Former Gellibrand support worker Tony Ryan said discovering how to foster clients’ independence was the biggest learning in his career in the disability sector. That and attempting to dodge stray livestock on the road…
Tony Ryan is confident he is the only Gellibrand team member who has hit a cow while driving.
“I was out near Deer Park with a client and this was when there weren’t two-laned highways – it was all farmland,” Tony remembered.
Accidents happen, no support organisation is immune, but who can plan for a cow dashing onto the road and taking the full force of your vehicle? Tony made a call to a manager who came and picked up the client, who was shaken but fine, then helped emergency services deal with the issue of the cow and car.
“Matt [Gellibrand’s CEO] always reminded me that he was pretty sure I was the only team member who had a hit a cow.”
Still, Tony, who recently retired from Gellibrand after 25 years’ service, was the kind of team member who was always cool in a crisis. Before coming to Gellibrand, he had done stints as a prison warder and in the army, both professions in which crisis management skills come in handy. Then, when he felt he needed a change, he worked as a bus driver in the disability sector. It was a short step from there to becoming a support worker.
“I just wanted to do something where I was able to help people more and luckily enough Gellibrand hired me,” he said, adding that, due to his work history, he probably wasn’t as concerned about potential crises as others starting out as support workers.
“The main thing for me was just getting to know the clients, all their different personalities.”
Tony said he started at Gellibrand when it had about five service sites and less than 50 team members. Now, the organisation has close to 300 team members and 25 service sites.
“It’s changed a lot,” he said. “When I first started, there weren’t as many things you could do with clients. But, then again, when they did want to do things, you could usually just go and do it. Like, I took clients to the MCG to watch the cricket without too much preparation. Now, there’s much more preparation because you have to find out if clients have the right number of hours and the right amount of money in their plans.”
That said, however, he reckons the NDIS, which came in while he was still relatively new to the sector, has been a change for the better. “It was probably a bit hard, though, for the older clients when the NDIS came in. If you were over 65, you were treated as aged care, which created a few problems.”
A major learning for Tony when he started as a support worker was discovering how to support clients rather than do for clients. He calls it the ‘hands in your pocket’ approach.
“It was hard at first because you would have a client cooking and a pot might be about to boil over on the stove. The first thing you want to do is just pull that pot off! But you have to learn to ask the client, ‘What do you think we should do here? The pot is starting to boil over.’
Tony said this was key to having a successful and enjoyable career in disability: support people to gain as much independence as they possibly can.
“Honestly, it’s taught me so much in life and as a Dad. I had early teens when I started at Gellibrand and I found myself not trying to do everything for my kids at home, just allowing them that independence. If they made a mess, well, we just picked up and started again.”
He also said working in disability had opened his kids’ eyes to a wider perspective on life.
“They came along with me to events with the clients and they got to see that not everyone in the world could just easily do what they wanted, when they wanted. There are disabled people and they just need some support.”
Tony said one of the things he valued most about working at Gellibrand was that the leaders always welcomed input and the point of view of team members.
“I mean, I lost count of the amount of times Matt said no to me,” Tony laughed. “But at least I got to ask the question! But he did take on board things I said.”
When asked about Tony, Customer Wellbeing Manager Margaret Given said that it was one of the best days for Gellibrand when Tony was employed and a sad day when he retired.
“Tony always put clients first and his level of empathy and compassion is second to none. What started as a job for Tony became a vocation. I don’t believe Tony ever ‘worked’ when he was on a shift,” Margaret said. “He saw himself as a person, there to interact with another person; as equals. Tony will be greatly missed by the organisation but, for those whose lives he changed, the people he supported and the team members he worked alongside, we are all forever grateful for his contribution and the time spent with us.”
These days Tony lives on Victoria’s west coast, thankful for his career with Gellibrand, though he still has contact with disabled people through his wife’s work supporting clients with sporting activities.
“The things that are available for disabled people these days compared to when I started is just amazing. There are things like three-wheeled chairs that allow clients to go bushwalking and the program my wife works for that takes disabled people surfing on long boards. The look on their faces as they come into shore is just fantastic to see.”
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