Keep Able Reablement Podcasts
Keep Able is your go to authority on Wellness and Reablement. Our various podcasts cover discussions on real world issues and examples from people in the at home aged care support sector, specifically for CHSP providers.
Keep Able Reablement Podcasts
Involving clients in reablement care (P1)
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With Tanya Caputo - Support worker – from domestic and personal care to social support services and why having a reablement focus meets so many needs of the client.
Discover more reablement resources at keepable.com.au
Hi there and welcome to this episode of the Reoblement Podcast, where Clubable are talking to a range of people who have experience with using Reoblement and we'll discuss how it comes together and why it works. I'm Alison Bella from Clubable. My guest for this episode is Tanya Caputo from Baptist Care. Tanya has been a care service employee with Baptist Care for three years, leading their social groups and covering other services as well. Welcome Tanya. Thanks for joining me. Hi Alison, thank you for having me. I'm very excited about this conversation. This is going to be terrific. So if we can start actually, can you tell me about your role as a support worker?
SPEAKER_01Sure, absolutely. So, Alison, I'm a support worker for Baptist Care in the Central West. I support our aging population every day in their homes with daily living tasks. And I also, as you said, I lead our leisure and lifestyle social group here in Orange, which I really, really love.
SPEAKER_00Beautiful part of the world there, too, out in the central west of New South Wales. It sure is. So, what type of services do you provide alongside that social environment?
SPEAKER_01So, day-to-day, Alison, we support clients in their homes with a range of different services, and that all depends on their needs, preferences, and goals, which is set out in their support and care plans. Some services we assist with are domestic assistance, which supports people to maintain a clean environment, along with services such as personal and medication support. Those services focus on helping with daily tasks like bathing, dressing, meal preparation, and medication assistance. We also have here in the Central West support services, where we may take a client out for a coffee or help help them to attend their appointments out in the community, which are really, really important and make up quite a number of days for certain people. And along with that, as you said in earlier, we also have our group, our social group here in the West. So I lead that group as well, and that supports people to connect with others and enjoy activities out in the community and zone in on their interests and hobbies. Oh, it must be so rewarding. Oh, it really is. I it really is the difference that you make, and you see that daily, especially in the group setting, take away the home setting. The group setting is just amazing to watch people connect with others. And I mean, you hear it daily how um it's it's often said in a day, how wonderful and the difference it does make to their life. I had one lady actually say to me, and it was only last week, on the way, taking her back home, and she said, I haven't had to take a painkiller today. And I mean, it's just yeah, so it's it's very special, it really is.
SPEAKER_00I love that. Thanks for sharing. How do you identify reablement with your clients? Sure.
SPEAKER_01I think the greatest way to identify reablement with a client, Alison, is firstly by reading their care and support plans, involving the client in tasks and shifting your mind from doing for to doing with them. Along with that, I think open-ended questions like what tasks do you feel confident doing on your own allows you to focus on their strengths and capabilities, which helps you to best support them to regain or maintain their independence. Every time I visit someone in their home, I always keep in mind how am I going to support this person to achieve their goals so they can continue to live their best life and have more greater days. Recently, I completed the Life Curve course on Keep Able, and that has been an amazing tool to help identify reablement with clients.
SPEAKER_00Fantastic. Yeah, I know we have spoken about the Life Curve before and the impact that it does have. It can sort of change your thinking, can't it? What are you identifying and what's the client telling you about their current abilities and their current aging journey?
SPEAKER_01It's certainly Ken Allison, and it's and it has with me. I I I always refer back to that now. And I mean, I would recommend that to any care worker. It's a great tool. It really is. Just the smallest of conversations that you may have with with a client that you may have not looked at in a you know, looked at it and thought, oh, I wonder, you know, is there something there? Now I look at it and go, oh, this is a time when I actually need to refer to to the coordinator, to the facilitator, to then have some allied team support come in. Um, and it's something like cutting your, they may not be able to cut their toenails. That's on the that's on that dotted line. That's when we need to then go, okay, what can we do here? So it's a great tool for care workers to have, it really is.
SPEAKER_00That's great because your frontline, you're the ones that are regularly seeing the person in their environment. So being able to identify, hmm, you know, things are changing a little bit here. What can we do to create strategies so that they don't have that dramatic decline? I love that. Yeah, and you are right, Alison.
SPEAKER_01We are the eyes and the ears. And um, so having that behind us and and having that knowledge of where someone may be sitting on that curve is vital to their to their well-being and their and their reablement journey.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Um, so what are the steps that you take to support them in the way of reablement?
SPEAKER_01So, as support workers, Alison, we support many people in one day, as as you would know, and every person we do see is different. One step or strategy that we may use for one person may be completely different for another, as each has their own goals, preferences, and are at a different stage in their life. In saying this, though, there is one step that never changes, which is to continuously involve decline in the tasks that you are supporting them with. Encourage them to be involved. And I think the greatest thing is to celebrate their success. You know, I think that we really just cannot miss that. We've got to celebrate those success, no matter how, you know, how big or small we think it may be, it's a success. I think it's really important for a person to feel confident and that they can achieve their own daily living tasks. And we're there not to take over, not to take over those tasks, but to support them to achieve it. And this is why I love what we do. I just love it. I um I just it it makes me smile just just thinking of it.
