Dare to Ask | Changing lives one job at a time
Sometimes it's necessary to bring the participants so that they can see that I'm also getting knocked back, like we're in this together, we're a team, and remind them that this is normal and, you know, we can bounce back from that.
Full episode transcripts here:
Renee Mcnamara: I actually felt a little bit nervous talking about it but it was good to talk about.
Interviewer: What does an Account Manager do at Castle?
Renee Mcnamara: So I would take a participant with me, I would ask them to give me six places they'd like to work, and then we would go and approach those businesses, either with them or without them, and I'd introduce myself, tell them what we do, what we're about, what we can offer, resumes, talk to the person that wants the job, and just sort of go from there. We could do that 20 times a day and be knocked back 20 times a day, so you have to be very resilient. Sometimes it's necessary to bring the participants so that they can see that I'm also getting knocked back, like we're in this together, we're a team, and remind them that this is normal and, you know, we can bounce back from that.
Interviewer: Do you have a shared experience with disability?
Renee Mcnamara: I had a pretty tough upbringing, I was abandoned when I was five, so I grew up in different foster cares, aunties, family, things like that. I suffered terribly with anxiety, I was hospitalised with anorexia nervosa. And then probably having my son, which was probably supposed to be one of the happiest times of my life, and then I got diagnosed with postnatal depression, that was probably the worst time because I didn't know how to express how I was feeling and it was obvious that I loved him but I just couldn't show it, because I'd never received it, so that was probably the hardest thing for me.
Interviewer: What does disability mean to you?
Renee Mcnamara: It's difficult to define mostly because I have so many participants and they've all got different disabilities, and they are all affected by that disability completely different, I might have a participant that's got no legs and for me that's like a really, I would find that overwhelming but those guys are wanting work and wanting to do this, you know what I mean? So, I guess defining a disability for me is how it impacts that person, and how best I can make a difference.
Interviewer: What does employment mean to someone with a disability?
Renee Mcnamara: It means heaps, even just today I was talking to a participant and his child started school this year, and it was little things, like he said, I could give him a backpack, I got him his uniforms, did those sorts of things, whereas before financially, he wouldn't have been able to do that. Yeah, changing people's circumstances I guess, giving them a purpose.
Interviewer: How do you measure success?
Renee Mcnamara: So, we have a target of three employment placements per month. So, I remember one month we got like 16 or something, and I just remember going like, and it was just before Christmas, and I was like, how many people we've made like a really Merry Christmas for. This month we've got seven in Cessnock, so changed seven people's lives this month so far with two more to go hopefully . I love telling people that's what I do, everyone always says to me, they say, what do you do for a living? I say, I find people with disabilities employment, and they say, well, that must be so rewarding, and I'm like, it really is , it really, really is.