Elizabeth Kestell Email & Phone Number

Edwardstown, South Australia, Australia

South Australia, Australia

In this role, I was responsible for 290 participants in a Lifestyles Service for people who lived with a disability. I actioned and identified trends in incident reports, completed referrals for allied health professionals, maintained confidential documentation, highlighted improvements for service delivery and build strong relationships with relevant stakeholders. With 7 support leaders reporting to me, I educated staff on the policies and procedures and identified issues to improve the welfare and safety of the people we support. I worked alongside multiple departments, support coordination, customer relationship officer and quality and safeguarding. I attended weekly meetings with the clinical nurse and management to develop a high-risk register, and complete risk assessments to improve participant's quality of life.

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Within 2 month of my employment with Minda as a disability support worker, I was allocated the Team Leader role for a caseload of 49 clients and 20 disability support workers (DSW’s). In this role, I had to think quickly on my feet for emergency situations and liaise with emergency services. I ensured that the DSW’s engaged with the people we support and that they had access to the relevant documentation to keep the clients safe. I managed guardian complaints and escalated them to the senior manager, manager and senior practitioner, where necessary. I attended weekly meetings to stay up to date with any client or organisational changes. I handled the finances for the craft, pottery and painting group to maintain their program’s functioning.

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Here, I floated between 4 supported independent living (SILS) houses, two day services and a short term accommodation (STA). This was a quick way for me to get to know all of the clients within the Northern region at Scope. I was casually employed, had my own set roster and was on-call for anyone who could not make his or her shift. The people we supported were predominately people who lived with cerebral palsy and who had high medical needs. It was important in this role to understand all forms of communication including verbal, non-verbal and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). This role was heavy on personal care and mealtime assistance. Although, I was being prepared to become a team leader at Heidelberg Day Services, Unfortunately, the extended lockdown of COVID-19, affected my working and personal life and my partner and I, made the hard decision to return home to Adelaide.

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

OnCall Personnel is an agency, whereby their employees were on call to fill vacancies at short notice across Victoria. It was important to have the ability to learn quickly and ask questions when unsure about something. I would work across a variety of settings, including SILS, day services, STA and 1:1 community outings. There was a large range of needs from high medical to high behaviours and independent, high functioning clients. In this role, I had to have fully comprehensive car insurance and a current drivers licence to support clients with transport. While this role was a great opportunity to learn about disability straight after finishing my certificate, I left this role because I wanted to create more meaningful relationships, with both clients and other staff members, as well as a set roster where I could expect which clients I would be supporting.

CareChoice is an agency that support both people with disability and people who were in the care of child protection. I joined this company with hopes of supporting people with disability. However, with my bachelor of psychological science, I was given the opportunity to support children and teenagers who lived in our care. This role had challenging clients who had lived through trauma and did not have a legal guardian who they could rely on. It was important in this role to be firm but fair, to facilitate independence, maintain professional boundaries, while at the same time, support through their hard time. From a behavioural perspective this role was extremely interesting and rewarding, I left this company to fulfil my desire to support people with a disability.

While completing high school and my university degree I worked in customer service roles. This included in 5-star hotels, cafes, restaurants and cocktail bars. In these roles, I developed skills in communicating across a different range of clientele, which lead to the progression of a role in management. I had the opportunity to manage, train staff, assist in marketing strategies and have the freedom to produce new cocktail menus. It was my responsibility to maintain stock levels, make cocktails, alcoholic spirits and barista coffee, manage time, conflict resolution and ensure the safety of the customers.

Bachelor Of Psychological Science, Psychology

Double Diploma In Business Administration And Leadership And Management

Certificate Iv In Disability, Disability Studies

Certificate Iv In Child, Youth And Family Intervention