When looking for help caring for her disabled son Griffin, Tanya found the flexibility, kindness, and genuine interest shown by students to be the perfect match.
Tanya has used Student Job Search for about 12 years and estimates she has hired upwards of 100 students in that time – the majority to help care for her son who is now 19.
It takes a lot of trust to invite someone into your home for such an important role, but Tanya says she has found many great student carers.
"Griffin has a team of professional carers who work shifts, but we just needed some extra help around that, like on the weekends,” she says.
“Every student we've ever hired has been great; they’ve been really good and caring. They were very quick to be like family. We had some who lasted four years and eight years.
“It was part-time, so it was flexible for us, flexible for them. They could take time off if they had exams or things due. So, they liked it. We liked having that flexibility as well, that we could sort of say: ‘Hey, these are the shifts that are available this week. Who wants what?’ And people would just pick what they wanted. And if they wanted more, we could give them more.”
Tanya appreciated being able to give the students training on the job, specific to Griffin’s needs and how the house operated, and how quickly the students picked up on it.
“It was always good to work with students because they were interested. Sometimes we tried to get students who were doing
subjects that were similar, like teaching. And we've had several caregivers who have gone on to specialise in special needs because of their experience with Griffin.
She found it was also beneficial for Griffin to spend time with young people.
“He has a mental age of 3, so he does not comprehend that people are paid to come and spend time with him. He always says things like ‘who's coming to play?’ because in his mind, these are just his friends. It was nice that he felt like he was just hanging out with other young people and not, you know, people bossing him around all the time.”
Some of the students Tanya hired have become lifelong family friends.
“They have become part of the family. They moved to England, they had children, they got married, they still come and visit, or they send us emails and show us pictures of their baby. We have been very lucky to have had some absolutely outstanding young people work with us and we wouldn’t have found them without SJS. It was an absolute lifesaver for our situation with a caring for a disabled person.”
“Having a student come and weed your garden or, do some grocery shopping or do something on a regular basis makes a huge difference to a lot of people who are disabled or elderly or even young parents who need some help. I think people should engage students more often.”