Holistic Support with Head, Heart

A New Year, A New Opportunity

Holistic Support with Head, Heart & Hands

Permanent Position at Cairns Northern Beaches – 25 hrs to 36 hrs per week

Start Date: 6th January 2026

Looking for a sea change?  This is a unique opportunity to develop your knowledge of disability work in an environment of excellent care and therapeutic support.

Tired of being moved from client to client? Working for a company that treats you/your clients like a number?  This is an opportunity to obtain an in-depth knowledge of one client's support needs, develop a wide range of support skills and be part of a welcoming team.

Say goodbye to working short shifts, travelling between clients, to trying to support people with too little information about their needs.

Working as an independent?  Say goodbye to finding new clients, paying your own tax and super and spending your free time invoicing.

This is a permanent role based at Palm Cove.  We are offering a minimum of 4 shifts per week, with regular opportunities to pick up an extra shift.  We are keen to hear from applicants who are ready for a deep dive into delivering holistic care for one adult with complex support needs.

This is not your typical disability support job.

This is a rare opportunity to:

o   Join a family-governed, not-for-profit at the Cairns Northern Beaches

o   Improve your work/life balance while investing in a job that will help you advance your knowledge and skills

o   Deliver a wide range of individualized, holistic supports to one person with disabilities

o   Support a vulnerable adult to live their best life

o   Become part of a "village" of people building a genuine, loyal connection with an adult with disabilities.

Purpose

Our team provides around-the-clock support to a survivor of catastrophic injury.  Our program has a focus on health and wellness.  Our collective purpose is to maintain a 24 x 7 roster of supports, for a vulnerable man who is at the centre of our work.  Our White Crane logo is a symbol of loyalty, harmony, health and wisdom. We appreciate working with gentle, thinking people who have the energy, heart and stability to commit to our shared purpose.

Key Support Goals

1) To optimize our man's health and wellbeing through sound health management, daily physiotherapy and good nutrition.

2) To support him to learn an alternative method of communication

3) To enable him to live his best life, based on his interests, values and goals.

Innovation

As one of the first family-governed services-for-one in the Cairns region, White Crane Collective has been a pioneer in delivering holistic, individualized care, therapy and experiences to the person we support.

A key part of the rationale for operating a family governed support program is the opportunity for innovation.  We have the flexibility to do things in ways that work best for the person we support and our family, while creating sustainable jobs for our team.   Meaningful jobs that provide opportunities for skill development and ongoing learning.

We are not looking to replicate what is being done in institutional settings or mainstream disability services. Our values are strongly around person-centred (individualized) support, in the truest sense of the term. Supporting an adult with complex care needs in their home requires commitment.  Team members need the right values.  Caring for a person with complex needs at home, requires a similar mindset to home birthing or a home-based palliative care service.  It requires good planning and organization, knowing your stuff, taking responsibility, acting promptly when you notice changes, reaching out for the right expertise when you are out of your depth.  It requires clear communication and the ability to think 3 steps ahead.

Our approach is intentionally personal.  Making every day the best it can be is important when supporting a person who has lost their ability to participate in things they once loved.  For example, the person we support was a great reader before his injury.  Reading to him in the evenings is an essential part of the job.  The right person for this role will do more than tick off essential tasks, they will become a trusted companion, who cares about our person and contributes to his quality of life.

About our Person

The person we support is in his early 40s.  He is gentle, patient and calm.  He does best with a structured support program, delivered in his "zen space"; a busy but calm, purpose-built home.

Familiar routines and consistent methods of care are important.  As a result of his injury, our man lost his vision and speech.

Our guy has a quirky sense of humour.  He is a lover of music and books. He enjoys massage, water-based therapies and spending time in nature.

He has two small dogs who have the run of the house.  He is a live music fan and a much-loved son.

He thrives when supported by familiar people who build a genuine connection with him.  New workers must be prepared to learn how to support him from his experienced support workers, his nurses and therapists, and an expert family caregiver.

