2022 Trust Champion of the Year

At The Disability Trust, we like to acknowledge our staff across our organisational footprint for the incredible work they do each day. The Trust Champion reward and recognition program is a way for staff to recognise the valuable contributions of their peers. Staff have the opportunity to nominate fellow peers throughout the year. The chosen Trust Champions of each quarter go in the running to be awarded the Trust Champion of the Year which can be voted by staff, clients and families.

In 2022, staff at The Disability Trust acknowledged the outstanding contributions of their peers a total of 233 times through the Trust Champion reward and recognition program. From these nominations, fifteen Quarterly Trust Champion Winners were awarded throughout the year.

Determining the winner/s of the annual award saw staff consider all 15 Quarterly winners from 2022, and vote to select who should be The Trust Champion of the Year. We were spoilt for choice in 2022, with four recipients having equal or near number of votes!

The Disability Trust’s four 2022 Trust Champion’s of the Year are:

Matthew Cameron: Senior Employment Consultant

• Matthew was recognised for taking on the responsibilities of an entire Workskills site due to recent staff changes. Matthew has shown such enormous flexibility and an unwavering amazing attitude during this time. Not only has he taken on all Employment Consultant responsibilities he has been managing a caseload of over 150 participants and completing all administrative tasks to a very high standard. Matthew continues to place participants with a disability into long term meaningful employment.

Jessica Micallef: Team Leader

• A challenging few days turned into a challenging 2 weeks when a participant was unexpectedly rushed to hospital for medical attention and has since had several procedures and surgeries. Jess leads by example. She is very professional, outcome focused, and shows great compassion for the people she supports. She motivated and supported her team during a very challenging time when a participant unexpectedly required medical attention and has since undergone multiple surgeries and procedures. Jess worked past her usual work hours to support the participant, their family, and her team, whilst ensuring they were kept well informed.

Asalemo Taiao: Behaviour Support Practitioner

• Lemo was recognised for the development of a positive behaviour support plan for a client of The Disability Trust. The plan is not only a wonderful person centred and descriptive piece of work, but it is creative, relevant and extremely accessible. He has used his creative strengths to make what can sometimes be a lengthy document that can be difficult to read into an easily understood, convenient and usable tool.

Tiffany Heath: Team Leader

• Tiffany, on many occasions has shown that she is one of the most reliable workers at The Disability Trust. She so regularly goes above and beyond to ensure that participants are catered for, and staff are upbeat – one of the biggest things is we have a lot of trust in her to work in their best interests. Whilst unsure of the full extent of extra hours, I am aware that she at times has had to start at 6am due to staff shortages and continues to do so with minimal fuss. It has reminded many of us about the importance of carrying out our jobs in the best way we can and not being afraid to go slightly beyond our comfort zones if it means a positive outcome for others and a learned experience individually. Her tenacity is second to none and she is the benchmark for Team Leaders everywhere.