From KinCare Nurse to General Manager

When Natalie joined KinCare 10 years ago in a part-time nursing role, she never dreamt she would one day become a manager, let alone be responsible for KinCare’s services in South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. But here she is – and loving it!

“I’ve been General Manager for KinCare’s Southern Region for almost two years. It’s a great role. I get to work with every part of the business to achieve the outcomes that we need for our Customers. I love where I’ve landed at this point in my career,” she says.

Natalie is a Registered Nurse by qualification. She came to aged care nursing while working in trauma and neurosurgery in a large public hospital. After several years as a KinCare nurse visiting Customers in their homes, Natalie moved into case management, then became State Manager for Victoria and later took on her current role. She says the caring component of all her roles is what makes community aged care so satisfying for her.

“I love that I can make a difference in a family’s journey, and it’s not just for the Customer, but their entire extended family and loved ones. I also find it satisfying and rewarding to give Customers choices so they can live their best possible life. If we can support and engage them in that journey, I feel really thankful and honoured,” she explains.

While not as directly involved with Customers in her current role as previously, Natalie fondly remembers one particular Customer that she was proud to be able to help.

“This Customer needed so much support to remain living at home. We supported him with his personal care and showering and all his clinical needs. He was in a wheelchair so we also ensured he always had access to the community. I felt really proud that we could deliver all those services to him. Without KinCare he would have needed to go into permanent care. We were able to create a budget and a care plan to keep him remaining in his community, in the home he loved and getting all the social connections he needed. I felt really proud of the care that we could offer him.”

But serving the Customers isn’t the other thing that drives Natalie in her work. In her current role, she finds working with her team and different groups across the organisation motivating and satisfying.

“I really love inspiring my team and getting them to work together. We are delivering a great service, but we are always striving for the next level.”

With a busy family life juggling four children, Natalie says the support and flexibility KinCare has offered throughout her career has always been one of the great aspects of the organisation.

“I am very grateful that KinCare has given me the opportunity to build upon my nursing career and move through management roles, all the while balancing the various hats I wear each and every day at home and at work.”

Learning from great leaders throughout her time with KinCare has also been important for Natalie’s career development and progression.

“We are always developing our staff to move through their career journey with KinCare. There are a lot of opportunities in all different programs and our Home Care Workers and nursing staff can move into office roles, case management or team leader roles. There’s progression and support to do that,” she says.

“Personally, I have had some fantastic female leaders to learn from along the way. They’ve guided me through my leadership journey. I’ve learnt so much and I’m very appreciative of that.”

So what is Natalie’s advice to other nurses considering a career in aged care?

“When I started nursing, I never ever thought I’d move into aged care. But the flexibility, the autonomy, and the satisfaction of what we’re doing, is what makes the job so great. And you can make a difference in a person’s life – I think that is the reason why you would want to come into community aged care.”

Interested in a career at KinCare?

At KinCare, we’re passionate about helping our Customers live independently at home and achieve their goals and we are just as committed to the people in our team. If you dream of waking up excited, energised and proud of the work you do each day, now is the right time to apply to KinCare.

Please check out our jobs page for our current opportunities.