Karen

6 February 2022

OC Connections Disability Support Worker, Karen Palmer recently celebrated 20 years at OC Connections and was recognised for her service at the 71st Annual General Meeting.

Karen’s experience has enabled her to form meaningful relationships with many of the people she supports. She is experienced in working with challenging behaviours and coaches many of her peers in this process. 

Karen is not afraid of responsibility and has often put her hand up to undertake various roles, including forming the Communication Committee. In one of her roles, she rolled out Makaton (Keyword and Sign) to OCC staff to help enhance their communication with non-verbal participants.  

Karen is always ensuring she updates her skills in relation to providing the best support to participants. She completed a Diploma in Case Management, which enabled her to provide improved holistic support to participants.

Karen is a well-respected team member who is a true team player. She is also an excellent communicator and is caring, passionate, loyal and an incredible asset to our organisation. 

“Over the last 20 years I have been foturnate to work with some amazing staff and participants”, says Karen. She has also been witness to a number of changes and remembers fondly the transition of OCC residents from congregate care to new community homes and the involvement of the residents in this process.

I enjoy coming to work and seeing the participants arrive in the morning. It makes me happy witnessing their reactions when they see their friends, access the community and be involved in activities of their choice.

Thank you for your remarkable 20 years of service Karen. You are an asset to the team.