SPEAKER_00We're pretty blessed with the work that we get to do, aren't we?
SPEAKER_01We really are, we really are. You know, we really are. Through my experience, Alison, I've always used it, used open-ended questions, and and I've said that um previously. And it's questions like, what tasks do you feel confident doing on your own? Or are there any daily activities you really enjoy or prefer to do on your own? These kind of questions have always allowed me to understand the person more and to know what is important to that person. And with that, I've been able to build my support around their strengths and involve them in the tasks that they may be finding difficulty doing on their own and adapting it so we can get them to do that again on their own. The more you do for someone, the more you take away from them. And I really believe this is something that all care workers should keep in the front of their mind when providing care and support.
SPEAKER_00Fantastic. What tasks or activities do you commonly encourage clients to do for themselves that they may have moved away from doing?
SPEAKER_01I encourage all tasks and activities that they can do for themselves, Alison, and keep them involved in the ones that they may be experiencing difficulty with. Sometimes it might be simply asking a person, would you like to come out to the clothesline and and we will hang the washing out together? They may choose to pass you the pigs, or if they don't, you can always say, Would you mind passing me the pigs? I think we know that sometimes there can be resistance, and and and you know, keeping an open mind to that is important. In my experience, if a person says, No, I'll wait here, you go out and do it, or I'm just going to read my book, we need to respect that, and we need to respect their choice and respond with maybe that's okay, but if you feel up to it, please come out and join me. It's such a beautiful day. I think by respecting their choice while still encouraging them, it builds rapport and can open people up to maybe possibly giving it a try. That's that's a tip I would really and I mean I would really emphasize because it's not ruling out, it's not keeping that person to just sit there. They may choose by you saying it's a lovely day, and please feel welcome to come and join me. They may go, I might actually do that. And then they may pass the pegs. And that's what we want them to do.
SPEAKER_00And do you find maybe you you might have to try that a few times? Yes, yep, yep, yep. And we just we just keep trying. We we I mean we just keep trying. That's an important point, isn't it? Don't get discouraged, sort of, you know, just hang in there and keep keep trying that encouragement because hopefully the client will eventually go, okay, let me give it a go. Yes, that's right, yes.
SPEAKER_01And I've had many of those moments. I've had many of those moments where I've, you know, it's been I've tried and I've been trying and I've been trying, and maybe on the fourth or fifth time, okay, I'll come out. And I was like, oh wow, did I hear that right? Don't ask the question again. You heard that right. With encouragement, though, to do for themselves, Alison, with personal support and any task that you, you know, that's different to say domestic assistance, the personal support, any task like brushing their hair or putting moisturizer on, I always encourage that. Because I feel that some of the smaller things are often the greatest for people. It is building because it's building their skills. So putting moisturizer on is something that maybe is just, you know, that's a it's a small task, but it's building that skill back up. It's motivating them, they're feeling involved, they're feeling I'm in control here, and that's what it's all about. Um, and again, like I said earlier, movement is medicine, and I really believe that. The more we encourage a person to do for themselves, the greater the outcome and you know, their overall well-being.
SPEAKER_00Oh, you're so right, because if you just yeah, sort of continue to do that, you know, whether it's, you know, moisturize for them without encouraging them to do it for themselves, they're just never going to consider doing it again for themselves if it's being done for them. And that's the mindset change that we look for. Yes, yes. Yep, that's right. Can you give us an example of a successful client reablement story you can share with us from home care that you provided?
