Meet Ian Druce, a former venue manager from a family of health professionals, who has marketing and client support roles at Gellibrand.
Ian Druce is a man who takes opportunities when he sees them. Before starting at Gellibrand, he was employed at a hospitality venue for five years, working his way up from busboy to manager. However, he felt there could be a new direction for his career path and, given his family’s history in the ‘caring professions’, the turn he took isn’t surprising.
“Mum is a speech pathologist, my sister is an occupational therapist, and my brother is a nurse, so I just had a conversation with them…”
They suggested the disability sector might be a good fit for Ian and he took the plunge and did a Certificate III in Disability Support. He had no previous experience in the sector, but his mother’s work had seen her form close relationships with people with disability.
“Growing up I went to some open days and I was definitely exposed to people with disability, but I had never worked professionally in the field.”
He completed his placement at an organisation in Kew and they offered him a role, but excessive travel made it impractical. Ian looked closer to home – and found Gellibrand.
“And here I am,” he says, adding that he currently splits his working week across two roles, one supporting clients and another on the CEO team in marketing.
“Being in the office helps me see how everything works behind the scenes, which I find fascinating. And then client contact gives me a better understanding of the service sites and clients and the processes we take for each client and the care that is behind that.”
Ian says he has no doubt about Gellibrand’s claim that it puts clients first.
“They are really in the driver’s seat with decision making and their life goals. Our job is to facilitate their goals and support them to make them achievable,” he says, adding that team members know their roles and have room to grow and learn.
When it comes to the marketing side of his work, Ian says his experience as a venue manager was important.
“I know how to get messages across to people and did advertising for events – definitely those skills have carried over into my role,” he says, noting that in attending events and expos he’d noticed Gellibrand’s name is becoming more widely known in the sector. “It’s continuing to grow in terms of people’s understanding and there always seem to be new leads emerging to support new clients.”
Six months into his roles with Gellibrand, Ian has a simple way to sum up how he feels about his work.
“I love it – time has just flown by. I really like the team, the people, and everyone is really helpful. I was a bit nervous to start off, learning everything from scratch, but thankfully I had the Cert III under my belt so I had some idea of what I was doing, but every organisation does things a little differently.”
Ian sees a bright future for Gellibrand, growing in order to support people with disability in new areas.
“We have been around more than 40 years so we know what we’re doing and we’ve always been able to adapt in an ever-changing sector.”
