CD000: Care Directions Podcast Introduction

The Care Directions podcast has been established primarily to support people working in the community care sector; helping to keep people up to date with all the changes in the industry and to improve the way support and care are provided to clients. Information discussed in the podcast will also be of interest to family members caring for the frail aged or younger people with a disability.

Your hosts are Kellie Leigh and Carrie Akhurst. This episode introduces your hosts and gives you some insight into what topics will be discussed by the hosts and who we will be interviewing.

Most of us have people who we can think back to, people who have been a positive influence on our careers in the aged or disability industries. Today we look at those people who have supported and mentored us. We also realise that we can’t keep still in an industry that keeps changing and we look at how we keep up to date with relevant information.

Kellie Leigh

Began as a volunteer in the aged care industry as an Assistant in Nursing. Kellie was encouraged to take on a Cert III in Aged Care traineeship by the Director of Nursing at the facility finding further support from another young male nurse, Trent.

Over the years since, Kellie has held positions such as a trainer, service manager and consultant. To maintain currency Kellie networks widely and subscribes to various industry websites and magazines such as:

Commonwealth Government Newsletter

National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)

Australian Ageing Agenda

Carrie Akhurst

Fell into the community care industry quite by accident. With a background in agricultural science, Carrie’s first contact with aged care was with the Ali Curung Homemakers program in the Northern Territory. Although ignorant of many aspects of aged care, the support provided by some key individuals assisted Carrie to gain competency in a short period of time. Individuals working in a variety of positions such as the local community clinic nurse, the dementia support worker, Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT) and within the NT Department of Health provided guidance and mentoring and instilled a passion for the industry.

To keep up with changes Carrie also reads widely and networks. Along with the above mentioned sites Carrie also subscribes to:

Community Care Review which is also produced by the Australian Ageing Agenda

Australian Associations of Gerontology Journal

Disability Loop

Networking is a key factor in maintaining currency and helps by promoting the discussion of issues and coming up with ideas on how to approach them.

Thanks for listening in to this introductory episode of the Care Directions podcast. We hope you’ll come on the journey with us as we explore ways of creating a dynamic and engaged community care industry.

If you have any questions that you would like answered on the show, or you would like to hear from a particular person or organisation, or even if you have a topic you would like us to cover, please drop us a line over on the CDCS contact page.

The Care Directions podcast is produced by Culturally Directed Care Solutions (CDCS). CDCS works with community based aged and disability programs, often in very remote areas of Australia.