How was your shift?
Get it off your chest.
Support workers, respite workers, team leaders and volunteers. Put down what you're carrying before you go home.
Which best describes you?
This changes a few questions and which support lines come first. You can change it any time.
Everything you enter stays on this phone. Nothing is sent to your provider, your team leader or anyone else. Unladen Support is a prototype. It is not a medical or emergency service and is not connected to any disability provider or the NDIS. · Give feedback
Take a moment.
Step away if you can, once the person you support is safe. Tell your team leader or coordinator you need a few minutes. That's allowed.
Breathe with this
What you might be feeling
- Shaky, sick, or a racing heart
- Numb, or oddly calm
- Tearful, angry, or both
- Going over what you could have done differently
These are normal reactions. They usually settle over hours or days.
If someone hurt or threatened you
It isn't part of the job and it isn't your fault. Tell your team leader, or your volunteer coordinator if you're a volunteer. Report it through your organisation's incident system, even if it seems minor. Get checked if you were hurt. You can also contact police.
Ground yourself
Look around. Name them, out loud or in your head.
Call someone now
Add your coordinator, EAP or a colleague in so they're here when you need them.
Not sure who to tell?
If you don't feel safe telling your team leader or your manager, there are other people you can go to. Or write down what happened, just for you, while it's fresh.
What helps after
Handover to yourself
A few minutes at the end of a shift or visit. Notice what you're carrying, then leave what you can at the door.
Please talk to someone now
You said you've had thoughts of harming yourself or not wanting to be here. Please call one of these now. If you're in immediate danger, call 000.
Light load
This phone isn't letting the page save. Your result shows here but won't be kept.
About the aggression
Report it through your organisation's incident system if you haven't yet, even if it seems minor. Reports build the picture that gets behaviour support plans reviewed and shifts made safer. Staff hurt at work can make a workers compensation claim.
Looking after your dog
Your dog showed signs the visit was hard. Give them a rest day, keep the next visit short, and talk to your program's assessor if the signs keep showing.
Your safety at work
You said you didn't feel fully safe on this shift. That matters. Tell your team leader or your manager, and report it through your incident system. If you work alone, ask about lone-worker check-ins.
Getting home safely
You said you've got very little energy left. If you're driving, a 15 to 20 minute nap before you leave can help, or get a lift if you can. Text someone when you're home.
What might help
People you can call
This isn't a medical assessment. It's a way to notice how you're going over time.
How it's been going
Last 14 days
Handovers
This phone isn't letting the page save, so handovers won't be kept.
Privacy & your data
Add a PIN, download what you've entered, or delete everything from this phone.
Support work takes something out of you
What to watch for, and what helps. Tap a heading to open it.
After behaviours of concern or aggression
Behaviours of concern are often a person's way of communicating distress, pain or fear. Knowing that can help you understand it. It doesn't make it OK for you to be hurt, and it isn't your fault.
Today
- Get checked if you were hurt.
- Report it through your organisation's incident system, even if it seems minor.
- Ask for a debrief with your team leader or a colleague.
Over the next days
- Feeling on edge before that shift is common. Ask whether the behaviour support plan needs reviewing before you go back.
- You can ask not to be rostered alone with that person until it's safe.
- Staff hurt at work can make a workers compensation claim.
When someone you support dies or is very unwell
You may have supported this person for years, in their home and through their everyday life. Grief is normal, and it can be as strong as losing a friend.
- Tell your team leader how it's landed. It's OK to take a moment.
- Ask about going to the funeral or a farewell, or mark it in your own way.
- Casual and platform workers are often left out of the loop. It's OK to ask to be told.
When something has to be reported
If you see or suspect abuse, neglect or a serious incident involving a person with disability, it has to be reported. That's heavy to carry on your own.
- Make sure the person is safe first. Call 000 if needed.
- Report it through your provider. Providers must tell the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission about reportable incidents.
- You can also contact the NDIS Commission yourself on 1800 035 544, or the National Disability Abuse and Neglect Hotline on 1800 880 052.
- Write down what you saw, with the date and time, while it's fresh.
Working alone
Many disability and respite shifts are one-on-one, in someone's home or out in the community.
- Make sure someone knows where you are and when you should finish.
- Trust your gut. If you feel unsafe, leave if you can and call your team leader, or 000 in an emergency.
- Ask your provider about lone-worker check-ins.
- Afterwards, debrief with someone, even by phone.
Boundaries and closeness
Support work is personal. You get close to people and their families, and it can be hard to switch off.
- Caring about someone is part of doing this well.
- It's OK to have limits on your time, your phone and your personal life.
- If a boundary feels blurred, talk it through with your team leader or supervisor.
After a mistake or near miss
A medication error, a fall or a missed handover happens to most workers at some point. Feeling terrible about it shows you care.
- Make sure the person is safe, then report it.
- Tell someone you trust. You don't have to go through it alone.
- Ask for support through any review. If you're worried about a formal process, talk to your union first.
Bullying, harassment or conflict
You don't have to put up with it, and you don't have to sort it out alone.
- Write down what happened, with dates, while it's fresh.
- If your manager is involved, talk to someone outside your reporting line.
