After she finished year 12, Deanna worked in the television industry as an audio engineer located in Melbourne. Her family opened a café/delicatessen in Ballarat. Deanna decided to work for the business where she trained up and became a qualified chef. It wasn’t long before she eventually started training apprentices herself. It was during this period Deanna found her vocational calling as a mentor. This was a position she held for 24 years right up until her father tragically passed away in 2010.

She was able to exhibit her superb mentoring skills, taking up a role as a program leader with an organisation where she ran cooking classes for people with a range of diverse and complex needs. Also, Deanna worked on weekends taking clients for outings and facilitating lifestyle options pre-organised by the company.

Everything went great professionally during the first 4 years of her tenure until there was a managerial shift. This brought organizational changes and directives which Deanna attributed to ultimately disempowering the clients or “taking away the voice of participants”. When the company shifted to NDIS it gradually grew and grew to a point where the organisation had shifted from having a person-centered approach to a business model where clients had become numbers.

As a strong advocate for equal human rights this did not sit well with Deanna, she no longer felt able to dedicate her heart and soul to a company with questionable ethical values and practices. Deanna likened it to turning into a production line environment where managerial expectations were to provide participants with unreasonable outcomes that were not individually tailored to each complex case. This was one of the main reasons she wanted to move away from the cheffing trade with its sometimes-brutal nature and pressure cooker environment.

Most of these participants were extremely vulnerable and burdening them with unreasonable expectations could prove catastrophic to their emotional wellbeing. The writing was on the wall for Deanna, she no longer respected management due to their questionable motives and ultimately, she clashed with her superiors. Her employment was terminated due to irreconcilable differences of opinion between both parties.

To this dark cloud came a silver lining when Deanna approached Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre (BNC) in March 2023 to seek inspiration for a fresh direction and Roxanne came into her life. “She was Extraordinary!”

BNC helped fund a WWC, police check, and everything needed to become work ready. They then helped Deanna get a job in no time as a support worker for mental health clients. Unfortunately, not long into the job Deanna was seriously physically assaulted by a client resulting in actual bodily harm. When reported to HR and management Deanna felt she was almost made to feel at fault for the assault. Since the incident, the HR manager has been dismissed due to negligence uncovered during an internal audit. Deanna could not work at this organisation after her traumatic ordeal.

Not to be kept down and in testament to her brave and spirited attitude Deanna once again teamed up with Roxanne to look for the next path of her journey. She hadn’t updated her resume in 30 years and Roxanne helped to collate a really special CV. Also, she acted as a sounding board making herself available for a chat at any time, whether it be for regularly accessing internet job boards and anything else job or otherwise. Deanna quipped that although she had never been out of work and had various roles she never had to deal with interviews as she was always approached by employers. Roxanne helped provide simulated interviews and useful techniques.

In testament to BNC, Deanna wanted to say, ”They really care!”, she felt she was able to speak freely and actually felt like she was being heard, “Not only are they helping people emotionally, personally and professionally but practically giving them the skills they need and funding relevant certificates and checks”.

Presently Deanna is employed at a new hub in the Ballarat area running cooking classes 3 days a week. She is still on the lookout for her dream job and in close contact with Roxanne who has “hooked me up with seek on my mobile phone”. She said it’s not at all like the vibe of a recruitment agency but more like, “the heart and soul” of Ballarat.

Deanna has also brought her mother along to the computer course, not for prospective employment but to empower her in an age where everything is going online. This sums up BNC’s ethos as a person centred hub designed to assist and support the whole community for no ulterior motive other than to enrich the community of Ballarat.

We know the journey towards a destination is as important as the destination itself. Regardless of how you Connect with us, we will travel this journey with you; sharing your highs and lows, the good and the bad times, and working with you to help you Learn and Participate.

This story was captured by John in December 2023 as a student placement project for his Bachelor of Community and Human Services degree. Names may be changed.