profile.

Communication

The key to keeping any relationship on track is communication; the more you give your worker clear instructions and feedback the better your relationship will be.

Everyone is different and has different preferences. Sometimes things seem obvious to us, but it’s not obvious to everyone else. For example:

Anne works with two clients, John and Sean. If they have two bags of shopping, John may think it’s obvious that Anne would carry one of the bags, so they have one each. Whereas Sean may think it is obvious that he would carry both bags (he has two hands after all).

Neither John nor Sean’s preference is obvious to Anne, she needs them to tell her how they like to be supported.

Direct instructions and feedback tend to work well, but if something comes up and you are not comfortable telling staff directly, you can let Suitsme know and we can help address it with them.

Goals

You will have identified some goals in your NDIS plan and received funding to help you achieve those goals. It is helpful to your worker if you share your plan with them and explain which goals you want them to support you with.

It is also helpful to spend some time planning how you will achieve your goals and breaking them down into smaller, more achievable parts.

You can do this in the app either by yourself or with a worker. You can find a more detailed guide to Goal setting here.

Training

Your worker will have generalist training, but they may not have specific knowledge of your culture, diagnosis etc. Suitsme has a range of resources that both you and your worker can access which you can find here.

If you want to increase your worker’s knowledge in a specific area, then you can instruct them to complete the training during shift time. Suitsme will charge your funding to pay the staff to complete training that you instruct them to complete. Staff will get the most value out of the training if you both look at the resource together and you can explain to them how it applies to you.

Suitsme endeavours to provide resources that are relevant and helpful to you and your workers. If you have any suggestions of resources you would like offered, then please let us know.

Dress

Your worker is instructed to dress appropriately for the activity they are supporting you with. It’s helpful to message your worker in the app to let them know what you want to do that day so they can wear the right clothes. For example, if you want them to come for a run with you, then they’ll want to wear exercise clothes.

Workers may also ask you if you have any preferences for how they dress. It’s fine to let them know your preferences as long as you are respectful and appropriate.

How can we help?