This month I want to introduce you to the work of, Mel Spencer OAM. Mel is the co-founder and CEO of Different Journeys, an organisation that – amongst other things that we’ll get to – has been supporting people with autism and their carers for the last 10 years. I first met Mel when she was a participant in the Opening Doors community leadership program back in 2015. A few years later, Mel took part in our Tables of Ten leadership program.
Mel Spencer was the mother of three young children – each autistic – when she met Merrin Ayton, another mum of an autistic child. The two of them shared concerns about the loneliness and isolation both they, as unpaid carers, and their autistic children were experiencing. Their shared determination to do something about this led to the formation of Different Journeys in 2016.
Over the last almost ten years, Different Journeys has supported thousands of autistic people and their carers. Due in large part to her personal experience, Mel has always been as passionate about the needs of carers as of the people they care for. And while the emphasis of Different Journeys on the carer side has always been on those who support people with autism, more recently they have started expanding their reach to carers in many more situations.
In time, Mel became more aware of a significant gap in the support available to carers in the workplace, that is, people who hold down jobs while also, outside of work, working as unpaid carers. They may be doing this long term, such as caring for an autistic child or an aging parent, though it could also be shorter to medium term, such as caring for family member who has had a serious accident.
There are thousands of people in this situation around Australia, though most of them ‘suffer in silence’ with this extra responsibility while their employers and colleagues at work are none the wiser. Even if they are aware, many employers don’t know how to offer support or – hopefully in the minority – have no interest in doing so.
This can have ongoing and unnecessary detrimental effects for the worker/carer. The core of the issue is that, to use an expression Mel is fond of, ‘it takes a village’. For both carers and the people they care for to be successful in their lives, they need a village around them. They need to be supported by family and friends at home, and also by their employers and colleagues at work.
However, that support can only be made available when everyone is aware of the situation and knows what they can do to help.
In the worst cases, carers end up leaving their paid work. Many unpaid carers scrape by on welfare payments because they have been unable to find or keep a job in a supportive workplace. For some, the demands of their caring responsibilities are just too all encompassing to leave space for paid work. On the other side, there are some employers who discriminate against carers’ applications because of perceptions of potential unreliability.
Whatever the reason, being forced out of the workforce can have longer term implications. People in this situation can lose their sense of identity beyond solely being a carer. Loneliness is very common. Financially, they do not have the opportunity to build up their superannuation savings ahead of retirement, which can lead to poverty and even homelessness later in life.
It was with all this in mind that Different Journeys established CARE@WORK, a social enterprise with the specific goal of improving the lives of unpaid carers by having their workplaces join that ‘village’ of support. CARE@WORK provides direct support to carers, while also aiming to build the capacity of organisations to support the carers who work for them.
There are parallels with employee assistance programs (EAPs), with CARE@WORK essentially providing the service of a ‘carer assistance program’. They offer one-on-one peer support to carers in the workplace, helping them to identify and access external sources of support. (Many unpaid carers are simply too busy in their lives to even start working out where they might find support, and miss out as a result.)
CARE@WORK also works with workplace leaders, including senior management, building up internal knowledge about where to send people for help and support and facilitating the creation of a ‘village’ culture in which the whole workplace is open to and support of carers.
Mel tells me that the advantages for businesses of engaging with their carer/staff are numerous. Carers by their nature tend to be efficient and organised, patient and effective communicators. Creating a flexible environment that allows them to work at their optimum while maintaining their carer work is an obvious win-win. On the other hand, ruling them out as potential employees is a loss for everyone, especially at a time when finding well-qualified employees is often a challenge.
Implementing CARE@WORK is a great example of what an organisation can do to increase its collective emotional health. Reframing the hiring of carers as a ‘both…and’ opportunity is a good example of above-the-line leadership and a willingness to acknowledge and display vulnerability. And building a ‘village’ culture and a workplace-wide sense of looking out for each other reduces self-centredness, increasing emotional health.
Mel and her team are to be congratulated for noticing this gap and developing CARE@WORK as a social enterprise.
Gayle
If you would like to learn more about CARE@WORK, visit the website here or contact Mel directly at mel@differentjourneysautism.com or on 0412 698 807.