He is a tall man who requires assistance with all aspects of daily living.  He has complex  disability-related health needs.  He has two registered nurses on his team, who provide advice and education on the health aspects of his support needs.

His support program is a place of continuous learning where advice from his physiotherapists and speech therapists, is integrated into the daily support provided by his team.     This means workers are required to stay up-to-date, and learn new skills as his needs change and when new approaches and strategies are trialed to achieve his goals.

Providing Support with Head Heart and Hands

Head:  This role requires someone who brings  a relevant qualification or experience. Alternatively, you may have  a sound work record in a different field, with the passion and work ethic to become a great support worker.   We are looking for someone who enjoys a challenge and takes pride in their work.  You must be able to follow written instructions and retain information, as you build on the layers of knowledge required for the role.

Our ideal candidate is an organized person who thinks ahead.  They are a good problem-solver and a clear communicator.  They are able to sort key information from fluff. They have the capacity and interest to learn how to support our person's complex health needs, retaining and applying the information they learn from our long term support workers, registered nurses and an expert family member.

Heart: This role requires a kind, compassionate person, who will build an authentic connection with the person we support.  We are looking for someone who plays well with others. This includes extending a supportive attitude to an older parent, co-workers, professionals and others you meet in the course of your work.  It means having the discipline to leave your personal issues at the door and bring a warm, supportive manner to work.

Hands: This role requires practicality; a willingness to roll up your sleeves. There will be times when you work up a sweat (eg. showering someone in a steamy bathroom).   It's not a job for a princess, though we have worked with many petite "pocket rockets" who danced through the job on point.    The role needs someone who is house trained and is happy to take their turn doing the laundry, cleaning the toilet and emptying the bins. The flexibility to stop what you are doing and answer the phone, run an errand or feed the dogs is appreciated.  Support work for an adult with disabilities, includes doing everything they are unable to do for themselves, from their mailbox to their back gate.

Holistic Support Worker - This role is more than a job

Key Duties

· Provide person-centred support, including personal care, manual handling and giving medication

· Respond to health issues that arise, following guidance from our registered nurses and an expert family member

· Work in alignment with individual therapy plans and maintain daily tracking of progress

· Provide gentle physiotherapy, including hydrotherapy, following the advice of our physiotherapists

· Provide communication support, following the guidance from our speech pathologist

· Plan and provide safe outings and experiences for the person we support

· Provide safe transport, driving our long wheel-based van that is modified for a wheelchair

· Provide domestic assistance and meal preparation

· Provide overnight care and monitoring, working one sleepover shift per week on a regular basis

· Become an active member of our person's support village,  demonstrating loyalty, a genuine concern for their wellbeing, and good teamwork.

Conditions

Permanent pay rate weekday, Saturday and Sunday. Paid sick leave and holidays.

We are looking for someone to start on 25 hours per week over 4 shifts, with the capacity to build up to 36 hours, including one regular sleepover shift per week.

Typical Shift Times:

Mornings: 7am to 1pm, 8am to 2pm

Afternoons: 1pm to 7pm

Sleepovers: 6pm to 8am (All sleepovers include some "awake time")

Staff to Client Ratio: 2:1 on most day shifts, 1:1 on sleepovers

We provide a generous number of buddy shifts for training purposes and extensive written information.  In-service training is provided on a monthly basis.  Applicants must have the flexibility to attend meetings and training sessions as required.

Staff on our program are required plan ahead and negotiate leave dates.

How to Apply

If you are genuinely interested in this position, please follow these instructions carefully.  Closing date for applications is Friday 12th December.

Email an expression of interest with your resume, to -crane-  Please put the title Holistic Support Worker in the subject line of your email.

We will reply with an application form to complete.  Applicants who do not provide a completed application form by 5pm on the 12th December, will not be considered for this role.

We will be conducting interviews with short-listed candidates between 2nd and 10th December.  We need to have everything organized for the successful candidate before our office closes on 17th December.

The anticipated start date is 6th January.  Applicants can let us know if they are available to start sooner.  This may be a possibility.