Lara Wild, 23, is working under the guidance of head chef Kelly Polzien at Wests Illawarra. Photos: Keeli Royle.
Inclusive opportunities within Illawarra workplaces are supporting people with disability to create meaningful careers, and now a new hub by Flagstaff will help many to gain training and real-life work experience to prepare them for that next step.
Lara Wild had been concerned about her employment opportunities ever since she was a student choosing the subjects to direct her future.
“When she was at school she did hospitality and she was always worried that she wouldn’t have a job,” Lara’s mother, Tonia, said.
“Knowing that she had a disability, that was her main concern.”
Lara participated in taster days with support organisations that offered programs to develop skills that would make her work-ready.
Eventually, she decided to pursue a School Leaver Employment Support program with local NDIS provider Flagstaff.
“She tried a few others and I think they were more about doing activities, where Lara was like, ‘I want a job’ — that was her main goal,” Tonia said.
“During that program, she did employment training in clubs and she also completed a Cert III in Hospitality.”
Equipped with qualifications in hospitality, kitchen operations, responsible service of alcohol and responsible service of gambling, Lara went on to further hone her skills within Flagstaff’s Fine Foods.
But at the start of this year, a fire destroyed the business division.
“We didn’t really know whether it was going to be built straight away,” Tonia said. “I think there were hopes of it happening, but I felt like it wasn’t going to happen any time soon.”
Then, through Flagstaff’s Access2Work Program, the opportunity arose for Lara to apply for a position at Wests Illawarra’s restaurant, Artisan.
Flagstaff supported her in writing a resume and sat in on the interview, while continuing to be a point of support of both the business, Lara and her family as she embarks in the fast-paced kitchen work.
“It’s great having Lara in the kitchen,” head chef Kelly Polzien said. “The whole team has just embraced her.”
Lara is mainly involved in food preparation and presentation, and has particularly further developed her knife skills over the past seven months.
Tonia has watched her daughter’s confidence and skills grow in the independent environment.
And she’s always keeping busy and helping out in some way.
“I don’t want to sit around and do nothing,” Lara said.
“Today, towards the end, there was not much prep to do, so they said to do some dishes, so I did some dishes.”
Kelly said: “She does it all to a really, really good standard. She’s a breath of fresh air in the kitchen, she’s really lovely to have.
“And we’ve been lucky enough to have the Flagstaff people here with us, so if I have a question I can duck out and get a bit of clarity.”
Lara works part time in the Wests kitchen and part time at a fully supported cafe, gaining the benefits of both employment types.
“She gets to do barista work and she does love that as well,” Tonia said. “And she does back-of-house just like here, but does front-of-house as well.
“Here she gets to be independent and do things to a certain point on her own, so she’s getting that confidence rather than being supervised all the time.”
And her confidence has grown leaps and bounds since she started in March.
“It wasn’t easy at first,” Tonia said. “Lara was hiding under the cover, saying ‘I can’t do it, I can’t do it’ before she even started.”
Kelly added: “When she first came in, she was a little bit stand-backish, a little bit nervous, and then all of a sudden she just clicked.”
“When I get to work, those nerves go away,” Lara said.
Now more people with disability can gain experience in work pathways to prepare them for careers like Lara’s, with Flagstaff launching a new Hospitality and Retail Activation Hub as part of its Access2Work program during Inclusion Week at Work.
The Wollongong hub, a collaboration with Kiama Community College and Community Gateway Life, forms part of a 10-week training and real-life work experience program for disability participants.
But despite improved training opportunities, more skilled community members and greater support, there are still barriers to entering the workforce, with businesses encouraged to give it a go.
“Definitely give them a go,” Kelly said. “People might get stuck in their head that they have a disability — it doesn’t mean anything if you put them in the right environment, with the right people and the right skills.
“I think people need to get out of the box of ‘they have a disability’ and get into the box of ‘let’s teach them what they need to know’.”
The Retail and Hospitality Activation Hub, at Gateway Life, is open Monday to Friday, between 8:30 am and 2:30 pm. For orders, call 1300 306 939.
To find out more about Flagstaff’s Access2Work and other programs, visit the Flagstaff website.
