Key Takeaways
- Expanding your support from one worker to a team provides greater scheduling flexibility, backup protection, and targeted skills as your needs change.
- Your support team is completely unique; it can range from having a single extra helper for specific tasks to balancing multiple independent support workers.
- Building a team on Mable happens at your own pace by reviewing your current care gaps, searching local profiles, or creating specific job posts.
- Service agreements ensure rates, hours, and roles are transparently established with each new independent support worker.
- If handling multiple schedules feels overwhelming, you can bring in a trusted friend, family representative, or an independent coordinator to manage the logistics.
For many people, support starts with one great support worker. But over time, support needs can change. When that happens, building an aged care support team can offer more flexibility, continuity and choice.
Growing from one worker to multiple independent support workers for home care doesn’t need to feel like a complicated step. It can happen gradually, at a pace that feels right for you.
Whether you’re self-managing your care or a family member or representative helping a client, a support team approach can make it easier to match support to real life.
Why should you add another independent support worker to your team?
For some people, having just one trusted support worker is all that they need and works well for them. But for others, there may come a point where only one person is no longer the right fit for all of their aged care needs.
For example, you may have a relationship with a support worker who helps clean and tidy your home. But perhaps you’re finding it increasingly harder to stand for long periods of time and cook meals. Or you might not feel as confident driving yourself to and from appointments or social outings. In these cases, bringing in another care worker can be helpful
Another advantage of expanding your support team is reducing reliance on one person for your care needs, especially if your support worker falls sick, is on holidays or leaves their role.
Building a support team in aged care in Australia can also offer flexibility around timing and scheduling. For instance, you might need help with both morning and evening tasks, and one support worker may not be available for both support sessions. You may also have a range of needs and prefer the expertise and qualifications of one particular independent support worker for a certain task.
What does an aged care support team look like?
A support team is a very individual thing. Some older Australians find one extra support worker is enough, while others prefer to rely on the services of multiple workers.
On Mable, working with more than one independent support worker is a common way to shape support around changing needs and preferences. For example, it might look like this:
- A primary or lead support worker who provides regular, ongoing support and knows your routines well
- A second support worker who helps with specific tasks, such as transport, social or medical outings or nursing
- A backup support worker for planned leave or unexpected gaps.
Different support workers offer different strengths, experiences and personalities. Together, this mix of aged care support workers can offer you a team that feels more responsive, reliable and consistent.
How do you build an aged care support team on Mable?
If you’re thinking about expanding from one support worker to a support team, it can help to break the process into a few steps:
1. Review current support
You can begin by thinking about what is working well and where extra support may help. It might be with tasks, timing or both.
2. Search on Mable
On Mable, you can search for an independent support worker in aged care in your local community and read their profiles to see if their skills, availability and approach suit your needs. You can also post a job if you would like to be more specific about the kind of support you want.
3. Connect with potential new support workers
When you contact a potential new support worker, it may help to explain that you already have support in place and are looking to build a small support team, with the specific need you are looking to fill. That can make it easier to talk about how their role fits with your existing arrangements.
4. Use service agreements
Service agreements help set shared expectations about responsibilities, availability, rates and the way support is delivered. Mable offers guidance about using service agreements as part of building a support team.
5. Consider a representative or coordinator
You may find involving a representative, like a family member or trusted friend, can make things feel more manageable.
Another option is to use an independent coordinator who can help manage your support team for you. Based on current Mable data, almost 30% of clients on Mable have a coordinator or a provider who manages support for them.
Representatives and coordinators can play an important role in building a support team, especially when support needs are changing or becoming more complex. They may notice gaps in support, help coordinate communication across your team, and support the practical side of managing multiple relationships. Importantly, they can do this without taking away your choice and control.
How do you keep your support team connected?
Managing multiple support workers may seem complex, but Mable has many tools that can help make things feel more manageable. Here are some suggestions to make things easier:
Set clear expectations about your routines and preferences
This might include everyday details such as how you like things done, what matters most to you, and how you prefer to communicate with your support team.
Use Mable tools to organise your team
Mable’s support session planning tools can help make scheduling feel more manageable, giving you one place to view upcoming bookings, make changes when plans shift, and keep track of your support.
Getting extra help if you need it
If the administration side begins to feel like too much, an independent coordinator is always an option. They can take over the logistics of your support, while keeping what you want from your sessions at the centre.
Taking the next step with your support
Building a support team can be one way to make better use of your support funding, while also shaping support around the life you want to live.
Looking at your current support may be a helpful place to begin, considering how a second support worker may be enough to add flexibility, fill a gap, or offer a different strength.
You can explore support workers on Mable, or contact us if you would like help getting started.