Dairy of an NDIS Worker Day 102

 22 February 2025

Dear Diary,

C has been so much better lately, their mobility and headspace is good.

We talk across so much terrain.. we drive to appointments in my car.
Do 'car disco' songs that we love, singing together in imperfect harmony..

I am shopping too for a new client - elderly, frail, but mentally agile. 

I see others scouring the supermarket shelves for items in a way that denotes that the food is not for them.

We talk through their list before I shop, the client - A, is meticulous in their writing and description of the items they want.

It's astonishing to me that she cooks roast dinners, heats up soups and steams vegetables. And asks me to unpack their beers.

A doesn't go out ever. 

Their vacuum cleaner is old and frail like them. I run it over the hallway and in their bedroom. 

Take them fresh tomatoes from my vine.

Each time I shop it feels like an act of service and I am oddly anxious that I may not have got the precise item they requested. 

I brought the wrong bread last week - they response was so despondent that I rushed back to the supermarket to change it. 

This shopping after all means more to them than most.

Another client D - we cook together. They aren't confident, they put them selves down. I stand next to them saying you can do this, it's ok and what they cook always looks amazing..

I'm working with another client on their memoir.
Having had amazing mentors myself I apply that skill of 'walking along side someone'.. as they traverse the massive task of getting a story down, pondering each word and polishing each sentence... in the long and treacherous road to publishing... where self belief is everything..

So I am over a hundred days into this.. and my oh my I love the work..

Trump makes more and more preposterous pronouncements ..

Let's just see what he actually does.

my website has had a makeover..I'd love you to have a peak
justinesless.com

Diary of an NDIS Worker Day 81

 2/2/2025

Dear Diary,

As the heat began to build in Melbourne I was down at the allotments with a client.

We worked hard. Weeding and preparing a new plot.

There were plenty of people there today, for a working bee. 

There was plenty of wisdom there too.

Advice was plentiful on how to clear the plot, constant reminders to rest regularly and drink lots of water.

Good gardeners are great at reusing everything.

Each plot was filled with luscious vegetables and bright pink and orange flowers.

By eleven we were done. Sweaty, but satisfied with the work over the last couple of hours.

We returned tools and wheelbarrows. Had so many conversations about vegetables, the heat and general complimentary comments to each other on the work we had all done.

I came home.

Showered.

Made a lunch using the huge haul of tomatoes and cucumbers.

I came home thinking about the great Ted Lasso quote..

Smells Like Potential.

One of the best things about the community garden was there was zero screen action, zero AI and I didn't hear anyone talk about Trump.

For more go to justinesless.com

Diary of an NDIS Worker Day 74

 26/1/2025

Dear Diary,

Last week C had another fall.

I feel her health is failing rapidly along with her memory.

I am not sure that I am the right carer for her anymore.

I took a new client out for a cup of tea.

They are in a residential mental health facility.

They can leave the facility under supervision for 1 hour blocks 3 times a week...

The hour we spent together was joyful.

They recited poetry.

Tried on their new lipstick.

And showed me photographs from when they were married.

I spent a day with another client chatting and taking them to a medical appointment. It was fun and easy going.

I was contacted by a lady who wants me to help them with their novel on a weekly basis.. Of course I nearly cried .. what a time to be alive..

I registered with another agency.

Said no to an agency that only had clients living far from me. Continued to up the word count on the next book
Spruiked for freelance work.

Slow but steady.

Diary of an NDIS Worker Day 69

 22/1/2025

Dear Diary,

I have another client.

C has been a constant.

There are days when I am utterly exhausted.

There are days when the habit of looking for the shiny object, the better thing, the thing that will make me feel more successful or bring in more cash shine bright and I want to turn my full attention to that..

I worry about money a lot some days.

And others I just think well I can pay the bills this month, so all is well.

Sometimes I think I should be applying for a 'proper job,'and then I trawl through position descriptions and feel repulsed at the thought of having to demonstrate my ability, complete endless Key Selection Criteria only to be told thanks but no thanks, or worse still enter an environment where the workplace bully is allowed to stomp through the minds and crush the souls of all who work there..

It all just has to be ok.

And then I worry again, am I self sabotaging by working in a role that is casual and sometimes pays less than I am used to being paid..

And then a friend told me this great line..

'Worrying is just praying for something you don't want.'

When I started this Diary Trump had just won the election.

Now he's in office with a 2 gender rule.. 
and the Nazi salute is trending on twitter...

Diary of an NDIS Support Worker Day 56

 9/2/2025

Dear Diary,

This week I saw C twice.

The first time we sorted through their bedroom in readiness for a new bed.

I have never considered myself to be a patient person.

Maybe this is a new attribute.

I worked with a new client.

The best way to describe the work is psycho social support.

And whilst my income has dropped significantly I'm still happier and calmer than I have been in a long time.

Day by day.

That's all we got.

Diary of an NDIS Worker Day 49

 1.1.2025

Dear Diary,

Today I took a new client to an appointment.

We spoke a lot about incidental connection versus scheduled contact.

Sometimes it is the silence of a day, as debilitating as a shackle.

Sometimes it is the tinkling sound of a giggling child that can illuminate a day.

Sometimes a friend cancels, and the evening looms, a spectre of despair.

Diary of an NDIS Worker Day 37

 20/12/2024

Dear Diary,

A lot of people will be having end of year knock off drinks now, the last Friday before Xmas.

I'll go for a swim and have a beer at the bay afterwards.

I did the last shift for the year with C this week.

We went once more to the mall.

No natural light.

3 hours exchanging one item of clothing- taking everything off the rack so that C could see it properly. Then we bought some xmas decos. 

I gave C a gift and was a little sad not to receive one from them, for the times I put their earrings in, for the times I didn't say going to the mall isn't great for anyone's health - for the times I worked 8 hours straight, getting the room ready for their overseas guest.

When I was a kid I would chase through the streets because I could hear the ice cream van warbling.. sometimes I'd find it, stand on tip toes and get an ice cream with a flake pushed into the cone. Other times I'd turn back despondent as the sound of the ice cream van receded before I could find it.

 That's what it felt like driving home after the last shift with C.

I've wondered sometimes over the last few weeks if I should have taken out a bullying complaint - made it formal the way I felt when I had to leave the job.. sat there in that office, just me and my manager. Their face impassive as they advised me that some people didn't like me, that I was seen as a negative member of staff and the clincher that made me get my things and get the train straight home - that my sense of humour wasn't appreciated.

It cut deep - I felt like the chime of the ice cream van was so far away that I may never savour that feeling of standing on tip toe asking for a Mr. Whippy with a flake in it.. ever again.

When I drove home from C's I put on a classical music channel, I do that sometimes - because it makes me feel like it's a soundtrack and I'm in a movie..

We only know the person in front of us or behind us on the motorway when we collide. It is then that we get out of our cars, point angrily at each other, inspect the dints of damage, exchange details and let the insurance companies deal with the rest.

I like driving at 40kms per hour - not on the motorway of course, but along suburban streets. I like to watch crows tug on takeaway wrappers and craw at their greasy finds..

I like to imagine all the lovely things in op shops, all the people walking along who are lonely, not as lonely as those sitting in cafes in malls, but out the house, for something to do. I like strip shopping on high streets, where people know your name, nod and bring you your coffee, shops that let the weather in, damp feet from the rain, or grumbles of hot and bothered families seeking solace from the sun.

The working year is ended now.

My income over the last few weeks is half what it was in the 'awful job.' 

I've cleaned houses in the past, picked up glasses in bars, cooked in cafes, done some things just to tied me over, till the next thing comes along.

Because it will.. like the chime of the ice cream van.. it will come.