Rock Solid People

Kirk grew up on an island on Sydney's Northern Beaches which is an absolute haven for watersports.

Kirk loved surfing and would get out there with his mates as often as possible. As a teen, I he started losing his night vision and peripheral vision.

Kirk was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa a degenerative condition. This progressively took things from his life not just his sight, his opportunity to drive a car, his independence, confidence, bike riding, and surfing.

At this point, he got into sailing and started to sail competitively, which gave him great freedom.

Ocean racing taught Kirk about everyone bringing their strengths to the team. He competed in many campaigns including 10 Sydney to Hobarts. Kirk would surf very occasionally with friends when out of Sydney.

A friend who is an amputee surfer encouraged Kirk to enter the Australian National para titles. This really inspired him, experiencing others surfing despite their challenges. This pushed Kirk to get out there as much as he can and really work on improving his surfing.

In 2019 I competed in the US Open, where he won the bind (VS1) division. Unfortunately, he was knocked out early in the 2020 ISA para world titles, he trained hard from that time on. For the 2021 world titles everything came together and Kirk was able to get over to the US for the ISA para world titles again, this time coming home with a silver medal. 

The Carers Place officially opened its doors in 2016 but has been a business idea bubbling and brewing since 2002, when Founding Director, Cassie Day’s first son, Matthew was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) at 4 weeks old. 

Now a young business, The Carers Place provides innovative and flexible services that support families living with chronic illness, disability and special needs. Our programs and services focus on optimal mental, physical and emotional health and wellbeing including strong connection to community, government and health services in Australia.

Cassie was a young mum, alone, frightened and bewildered by the medical system and the little information that she was given. Still new to motherhood, Cassie had to return to the workforce when Matthew was just six months old. The family welcomed baby Joshua a year later and, in a bid to learn about the human body to better understand CF, with a toddler and a tiny baby, Cassie began to study natural medicine.

A year later the marriage broke down and a separation followed. With two children under three, Cassie added single parenting to her juggling act. Studying gave her the tools to understand how the human body worked and make sense of the medical issues Matthew was facing. This resulted in her making more informed decisions regarding Matthew’s health care, increased confidence and she introduced carefully considered complementary medicines and therapies to his régime.

Two years into the course, the financial pressures and health needs of Matthew were such that Cassie was unable to continue studying and she returned to work full time. Looking back it is all very clear. While Cassie was doing everything that she could for her beautiful boys, she was neglecting herself. Her mental health suffered and the weight piled on. The loneliness, the worry, the responsibility of her role was immense. Feeling overwhelmed and like she had nowhere to turn for help or assistance, she soldiered on. Something had to give. Cassie had her own health crisis and was admitted to hospital in late 2010. It wasn’t until 6 months later she decided to take charge of her situation. She made radical lifestyle changes that saw positive benefits for her and the boys.

Matthew’s health improved and the family was connecting to each other again. Life was getting easier and better. Or so it seemed until that fateful day in August 2011 when their world came to a crashing halt. Nine-year-old Matthew suffered a nasty fall. A very nasty fall. He sustained a severe brain injury (Acquired Brain Injury) and spinal fractures.

Less than a year later Cassie closed the doors to her corporate career and continued her quest to do whatever she could to help her little boys. She knew that she needed to continue to look after herself and continue the positive changes she had started earlier in the year. She needed to focus on Matthew and his rehabilitation. She made more important life-changing decisions. She was eating well and moving. She was paving the way for her and her family’s well-being to improve.

She completed Certificate’s III and IV in Fitness, planning to make a career path change and became a personal trainer. Her positive mindset was developing. She was highly motivating and inspiring to others and she was moving forward again. Matthew had enjoyed a year hospital free and as his health stabilised Cassie started a successful personal training business from home. But sick kids are sick kids and Matthew’s health took a turn for the worse. After 18 months she had to close the doors and walk away from her successful fitness business.

A return to researching natural medicine was on the cards seeking support in a naturopath, the changes that they implemented together were profound.

Cassie’s advocacy skills had developed and improved over the years and she was able to successfully communicate with medical staff to balance the best health care possible for her son.

She realised, as she began to help other people in similar situations, that she was not alone.  

The more that people were referred to her for help the more Cassie realised that she needed to become an advocate for other carers. She needed to become a leader and a guiding light.  Today as Cassie continues to care for her son Matthew, his situation is further intensified with an unexplained rapid decline in physical health, an Autism Diagnosis, and an Anxiety Disorder. 

