Independent Support Workers on Mable offer various support services. One of these is personal care. But what exactly is personal care and what qualifications do you need to offer it?
What is personal care?
Personal care includes hands-on support services that help a person perform their day to day activities and maintain their independence. To provide personal care, support workers need to have the right qualifications and skills.
Personal care can be delivered in different settings. For example, a client living at home alone, with their family, or when out and about with their support worker.
What does personal care include?
The type of personal care a client may require depends on their support needs. A person with dementia, for example, might have different personal care needs from a person with disability, or a person who needs aged care support, or someone recovering from a stroke or surgery.
Examples of personal care include:
- Support with showering and washing
- Assistance with dressing
- Grooming support (such as hair washing, shaving and nail clipping)
- Toileting assistance
- Manual transfer support (when a client needs assistance with moving from one place to another, say from the bed to a wheelchair)
- Assistance with eating and drinking
- Assistance with taking medications.
What skills and qualifications do I need to provide personal care?
You must have one of the below qualifications (with two professional referees who can verify your personal care experience in the last five years) or two years of professional personal care experience in the last five years (with two professional referees who can verify two or more years of professional personal care experience) to be a personal care support worker on Mable.
- Cert III or IV in Aged Care (With two professional referees in the last five years)
- Cert III or IV in Disability (With two professional referees in the last five years)
- Cert III or IV in Individual Support (With two professional referees in the last five years)
- Cert III or IV in Home and Community Care (With two professional referees in the last five years)
- Nursing qualification: You must provide a nursing degree or diploma obtained in Australia plus two professional referees in the last five years.
Nursing qualifications outside of Australia accepted by Mable must be attained in NZ, Philippines, USA, Canada, UK, an EU member country, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the UAE, plus you must provide two professional referees in the last five years.
Please note, these qualifications cannot be used for nursing services or assisting with medication on Mable.
If you have been providing domestic assistance and social support, you can also upskill and gain a personal care qualification by obtaining a Certificate 3 or 4 in either Individual Support, Aged Care, Disability Support, or Home and Community Care.
Also, check out Mable’s Accredited Training section to find out how you can upskill and build your business on Mable.
Personal care, dignity and privacy
Respect is of utmost importance when providing any kind of support. This includes:
- Respect for your client’s privacy, dignity and choices
- Giving kind, respectful attention to your client as you attend to their personal care needs
- Maintaining your duty of care
- Practising person-centred support
- Asking your client questions if you’re unsure about anything.
Personal care: A case study
Peter is an 85-year-old man with dementia. He lives with his daughter and son-in-law.
Although Peter has always managed to shower and dress himself, he is now having difficulty. His daughter says he forgets which clothes are clean, often putting the dirty ones back on and tossing the clean set in the hamper. She also isn’t sure he is washing himself properly.
Peter’s daughter has engaged Jenny, a personal care support worker with whom he’s familiar, to provide him personal care support.
Jenny now assists Peter with showering and dressing on the days she visits. She doesn’t do anything for him that he can’t do himself, though. He can clean himself in the shower but she does supervise him, reminding him to use soap and to hold onto the handrail. He then wraps a towel around himself and Jenny supports him by directing him to the clean clothes. She understands it’s important that Peter has choices and so he’s selected his clothes for the day.
Peter feels comfortable with Jenny as she’s a professional and also kind and respectful. After getting dressed they head out for a walk.
Become a personal care support worker on Mable
We hope this guide has helped you understand what personal care support is and what qualifications you need to provide personal care.
If you’re looking for a rewarding career, sign up to become an independent support worker on Mable today.
All support workers on Mable receive a suite of high-level insurances to cover you for all bookings made on Mable, access to 170+ free training courses and 24/7 counselling support.
You can also explore our guide to becoming a support worker on Mable.
