Helper / Buddy

about us

Lively is a not-for-profit home care provider that connects generations, creates meaningful employment for young jobseekers and increases the connectedness and inclusion of older people in our community. We train and employ young jobseekers (aged 18–25) to provide services that help older people maintain social connection, independence and wellbeing.

Through this process, we also build connections that enable older people to share their rich life experiences, stories and knowledge back with the young, fostering intergenerational understanding and respect, as well as young people’s personal development. We’re a small not-for-profit preparing for growth from our base in Melbourne, and our team is full of people who really care about care.

We believe that Australia’s home care system is crying out for fresh new approaches, and we hope our emerging model will offer just that. We believe that aged care can and should be a valued and desirable profession for young people: stable, rewarding, properly remunerated and with good working conditions. Amongst our Helpers we aim to attract a diversity of workers, including those who have existing experience and qualifications working in aged care, and those who are just looking to try it out for the first time.

Following our approach, our young workers are matched with older people to work directly with them as their personal home Helper, providing a range of supports for them including basic home help and cleaning, transport, social support, help with technology, gardening and in some instances personal care—in short, to be a helping friend while supporting them to manage their own care. We believe in the importance of meaningful connections between our members and Helpers; we know that caring relationships mean building up trust and rapport, and that takes time and consistency.

Find out more via our Facebook, Instagram or blog!

The Position

As a Lively Helper, your role is to be a friend and primary supporter to one or more older people (Lively’s “members”) for 6-12 hours per week Mon-Fri (more hours will be offered if available), providing the following support:

• Technology help: helping members to use devices such as iPhone, laptop, tablet. This service is provided both in-home 1:1 and in libraries and community centres, where you will facilitate groups of older people to improve their digital literacy.
• Social gardening: working with the older person in the garden.
• Help around the home: helping the older person keep their house clean and tidy.
• Transport: driving them to appointments, to social events, or even just to the park to have a picnic!
• Personal projects: supporting older people with simple creative projects like scrapbooking, framing photos or painting a chair!

We are primarily looking for individuals based in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, particularly around the Darebin and Merri-bek Council areas, with some positions available in the inner west. If you live outside these locations, however, you may still wish to apply as we will sometimes reach out to past strong candidates when work becomes available in their area.

Every member will have different needs, and you will work with our HQ team and each individual to agree on the types of support you will provide. You will manage your own schedule and hours, negotiating ‘shift’ times that work for both yourself and the member(s) you support. While part of your role will be to deliver tangible supports as requested by each older person (e.g. help getting to a weekly club meeting, help chopping vegetables to prepare their weeknight meals, help walking their dog), your role is also to get to know the older participants, develop a friendly relationship with them, and learn from them too wherever possible. You might like to think of the role as being ‘a younger friend who comes around to help’.

You may also be called upon to participate in our community tech help program, where you will work with 1–2 other helpers to support groups of older people with technology in libraries and community centres.

Lively is a new organisation and our approach to our work continues to evolve as we find the smoothest and most supportive way to support the partnership between our members and our Helpers. There may be periodic paid design or feedback sessions with the team to examine how we can improve our approach and harness your creative energy!

You will work independently, maintaining fluid communication with the Lively HQ team to provide the best possible Lively experience for our Members. You will also be connected to Lively’s broader community of Helpers to offer connection and peer support in addition to your work with members and Coordinators.

About you

To be eligible for a role as a Lively Helper, you don’t need to have had previous experience in a care role. You must, however, be:

• Between 18-25 years of age and currently looking for work.
• Able to commit to at least 6-12 hours per week, Mon-Fri, for work with Lively members.
• Friendly, outgoing and enthusiastic.
• Patient, understanding and able to communicate effectively with older people.
• Well-presented, polite and respectful of older community members.
• Reliable, punctual and able to commit to providing consistent support to the older people you work with.
• Flexible and able to exercise initiative to adapt the support you provide to older participants when their needs or wishes change.
• Good at managing your time and juggling competing priorities.
• Interested in learning about older people’s lives, stories and experiences, and in being a champion for them to live active and full lives.
• Ready to learn and grow your skills in practical support and interpersonal communication, particularly with diverse audiences.
• Ideally, located in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne (e.g. Moorabbin, Mordialloc) or able to travel there easily. We also have some opportunities for applicants based Mornington, Hastings and Rosebud on the Peninsula.
• Ideally, in possession of a driver’s licence and with access to a safe, roadworthy car.
• Available for our training dates: Mon 13 March 10am–4pm, Fri 15 March 10am–1pm, 20 March 10am–5pm.

You will receive additional training and support from the Lively team to help equip you for this role.

Please note: Lively is a not-for-profit organisation with a specific mission to offer meaningful work opportunities for young people aged 18-25 years who have limited previous experience. Priority is therefore given to applicants within this age range.

At Lively we embrace each other’s uniqueness through age, gender identity or expression, religion, ethnicity, age, neurodiversity, disability status and sexual orientation. We extend this embrace to our communities as we strive towards providing a safe environment that reflects the diversity of people who call Australia home. If you join the Lively team, we’re committed to celebrating all the things that make you who you are.

What You’ll Gain

• Meaningful work that builds personal and professional skills with the backing of a supportive and trusting team.
• The opportunity to form meaningful relationships with older people, and to share and learn from them.
• The opportunity to get in on the ground floor with a new and dynamic home care provider with aspirations to change the face of Australian home care.
• The chance to contribute to the development of an exciting new service through your observations and participation.
• References to support your future job seeking efforts.
• Unsuccessful candidates will also have the opportunity to be connected with our partners at the Human Services Skills Organisation (HSSO) who can work with you to link you with employment at other care providers.

Wages

You will be paid in accordance with the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Award. We are offering the position at an hourly rate of $37.43p/h, which includes the extra 25% casual loading. In accordance with the award, we pay the appropriate penalty rates, superannuation and allowances. A part-time option is also negotiable; please note that this option does not include the 25% loading.

You will also be paid for training that you undertake with Lively. This includes initial orientation training and ongoing learning & development.

Working at Lively

Lively is a small and growing organisation. Right now, we have a head office team of 4 (HQ) and a Helper team of around 30. We’re seeking to build a team of passionate and dynamic Helpers as we start to roll out our services, so you’ll be joining us at a pivotal and exciting time of transition. At Lively HQ we’re a positive, warm and lively bunch (thus the name!) and we centre people in everything we do. Though we may be small right now, we’re committed to providing a rewarding employment experience with opportunities for personal and professional growth.

In our most recent employee survey of over 90% of our Helpers, 100% reported that they would recommend Lively as a place to work, with 79% “strongly recommending”.

Working with us at Lively, your ideas are encouraged and creativity welcomed. We’re in an exciting developmental period, which means that we are constantly learning, developing and improving – finding solutions to new and emerging challenges, and working hard to strengthen our foundations for growth.

We don’t buy into unnecessary bureaucracy which gets in the way of older people getting what they need, or our team getting the most out of their work.

We currently work out of a co-working space in North Melbourne and although you will largely be out and about, you will drop by every couple of months to connect with the team or complete training.

Apply

To apply, please click “Apply Now” and complete your written application via our website.

For questions, please contact our Hiring Team at [email protected] using the subject line: Helper / Buddy enquiry via EthicalJobs.