- For sexual harassment, 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) is there 24/7.
Signs you're carrying too much
- Dreading going in
- Feeling numb or detached from the people you support
- Short-tempered at home
- Sleep changes, or replaying shifts at night
- Pulling back from people
This is sometimes called compassion fatigue. It's a normal response to caring work, not a weakness.
Getting home safely
Driving between clients, split shifts and sleepovers add up.
- If you're struggling to keep your eyes open, don't drive. A 15 to 20 minute nap first helps.
- After a hard shift, text someone when you get home.
Casual and platform workers
If you're casual or find work through a platform, you may not have an EAP, supervision or debriefs. Your GP, the support lines in Contacts and your union are still there for you. Some platforms offer wellbeing support, so check their help pages.
Volunteers deserve support too
Ask your volunteer coordinator what support is available. It's OK to step back or change roles if a placement is taking too much.
When to get more help
If your load has been heavy for two weeks or more, you dread going in, or it's affecting sleep or home life, talk to your GP or EAP. A GP can set up a Mental Health Treatment Plan for Medicare-subsidised sessions with a psychologist.
People to call
Save the ones that apply to you. They stay on this phone and show up on the Help now screen.
Support lines
You don't have to go through your manager
Sometimes the person you'd normally tell is part of the problem, or it just doesn't feel safe. Here are other ways to get support. You choose what to do, and when.
From your organisation
Your provider can add its own EAP, supervision, peer support and wellbeing numbers here.
Someone outside your reporting line
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Free, confidential counselling. Your manager isn't told that you called. Casual and platform workers may not have one, but the lines below are still there.
- Supervision or a peer supporter. Someone outside your reporting line, if your provider offers it.
- Your union. For example the Health Services Union, the United Workers Union or the Australian Services Union. They give confidential advice and can come to meetings with you.
- Your work health and safety representative. For safety issues, including working alone, aggression and bullying.
- Volunteers: your volunteer coordinator or the organisation that placed you.
- Your GP. Outside work altogether, and can refer you on.
Text or chat instead of calling
For when talking out loud isn't possible, or feels like too much.
For particular situations
If you've seen abuse or neglect of a person with disability, you can report it to the NDIS Commission. Whistleblower protections apply to people who raise concerns in good faith.
Spiritual and religious support
Some providers, including many faith-based ones, have chaplains or pastoral carers. They support people of any faith or none. Their role is to listen, not to persuade.
You can also ask for someone from your own faith or cultural community. Some people find strength in prayer, ritual or their faith community after a hard shift. Others find it in nature, music or quiet. Whatever gives you meaning counts.
Words to start with
The first sentence is often the hardest. You could say:
"I'm not ready to make a complaint. I just need to talk this through."
"Can this stay between us? Is there anything you'd have to pass on?"
"Something happened on shift and I don't feel I can raise it with my team leader."
"I'm casual. Who can I talk to about this?"
What happens if I tell someone?
- Counsellors, peer supporters and helplines keep what you say private. The main exception is if someone is at serious risk of harm. If you're unsure, ask at the start.
- A union can give you confidential advice before you decide anything.
- A report to your provider or the NDIS Commission starts a process. Reportable incidents have to be passed on, and you may be asked for your account. You can ask for support through it.
- Your private record in this app stays on your phone unless you choose to share it.
Not ready to tell anyone?
That's OK. You can write down what happened, just for yourself, and decide later.
Numbers and services are for New South Wales and Australia-wide. Check with your organisation for its own services.
Write down what happened
It stays on this phone. It isn't a report, and nothing is sent anywhere. If you later decide to raise something, notes written at the time are easier to rely on than memory.
My entries
Entries can't be edited, so each one shows when it was written. To add something, write a new entry.
No entries yet.
If you decide to share it, you can download it or send it to yourself.
Your phone, your data
PIN lock
Ask for a PIN when the app opens, and after it has been in the background for a minute.
PIN is on.
The PIN stops someone else opening the app on your phone. It doesn't encrypt what's stored, so keep your phone locked too. If you forget it, you can delete everything and start again.
Hide the screen
Tap the eye button at the top of any screen to cover the app straight away, for example in a client's home, the office or on the bus. Tap to come back, or enter your PIN if you've set one.
Download my data
Download everything you've entered (handovers, private record and contacts) as a text file. You could keep a copy, or show it to your GP or counsellor.
Delete everything
Deletes your handovers, private record, role, contacts and PIN from this phone.
Delete everything from this phone? This can't be undone.
About Unladen Support
Unladen Support is a prototype made by Co-Synthesist Pty Ltd, Newcastle NSW. It isn't a medical or emergency service, and it isn't connected to any disability provider or the NDIS. The questions haven't been clinically validated yet.
What's stored: your role, handovers, private record, saved contacts and settings, only in this phone's browser. Nothing is sent to anyone. There are no accounts, analytics or trackers.
Feedback: the feedback form is the only part of Unladen Support that sends anything, and only when you press Send. It doesn't include anything else from the app.
Keep in mind: if you clear your browser data or remove the app, what you've entered goes too. Download a copy first if you want to keep it.
Version 0.3 prototype · September 2026