As a Team Leader, Christina’s touches the lives of many people across Interchange WA. She is consistently seeking to get the best out of everyone around her, that includes both the employees she leads and all the customers in her Neighbourhood.
With her mentorship, she’s led her growing team to provide person-centred care that goes beyond the norm. Her mindset of developing systems to tackle problems, her focus on personal commitment to goals, and her ability to pass on her mindset and skills to her team are what makes her an exceptional leader.
Systemic Support
When one of Christina’s customers expressed interest in taking a cooking class to build independence, Christina not only enabled it, but also built a structure to ensure results. Starting with a review of his NDIS funding to align the classes with his goals, she went on to review programs, facilitate collaboration, and create formal service agreements to ensure nothing was left to chance.
But it’s not just the formal components that Christina facilitated. Her understanding of the customer and his support team enhanced her ability to ensure results. She empathised with his history of anxiety leading to cancellations and built a structure around it. First, she established weekly progress reviews with the customer and his support team to monitor his attendance, confidence, and skills. Then, she proactively coached employees on strength-based motivation techniques and hand-picked Support Workers based on his interests, supporting him to build stronger rapport and momentum towards his goals.
The result was incredible. The customer shifted from inconsistent participation to sustained engagement and attainment of his goals. Not only that, but the confidence he gained expanded into other parts of his life. With Christina’s support, he accepted opportunities to attend pride parades and connect with LGBTQ networks to support his gender transition.
Every Detail Is Important
When a different customer experienced changes in public transport options, he was faced with a risk of losing his job. Christina immediately recognised how this would impact his sense of independence and self-worth. So, she coordinated with her team to work through it. This took the form of a transition strategy. Employees broke down the stages of the new route with him. Then, when he was ready, accompanied the customer on travelling the new route. Gradually, they overcame the customer’s anxiety about the new situation, and he regained full independence.
The customer’s family was thrilled that he could retain his independence and continue to work.
“Christina listens to us and takes time to explain things in a way we can understand, especially about the NDIS.”
Another customer’s family echoes their sentiments. In this case, a customer’s NDIS funding was exhausted due to a misunderstanding in their plan management. Rather than allowing the disruption to his services, Christina took on the role of Support Coordinator by compiling evidence, clarifying functional impact, liaising with stakeholders, and preparing documentation. With her intervention, his funding was reinstated, preventing service breakdown and safeguarding his ability to live safely at home. Even his family was amazed by the amount of additional work she took on to assure the continuity of his services. They said:
“The amount of work Christina did was amazing. We would have been lost without her help.”
Customers And Employees Alike
Christina’s support doesn’t stop with customers; she extends this same level of coaching and structure to the Support Workers on her team. She is future-focused, with a mind towards building the capacity of employees so they can independently provide high quality support to their customers.
Part of this involves reframing their mindset. Rather than thinking that they are doing something “for” their customers, Christina encourages employees to think of it as building something “with” them. By focusing on empowering people, she’s prepared her team to tackle problems at their roots rather than only respond to them.
When she noticed employee anxiety around one customer’s seizures, she changed the tone. By setting up clinical information session with health professionals, she created a dialogue to improve employee knowledge. Throughout this session, the team was free to voice their concerns, and in turn were educated by an expert specialist health professional. This improved the customer’s consistency of care and reduced fear-based decision-making among employees.
One of these problems was a major systemic risk facing young people in her community. When structured school routines end, independence can regress if family carers are unavailable. Rather than waiting for decline, she implemented structures to maintain independence. This involved collaboration between families and stuff that introduced weekly schedules with a variety of skills-building activities and supports such as community access and daily living skills.
The results have been noticeable. Customers with this plan have seen growth in confidence, consistency, and readiness for future independence.
Interchange WA’s Emerging Leader
Under her leadership, her team has grown from 15 to 37 employees in a span of 2 years. Christina has equipped each of them with not only the basic skills for the job, but a mentality of problem-solving, openness, and inclusion that makes them all exceptional.
By combining family insights, professional advice, and staff feedback, Christina co-designs supports that align with participant goals and see them through.
For her hard work, Interchange WA has nominated Christina for the 2026 WA Disability Support Awards in the Emerging Leader category.
The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on May 2nd. Please wish her, and our other nominees, all the best.
If you want to learn more about our other nominees, here are their stories:
