Clare O’Connor is one of the new team leaders at Emmaus. She has been working at Emmaus since she was 17 years old.

Sharing the journey that started 7 years ago, Clare says, “Ever since I was young, I knew wanted to work in aged care.”

For year 11 and12 Clare attended Newman Senior Technical College where they offered Vocational Education Training (VET) training in aged care. As part of this, she started doing work placement one day a week at Emmaus.

“After a few weeks of work I decided that I was really enjoying working in aged care so applied for the two-year traineeship and was successful. During this 2-year traineeship I had to complete 800 hours of work experience. In Year 11, I worked every Thursday and, in Year 12, I worked the Wednesday and Thursday morning shift,” says Clare.

Clare completed her traineeship in 2017 and was offered a part time position at Emmaus, working the afternoon shift in Paul’s wing, where she gained valuable experience and knowledge to carry with her.

In late February this year Clare was offered the opportunity to progress into a leadership role at Emmaus.

“I plan to pass on what I have learned over the years to students, who are starting out like I did, and to new staff members who come through,” says Clare, “I look forward to working closely with my colleges and management to enhance the great care we already provide our residents here at Emmaus”.

Sharmain Peterson, Residential Services Lead at Emmaus says, “Clare will be an inspiration and a mentor to future trainees and we look forward to continuing this pathway with other students”.