About Us
At Escape Options, we want you to have the best STA respite possible. We feel the way to achieve that is for you to get to know us first. That way you can decide if we're the right fit for you. The last thing you want to do is not feel comfortable on your own respite. We recommend having a meet and greet to help work out if we're the right support for you. To start to get to know us you can read "our stories".
Amanda
Hi, I'm Amanda, and I have been working within the disabilty and aged care sector for the past 14 years. It all started back in my 20's when I started working part time in hospitality in a nursing home. I absolutely fell in love with the clients I was preparing meals for. Then my boss offered to organise my certificate 3 in aged care so I could become a support worker. I jumped at the opportunity. 6 years past, and my family and I decided to move to the beautiful Adelaide Hills. Unfortunately I had to finish up at the nursing home as the travel was too far to continue working there. I decided to work with people living with a disabilty in the community. I realised I had found my niche. I thought it would be an advantage to complete my certificate 4 in community studies to better my skills. I loved my job in the community and I've continued to work within the space for the past 7 years. I am also a Support Coordinator which I have been working in the past 2 years. I have a small number of participants I assist as I want to give them my full attention and ensure they are mentored correctly with their NDIS plan.
With all this happening in my life, I do have hobbies in the background and a family. My main hobby is travelling. My family and I try and get away yearly so we can recharge our batteries from the daily grind. Unfortuanately, Covid put a stop to this for the past few years. But, here we are, back and ready to explore the world. I also love being in the outdoors, especially when the sun is shining. Life is too short to be stuck indoors. I try to be as active as I can. Im not sure if I should admit this here, but I love the Adelaide Crows. I love travelling to the MCG to see them play, the atmosphere is just amazing. We are a family of 4 or 7 if you include our fur babies. My husband Ben and I have 2 young daughters, 2 dogs and a cat. Each and everyone of them are very spoilt. They are most definitely my world.
Ben
I'm an easy going, active, sport loving guy that always likes to have a project on the go to keep my mind occupied. Although my latest project of restoring a 1975 Kombi back to it's former glory might be a little too hard. Maybe I should stick to what I'm good at, which is home renovations.
If I could only have 2 hobbies for the rest of my life, they would be golf and BBQ's. I find golf the most enjoyable game to play. The combination of exercising in beautiful scenery. The tactics of working out what shot to play. The control and timing needed to execute the shot. When you combine all three and make that perfect shot, it's addictive. I love to BBQ, not just gas hotplates, real BBQ low and slow, fire, wood and smoke. What better way to spend a lazy weekend than tending to your BBQ for six hours to produce fall off the bone, juicy sticky ribs. They're my kids favourite food and it always puts a smile on my face cooking for my loved ones.
I spent 20 odd years working as a contruction electrician. I found working for big companies unrewarding. You were just a number, someone to make the owner profit. When my dad passed away it changed my world. My mental health suffered and I needed a change. My wife, Amanda was working with people with diasbilities and found it rewarding and said to give it a go. So I have become a support worker and I haven't looked back. I'm glad I took my wife's advice. I use my experience in construction to help people maintain their homes and my experience being a father to help people with social activities and outings. It's rewarding working directly with people where I have the opportunity to improve their lives. My goal is to leave every client happier then when I started my shift.