Glenn, Area Manager South West, started out five years ago with Open Minds as a Support Worker and now leads a team of 65 people across three offices. Read about Glenn’s story of career progression, and how he shares his knowledge to support his team to excel.
Glenn started as a Support Worker working directly with service users of Open Minds, he then progressed to Case Worker, then Team Leader, Care Leader, and has now worked as Area Manager for six months.
Glenn had a varied career, starting out qualifying as a Chef and going on to own a commercial diving company in South Australia.
Next he studied Criminology before his passion for mental health kicked in and he decided to qualify as a counsellor.
Glenn then achieved a diploma of Community Services before he returned to the field of mental health and disability.
Glenn said: “This industry is not like other industries. We work with people, which in itself is ever changing.
“I once saw a presentation by Open Minds and the passion behind helping people with mental illnesses inspired me to approach the organisation about a placement – that’s how I ended up as a Support Worker.”
Glenn puts his career progression down to self-directed learning: he never stopped asking questions of his managers, fact-finding, and taking on extra responsibilities wherever the opportunity arose.
Having grown with the organisation, Glenn sets a good role model for his team.
“It’s one of my personal goals to upskill and educate my team to learn and grow with the organisation too, and I share my knowledge and experience wherever I can. I fully support people to step up into roles when they are ready for it.”
As Area Manager, Glenn is responsible for clients and staff at the Open Minds Logan, Ipswich and Toowoomba offices.
His role is also responsible for the supervision of the Care Leaders in these areas.
This means keeping the team informed of company updates, and overseeing important decisions relating to service delivery to clients.
Being a devoted father of six in a blended family, Glenn firmly believes in the importance of looking after life at home in order to be settled and effective at work.
Glenn said: “I have found that the approaches from my line managers has always been supportive, stating that family is very important.”
Glenn sometimes finds it a challenge to spread himself amongst three offices so far apart geographically, as he is committed to investing time with all his team members.
However, the upbeat, supportive culture, and “can do” attitude of his team makes it all worthwhile.
“I am in a privileged position to see and work with a whole range of passionate people. It amazes me every day how our staff are so committed to the people we support.
“I am very proud to be a part of an organisation that upholds integrity so highly. I hear it in every discussion and see it in practice every day, even in the face of opposition, we stand firm doing the right thing for the people we support.”