Choice & Control vs Duty of Care: When Should Support Workers Step In?

More from Sarah Knows Support Workers All episodes →

1. 

   12 Oct 2026 · 13 minNew

   NDIS Christmas Rostering: Plan Now, Avoid the Chaos!

   Christmas is coming… and if you work in NDIS rostering, you know the chaos can start well before December! 🎄😂 Annual leave, public holidays, staff shortages, changing participant routines and those dreaded last-minute cancellations. Sound familiar? In this solo episode of Sarah Knows Support Workers , I'm sharing what I'd be doing RIGHT NOW to prepare an NDIS roster for Christmas, New Year's and January. Drawing on my own experience in disability rostering, we're talking about staff availability, annual leave planning, participant choice, keeping your CRM accurate, checking SCHADS Award…

2. 

   5 Oct 2026 · 49 min

   Whistleblowing in the NDIS: What Happens When Speaking Up Is the Only Option?

   What happens when you’ve reported concerns, followed the right processes, raised complaints… and nothing changes? In this episode of Sarah Knows Support Workers , I’m joined again by Belinda Toohey for a very real conversation about whistleblowing in the disability sector. Belinda shares lived experiences from her career, including situations where people with disability were allegedly prevented from leaving services they no longer wanted, concerns around NDIS funding and providers, and what it can take to keep pushing when someone’s rights or safety are at risk. We also talk about what…

3. 

   5 Oct 2026 · 8 min

   Are You a Good Support Worker… or Just a Nice Person?

   Being kind matters. But kindness alone doesn’t make you a great support worker. In this episode, I’m talking about the difference between being a lovely person and actually being good at the job. We’re talking about reliability, case notes, communication, boundaries, professional judgement, independence, knowing when to speak up, and actually understanding what the person you support wants from their life. Because you can be fun. You can be caring. You can remember the coffee order. You can be the favourite support worker. But if you’re always late, never write useful notes, blur boundaries,…

4. 

   21 Sep 2026 · 34 min

   "That’s Not the Support Worker I Ordered” — Why I Built SwiftyMatchy Sarah Heriot

   In this special episode of Sarah Knows Support Workers, the microphone is flipped. James Loveday takes over as host and interviews Sarah about SwiftyMatchy—the support worker finding app created to help NDIS and aged care participants find support workers who genuinely align with them. Sarah shares how years of hearing “that’s not the support worker I wanted” inspired the idea, why better matching matters, and how video profiles can give participants more confidence, choice and control before someone arrives at their door. They also chat about: • The real cost of poor support worker matching…

5. 

   14 Sep 2026 · 46 min

   Good People Still Need Good Training | Taieri Walsh Cora Workforce

   What actually makes a great support worker? In this episode of Sarah Knows Support Workers , I chat with Taieri from CORA Workforce about why being kind and having good intentions is only the beginning. Taieri started as a support worker before moving through team leadership, management and support coordination. Along the way, she kept seeing the same problem — good people were being put into complex support roles without always being given the skills, confidence or training they needed. We talk about: 💥 The difference between being a good person and a skilled support worker 💥 Why support…

6. 

   7 Sep 2026 · 49 min

   They Saw the Disability. She Saw Her Son | Lily Grubb, LGO Therapy Group

   When Lily Grubb’s son Liam was diagnosed with Level 3 autism, was non-speaking and had global developmental delay , her entire world changed. But what frustrated Lily most wasn’t the diagnosis. It was watching people see the disability before they saw her child . In this episode of Sarah Knows Support Workers , Lily shares how she went from a 10-year career in HR to retraining, entering the therapy world and eventually building LGO Therapy Group . We talk about: • Why early intervention can matter so much • What parents should look for when choosing therapists • Why being labelled a…

7. 

   3 Sep 2026 · 52 min

   Give Them the Chance to Shine | Julie Fisher

   What does good support actually look like from a family’s point of view? In this episode, Sarah sits down with author, speaker, radio host and mum Julie Fisher to talk about raising her son Darcy, who has Down syndrome, and everything her family has learned along the way. Julie shares the reality of receiving Darcy’s diagnosis, navigating medical challenges, raising three boys, finding the right support workers and providers, and why understanding the whole family matters when you’re supporting someone with disability. They also chat about inclusion, community attitudes, NDIS changes,…

8. 

   23 Aug 2026 · 48 min

   Why Is the NDIS Drowning in Admin? Mark Woodland on Kismet & Better Healthcare

   Mark retired. It lasted two weeks. Then he bought a farm, got a tractor, collected around 40 chickens and somehow ended up back building technology. 😂 In this episode, I sit down with Mark, founder of Kismet, to ask a pretty important question: Why do we keep making healthcare and NDIS supports harder to access than they need to be? We talk about removing pointless admin, making healthcare more affordable, giving people more flexible ways to access services and why “that’s how we’ve always done it” is not a good enough answer. Mark also shares his journey from the Army to early childhood…