Disability service provider Cara has doubled its staff numbers following the impact of the NDIS
Human services is a growth industry in South Australia, evidenced by the doubling in size of disability service provider Cara.
Disability service provider Cara has celebrated doubling its staff numbers over the past seven years, hitting the 1000 employee milestone recently.
Chief executive Liz Cohen said Cara now ranks among South Australia’s 200 largest companies, providing services for about 750 children and adults with disabilities.
Ms Cohen said the growth had been driven by the freedom of choice and funding provided under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
“We are an employer of choice across all sectors and our staff of ‘Possible People’ are truly passionate about what they do – working alongside children and adults with disability so they can live rewarding, everyday lives and achieve their goals, big and small,’’ Ms Cohen said.
“Of course, our staff has increased across all areas of our organisation as the NDIS has stimulated growth within the disability sector, growing our office-based staff in areas such as customer service, finance and ICT as well.’’
Cara employed 467 people at the end of the 2013 financial year and 999 at the same time this year, breaching the 1000 mark soon after.
The organisation’s 000th staff member, Chloe Vonderwall, 21, said she was inspired to work in the disability sector because of her family.
“I’ve grown up around family members who have disability and I really enjoying seeing them grow and working to do new things every day,’’ she said. “My cousins have disability and my stepson is being tested to see if he is on the autism spectrum.
“I want to help others and do it every day through my work, too. I knew people who worked at Cara and I heard it was a really good organisation to work for – I felt Cara had the best values and was really family-oriented. I’m really excited to be the 1000th Possible Person.”
Ms Vonderwall has her Certificate III in Disability.
To celebrate reaching the 1000-staff milestone, 10 Cara customers and 10 Cara staff were randomly selected to each receive a $100 gift card.
CARA STAFF NUMBERS
2013 - 467
2014 - 565
2015 - 674
2016 - 755
2017 - 926
2018 - 977
2019 - 999
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Key NDIS rollout dates
February 1, 2016: NDIS rolled out across SA for children aged 0-14
January 1, 2017: NDIS rolled out across SA to teens aged 15-17
July 1, 2017: NDIS rolled out across SA for adults
aged 18-64