In amongst the chaos, Cassie runs a supportive and connected Facebook Community Parents and Carers Connect, provides online and community services under the NDIS and is nearing certification in a Diploma in Community Services. In the short two years of operation, The Carers Place has served over 700 people, forged partnerships and run programs with organisations such as Carers SA, The City of Onkaparinga Council, many small businesses, has been a guest on multiple media platforms including Local and National ABC TV, ABC Drivetime Radio with Jules Schiller, Mamamia.com and supported Merc at the 2017 National Carers Conference.

Cassie has so much to give: knowledge, resources, kindness, humour and experience. She set about designing her dream – to create a place where carers feel heard, seen, understood, supported, are connected and ultimately feel safe.

And so began the story of The Carers Place. A super warm welcome to you, we hope you enjoy the journey.

The Carers Place may only just be beginning but it has a clear path set out before it and a Founding Director with heart, soul and dogged determination at its helm.

https://www.thecarersplace.com.au

https://www.thecarersplace.com.au

Meredith Coote has 38 years of experience in the disability, aged care, and mental health sector.  Her work has focused on supporting people to make decisions and how to bring the voice of people to the center of our work, helping them live the life they choose with the support they need. She is passionate about the quality of this support and that connection and relationships are at the heart of living well, that we all need someone to take care of the little things, good company from people not paid to be with us, and a sense of purpose and help to shift into different ways of living throughout our lives.

Meredith has worked in Guardianship and Financial Management, with the NDIS rollout, and in the Profit for Purpose sector at Mable assisting to build the rights and practice of people to self-manage their care and support teams. Meredith has recently become a ‘self-directed’ consultant, leading to extraordinary opportunities to partner with purpose-driven people to drive and influence innovative change in the sector. She is a thought leader, human rights advocate, and believes our best work comes from genuine collaboration. Meredith is also a wife, carer, daughter, friend and mother of 2 fabulous humans, one who is an NDIS participant who she supports to self-manage and reimagine her potential for a life of greater happiness and possibility.  Meredith sits on the Advisory Committee for Carers Australia and has run carers mental health groups.

Meredith is a strong advocate for the safeguards and quality of life that community connection provides to assist people to live independent and interdependent lives. She has recently launched Community Circles Australia, partnering with Helen Sanderson in the UK and the Charity Touched by Olivia with the goal of creating better, connected lives for everyone. 

https://www.touchedbyolivia.com.au/projects/

https://youtu.be/PgQnLXazdSg

Jodi Rodgers is a qualified sexologist, counsellor and special education teacher.

Jodi has worked within the education and community sectors in both Australia and internationally and has extensive experience working with people with diverse neurology, across the life span.

Jodi established her private practice, Birds and Bees Pty Ltd, after 25 years of working within the education, disability and sexuality fields. Birds and Bees specialises in delivering counselling services and workshops for people with a disability with focus on sexuality, sexual health and relationships, as well as delivering trainings for parents, carers and professionals to raise the community’s capacity in this sometimes-tricky area.

Jodi was recently featured on “Love on The Spectrum” which was released on ABC and globally on Netflix in 2020 and 2021.

https://birdsandbees.com.au/

Steve was just a regular kid who grew up on a farm with a dream to play in the NRL. At 21 years with 14 surgeries behind him and 4 weeks away from achieving his goal, he damaged his ACL for the 3rd time. His career was over. 

Sean is proud to say he is driven by achievement and progress. He likes to see hard work resulting in outcomes – "the good you do being observed in other people". I hate coming home from a day’s work not knowing what was achieved.

Before Plan Partners, Sean worked in car and home insurance claims integrating supply chains that involved a lot of travel to places like Taiwan, India, and the US trying to repair cars better and cheaper. Those days of travel feel like centuries ago now.

His favourite moment working with Plan Partners involved a presentation the team did to the McMillan Shakespeare Group. We wanted to truly convey what we do at Plan Partners and why we do it. Rather than present through the typical, sterile channels of PowerPoint, we asked a customer to come along and tell her story. At age 16, Anj was beaten within a millimetre of her death. Previously, a star netball player and overall high sports achiever, Anj was left with permanent physical and mental injuries, yet cognitively still bright as a button. When she finished telling her story, there wasn’t a dry eye left in the room. Anj, and customers like her, are our why; the reason we do what we do - and everyone at McMillan Shakespeare Group could very quickly understand that.

https://planpartners.com.au/

Fran is a communications consultant, strategic marketer, and author with over 23 years of experience across the Australian non-profit sector including 14 years working closely with disability service providers.

Fran is passionate about using marketing principles to improve the employee experience across the disability and aged care sectors. She is a dynamic, highly skilled facilitator and well known for her practical, down-to-earth approach to workplace culture and communications.