SPEAKER_01Yes, I can, Alison, and this again makes me really smile. Um, I there is one that really stands out in my mind, and we have a a client, and he came to our organization with for initial personal support services, um, living alone, and his wife was residing in a in the facility. His children living overseas, so he didn't have the that close family connection or support there. His routine consisted of he would visit his wife daily from dawn to dusk up at the facility, and that was his routine. He would get up, he would have his breakfast, he would take himself off to the facility and come back on on dusk. Unfortunately, he experienced a sudden loss of his wife overnight, which was a really, really big, uh a sudden change. It was try it was traumatic, it was a change to his to everything around him as he knew life to be, which obviously which did affect him quite um quite a lot. And in probably so many ways as well. Yep, a lot of ways, a lot of ways. And um he he began to to withdraw and socially isolated himself from the community, which was extremely sad, and experienced difficulties with daily tasks such as grooming, from not only you know, that lack of motivation from the grief, but from loss of purpose and a complete change of routine. So without having that routine in place for him to go and see his wife, well, why do I need to shower? I'm just going, you know, and that's where it was, it was quite, as we said, just a lot of changes all rolled into one. I supported him in the home to regain confidence. How we did that was obviously every task involving him to choose his outfits for the day and take control of that process. You know, it wasn't just okay, let's go and have a shower. Taking that time to say, would you like to choose what you'd like to wear today? Would you like to go in the garden today? Would you like your boots? You know, and giving him control of that, but taking it at his pace. I think when when a person knows they are in control of their journey, it can motivate them, and it does motivate them. I showed empathy and patience during personal support services, which was building that rapport and trust and allowing him to feel safe as well as supported, which at that time was really, really important, you know, for him to feel safe as well as supported, but without someone overtaking things. Involved him in tasks like, you know, we were sorting out his wardrobe of clothes. Gardening helped him to have a clean environment and a and to gain personal satisfaction from doing them for himself. So we set out a it was over a couple of weeks where we slowly worked through sorting out his shed. And on each day, we would sit after and and we would go, Wow, look at that. Did we just do that? I didn't do that, you did that, you know, and mo and and encouraging him as well as for him to see that he's doing this. It was truly remarkable, it really was to see the smile slowly come back and and the motivation come back, and him then saying, when I arrived then the next day, we're going out to the shed again, you know, which is brilliant, brilliant, as well as involving him. So because he obviously had that, he lost the interest with his eating and cooking, where previous to this he was cooking for himself and he lost that interest. So involving him in in cooking his meal in the afternoon, and we built a daily routine, which boosted his self-esteem in the kitchen, and it's motivated him to eat that healthier, well-balanced diet. So it was the small things, Alison, like saying, How would you feel to peel the potatoes today? And I'll put the sausages on ready for you. And he was, he he loved, he would do the potatoes and I would put the sausages on. And we built that routine in the afternoon that to to have that we were going to be cooking that meal.
SPEAKER_00And how important is that? Because he did have that routine, as you said, of going to the facility every day. That's no longer there. For somebody to not have that daily purpose and routine is yeah, it's it's a big thing. So redeveloping a new routine, a great strategy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Once we had some routine back, Alison, and he was making progress with those daily tasks, again, I encouraged him to attend our social group. And it did take some time. It did take that those trying times when I when we were talking about try and try and try, and and I kept going. Ask him if he'd like to connect with others in the group. And it was a slow process, but but we got there and he he accepted and he said, I would really enjoy that. So we then set some time to find out what he would like to do in the group. So he he could see that there was going to be that. It was motivating for him to see that what he was going to do in the group, and it was going to be based around his interests and hobbies. So he now attends social group twice a week. So he attends all the outings, goes on the bus trips all over the Central West, which he really enjoys, living independently, completing tasks such as cooking again, personal grooming like shaving without support. And he's visiting his local community daily again. So he's taking himself down and getting his medication on his own and maybe popping in and saying hello to a friend. And it brings a smile when I think how far, you know.
SPEAKER_00Ah, how far he's come. That's right. Sense of purpose now and small feelings of achievement, things that we take for granted. Yep.
SPEAKER_01And I again, I I really I just have to say, through that time, what I really do take from it, Alison, is again, through that sort of the time that I'm was supporting him, it was really about focusing in on those successes, making him see that this is brilliant. What, you know, great work, like this is great. You you're all over this, you know, and he, yeah. And to see that smile was wonderful.
SPEAKER_00Oh, thanks for sharing sharing that. That's fabulous. What would you tell other support workers about the benefits of working with a reablement focus when delivering, you know, your in-home supports, domestic um, meal preparation, things like that?
SPEAKER_01I think I think I would tell them that helping someone make tangible progress, Alison, can be incredibly fulfilling. You're not just providing care, you're actually enabling real change for people. And by restoring abilities, clients can live independently and well at home. For me, it's truly a wonderful feeling to know you have made a real difference at the end of every day. It truly is.
SPEAKER_00I know you've been using the Keepable website, and you mentioned before, you know, you highlight the benefits of using the life curve that you've seen from our site. Is there anything else from the website that you found really helpful for you in your role? Yes, there is, Alison.
SPEAKER_01There's lots. There really is. I I love the website. I really do. So if you I often say if you can't find me on I'm on the Keep Able website. Um it breaks down reablement into actionable strategies and includes real-world examples and tips that you can apply directly into your work. And I and I love that. I think it's really, really helpful for care workers.
SPEAKER_00What would you like to tell people who may be considering working in the aged care industry?
SPEAKER_01I I would love to say to them Allison, working in the aged care industry is very rewarding. It's also very eye-opening. It's very special to be part of someone's reablement journey at home. And at the end of each day, you go home and you know you've made a real difference to their life. To me, that's priceless.
SPEAKER_00Ah, well said. Well said. Okay, thank you so much for joining me, Tanya, today and sharing such wonderful and helpful information and examples as well. We'd like to encourage our listeners to head to our resources on the website at keepable.com.au. But thank you so much, Tanya, for joining me.
