Artis Support Services

12/10/2026

Toowoomba’s newest support worker has run Dungeons and Dragons games for people with disability in Ireland, trained as a chef, and moved across the world to be here!

His name is Brendan. And he’s changing what support looks like. 🤍

Most people meet a support worker and.... maybe a roster?
Meet Brendan and you get someone who remembers your favourite character, knows the blue cup matters, and turns a Tuesday afternoon into the best part of the week.

For five years, Brendan worked as an Autism Practitioner in Ireland. He supported autistic adults and their families at home and out in the community. He understands routines. He understands sensory needs. He understands that trust is earned slowly, by showing up again and again.

Then he chose a new home.

Out of everywhere in the world, he chose Toowoomba.

We still can’t quite believe our luck.

He’ll cook with your loved one. Talk history for hours. Pull out the paints. Roll the dice. Or just sit beside them with a cuppa and really listen.
And it’s already showing.

Brendan has only just started, and the feedback has been beautiful. After one of his first shifts, a participant shared:

“Today’s shift went great. I was a little nervous at first, but he helped me, and we now have a plan for what we’re working towards.”

Here’s the catch.

Brendan’s roster is filling up fast. We only have room for a few more people to join our Artis family and have him by their side.

If your person or you’ve been waiting for someone who’ll truly get them, don’t scroll past this one. ✨

Please send us an email
[email protected]

and we will be in contact!

30/06/2026

03/06/2026

MEET ANNALISE🥰❤️☀️

16/04/2026

I believe curiosity is one of the most underrated skills in support work.

Not "being nice." Curiosity.

We live in a world that is very quick to shut people down.

If someone interprets a situation differently, if they process the world in a way that doesn't fit the standard mould, if their experience doesn't match the clinical picture.. the default response, more often than not, is correction.

"That's not right. That's not how it works. That's not what the research says."

The matrix moves fast and it doesn't leave a lot of room for difference.

But in support work? Difference is often where the most important information lives.

So what does curiosity actually look like on shift?
It looks like pausing before you correct someone.
It looks like asking "tell me more about that" instead of "actually, I think you'll find…"

It looks like genuinely wanting to understand how someone experiences their world... not so you can fix it, but so you can actually see it.

Because here's what staying curious has taught me: the people who get shut down the most are often the ones who are seeing something real.

Something that doesn't fit the framework but is deeply, powerfully true for them.

And the only way to access that truth is to ask and then actually listen.

Why does this matter so much in our work specifically?

Because the people we support have often spent a lifetime being told they're wrong. Wrong about what they feel. Wrong about what they need. Wrong about how they see the world.

When we show up with curiosity instead of correction, we're not just asking a better question. We're sending a message: your experience is worth understanding.

and that's the point..

Curiosity is how we build trust. It's how we stay humble enough to keep learning. And it's how we do support work that actually means something.

The goal isn't to have all the answers.
The goal is to ask better questions.

So here's one to sit with today:
When was the last time you stayed curious... even when it would have been easier to assume?