Teamwork makes the dream work - SUN-DAC

With over 30 diverse job roles across different service areas, the Social Service Tribe is a group of like-minded professionals committed to driving positive change.

Today, four social service professionals from SUN-DAC, an agency that supports differently abled persons aged 16 and above, share how they work together to empower others and make lives count.

The team comprises Mahes (Assistant Senior Training officer), Syah (Training Officer), Rodiah (Senior Training Officer) and Kimberley (Senior Case Manager).

Can you tell us more about your work?

Mahes: As a team, we enable differently abled individuals to learn independent daily living, community, social and pre-vocational skills. We also provide services such as caregiver training, support programmes and in-house psychological services for our clients.

What do you each of your roles entail?

Mahes: As Assistant Senior Training Officer, I’m responsible for the daily training and planning activities for our clients. We also ensure our clients’ personal needs, safety and well-being are attended to. I take up other responsibilities such as communicating and liaising with volunteers in our programmes as well.

Syah: Much like Mahes, I’m a Training Officer and ensure that the centre’s daily activities and our clients’ needs and safety are taken care of.

Kimberley: As Senior Case Manager, I provide casework for clients and families. This includes providing consultation for families and social-emotion support for caregivers. My teammates and I also conduct caregiver related events and training sessions, so caregivers will be equipped with knowledge on their loved one’s disability. On top of that, I also work with agencies, potential clients and their families to provide information about SUN-DAC.

Rodiah: I’m a Senior Training Officer, and I’m responsible for the daily training of SUN-DAC's clients. I also assist the Centre Manager to guide other training officers to ensure consistency in our programmes.

Why is it important to work together as a team?

Kimberley: Every client is different and usually requires the diverse expertise and support of different professionals. Therefore, we work together to combine different skills and perspectives that enable us to craft the best solution for every client.

How do you communicate with each other?

Rodiah: We have weekly meetings to update each other on our clients’ progress. We also use WhatsApp and emails to communicate.

Syah: Aside from that, we often seek advice from each other in times of need and give affirmation to one another to show support.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced on this journey?

Mahes: Sometimes, our client’s behavioural issues may relapse or worsen despite having followed the recommended training methods. When this happens, we typically regroup to explore underlying factors of our client’s behaviour and work together to support our client in the next steps.

And what has been especially inspiring to witness in your role here?

Mahes: If a client shows improvement or even reaches a personal goal, this is a success for the whole team. For example, Eric^*, one of our clients with Down Syndrome, used to walk around barefooted all the time. So for every class, all of us would take turns reminding him to put his shoes on. He used to constantly forget or ignore us, but after a while, we noticed that he began putting his shoes on automatically without any prompts from us, and this was a big win for all of us!

That’s wonderful! Do you have any advice for someone who wants to join social service?

Mahes: It might be wise to think about whether you’ll like to do this for the long run. If you have the passion and are ready to commit to the work, it’s going to be a fun journey.

^*The client’s name has been changed to protect their privacy.