You probably have come to this section to see a whole drafted, polished list of my achievements that qualify me. I am not going to list my academic achievements straight away, as I believe my life experience and the journey I have walked to realise I too have a disability, is far more important.

 

When I was a kid and even to this day, I am the person who constantly feels like a square peg in a round hole. I have always felt very deeply about things like injustice, being kind to people and standing up when it counts, even when the crowd did not like it. This travelled into my work life, so quite often, I was the bubbly co-worker but I would always question the status quo and challenge (stand up) when things were not right, fair or seemed cruel. A boss said to me one day "stop being the maverick!"
 
Well...........after 47 years on this planet I was diagnosed with ADHD. A lightbulb moment happened for me and it explained to me why I was so fatigued; why I did not ever feel like I fit in with the rest of them! I now realised why I found social settings so exhausting, and would retreat to the safety of my home and family to rest up after each one. I had to wear masks to conform to the requirements of social compliance. This is why I could hyper focus and complete tasks for countless days straight when I was passionate about the subject. I now realised my WHY!
 
However, instead of seeing this news as a negative, I can now see this disorder, combined with my personality is what makes me uniquely, me. I am brave…I am courageous! I will stand up to people, systems and situations that are not right and challenge them. I don't care for unauthentic interactions and I want to be connected to people on a deeper level (not in an ingenuous way). This diagnosis was liberating for me!  It helped me show that, in a way, my ADHD was always working to my advantage.

I started in this industry back in ‘97 as a support worker and helped people transition out of institutions. I progressed and worked my way up to management, multi-site management in group homes, and then was picked to learn person-centred planning using graphic and visual facilitation. I helped several other organisations transition their care models and systems to be compatible to the NDIS scheme, and I studied along the way to keep upskilling as each role required. Little did I know this was all leading to Dream Big.
 
I will list my academic achievements below but I hope you see now, even though all these elements were going on with my life and I faced real barriers - I have grit and I won't give up! I hope you can see WHY you would choose Dream Big now! I have built this business on these values and picked colleagues who live their values-not throw them around like token words to profit and line their pockets.
 
I want to see people be their best! I want people to look at their barriers and say "I will overcome, win and design a life that has meaning to me and brings me joy!"
 
So, here is what the world says is academic achievement (if this is what your looking for then I probably have you covered).

 

 

Bachelor of Business (Marketing) Swinburne University (Melbourne)

Diploma in Disabilities

Diploma of Management

Certificate IV Frontline Management

Certificate IV in Training and Assessment BSZ40198

Certificate IV in Occupational Health and Safety

Australia Management System Auditing (RABQSA-AU) SAI GLOBAL

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

 

Ageing and Disabilities Trauma Informed Approach

First Aid

Mental Health First Aid and Suicide prevention

Dual Diagnosis Facilitation of Person -Centred Care Practice by Jack Pearpoint.

How to Survive and Thrive as a Manager

Pathways Australia Predict, Assess & Respond to Aggressive/Challenging Behaviour (PART)

Positive Behaviour Support; bridge the GAP Grief and Loss issues for Service Users

CDS Handling workplace Bullying;

CDS Epilepsy Management, dual diagnosis and multiple disabilities:

CDS Disability and Sexuality from a clinical perspective

DADHC Completing the evidence-based staff appraisals