Her first book, How to Thrive Under the NDIS: A pathway to sustainability for service providers, is now in its seventh reprint.  Her second book, Workplace Culture and the NDIS was released in late 2019 and is now in its second reprint. Both are available from Amazon, Booktopia or direct from here.

Fran has run her own business for 23 years. She holds an Economics Degree and a postgraduate Marketing Diploma. She has been a presenter for the Australian Institute of Company Directors, National Disability Services, Connecting Up, Cerebral Palsy Alliance, CatholicCare, the CPA and CommBank.

For more info visit: www.cultureandcommunications.com.au

https://www.linkedin.com/in/franconnelley/

Dr Guy Turnbull is an award-winning, internationally recognised social entrepreneur. Highly acclaimed in his field, he has been a major figure in the co-operative and social enterprise sector since 1988.

The former managing director of Care & Share Associates Limited (CASA) – an employee owned social enterprise he helped to found in 2004.

Recent achievements and activity include:

* Developing a range of health and social care social enterprises operating in South Australia, including VIVA Mutual, a in home disability support provider inspired by Buurtzorg, the innovative Dutch model of community nursing based upon the concept of self managed teams

* Driving the growth of Care & Share Associates Limited, from start-up pioneering social franchise to £17m t/o employee owned social enterprise, weekly delivering 23,000 hours of domiciliary care across 9 territories in Northern England

* Co-creating ‘RED’ (Rapid Enterprise Development Workshops) - an innovative approach to social enterprise development with disabled people

* 2018 Don Dunstan Foundation Thinker In Residence focused  on building South Australia’s social economy

In 2016 Guy’s work in the care sector was recognised by The Great British Care Awards where he became national winner in the ‘Outstanding Contribution To Social Care’ category.  He was also the winning UK national finalist in EY’s prestigious global competition, ‘Entrepreneur Of The Year’.  Here, the judges cited Guy’s strong clarity of direction together with success in developing a highly innovative business model that meets not just customers’ demands but also those of CASA’s employees., as winning factors.

In 2017, Guy’s work in shaping, guiding and championing the social enterprise movement was recognised by Social Enterprise UK, through the award of an Honorary Fellowship.

A published author, he has also served as chair and trustee for a long-established social investor.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/guy-turnbull-022b21b/

Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IfCzqXb64M&t=108s

PETER DEMPSEY…ON HIS 3 TIPS TO LAUNCHING A BUSINESS IN THE NDIS..

Max King CEO Auscare Support interviews Peter Dempsey who is the CEO of Ability Tech.

Peter Dempsey has a proven track record of beating the odds time and time again. At the age of 4, Peter suffered a severe stroke and was given virtually zero chance of survival. While Peter beat the odds, he still had to relearn how to walk, talk and even think. “The first 15 years of my life I felt so alone, even with my parents incredible support I felt disconnected like I was trapped in my own mind. I got through but it was a long hard battle.”

With an extraordinary will to achieve Peter overcame the odds, not only surviving but thriving. Today, Peter owns multiple businesses and is a public speaker, coach, and mentor. Despite an amazing life and career spanning numerous achievements, the one thing Peter still feels most passionate about is bridging the gap between people with disabilities and the rest of the world. “I want to give people the opportunities I never had, I want to use technology to assist all those who feel disconnected by their disability. That’s what Ability Tech is really about, it’s not about disabilities it’s about possibilities.”

https://www.ability.org.au/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-dempsey-43182887/

Elisa started her management and technology career at Eastcoast Property Software including launching the business in Europe and North America. Elisa moved to the UK for a 10-year stay where she helped found ChurchWorks, an online CRM for churches and not for profits.

Returning to Australia in 2011 she focussed on family and supporting her then young son with his autism journey.

In 2016 out of her personal experience and a desire to help families like hers make sense of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, she launched Plan Tracker. The first NDIS purpose-built self-management App was released in 2017 and quickly followed by a scaling of the Plan Management offering. Elisa has a knack for combining cutting edge technology, great team and the needs of people to provide services and tools which help make navigating the NDIS easier.

In 2021, Plan Tracker became part of Plan Partners, the 2nd largest Plan Manager in Australia and part of the McMillan Shakespeare Group. Plan Partners and Plan Trackers’ values and commitment to our customers very much align and together we joined forces to undertake the ongoing investment needed to support NDIS participants and their families.

Board member: Disability Intermediaries Australia

https://www.plantracker.com.au/

linkedin.com/in/elisa-james-a8196652