Nathan's Secret to Success

“Have a strong work ethic and keep challenging yourself to do better.”

That’s the advice Nathan would give anyone starting out in supported employment - and he certainly practices what he preaches.

Nathan recently celebrated 20 years of service with Bedford. Throughout those years he has been based at Elizabeth, and enjoyed learning many and varied skills while making sure never to let his disability get in the way of achieving his goals.

Nathan credits his father for his strong work ethic. Having finished school at age 16, Nathan thought he’d take a gap year, but his dad made sure he kept busy by taking him along to help with his work as an electrician.

Having gained an appreciation of work life, Nathan started volunteering at the Jack Young Centre in Salisbury, a leisure centre for older people. In 2001, he was nominated as Young Australian of the Year for his voluntary work.

He went on to study hospitality and horticulture at TAFE, where he also undertook a course to assist people with disability to gain independent living skills, including cooking.

He puts these skills to good use now, living on his own with his pet Pomeranian Chihuahua - “small dog, big attitude”.

After he finished his studies, Nathan applied for a job at the Phoenix Society (which in 2014 amalgamated with the Bedford Group).

“I got the job and I’ve been working here full time since 2004,” he said.

Nathan has held many roles at Bedford, working with businesses across South Australia including Holden, Electrolux, the Osborne Naval Shipyard, Emmaline’s, and the wine industry.

"I tried a few different roles when I first arrived,” Nathan said. “I moved to Stores and I really enjoyed that."

“I then worked for a while on Holden panels. Of course I was the slowest person there, and I looked at the person next to me and thought, that person is faster than me, so I set a goal to beat them, and I did it, and then set my next goal and the next one.”

It is that commitment to self-improvement and a hunger to learn that has given Nathan so much satisfaction in his work.

Moving across different areas of work, Nathan obtained his forklift license, learned how to set up the wine labelling line and conduct maintenance on it, put his love of organisation to work in Stores, and these days holds a Leading Hand position as second in charge to the Supervisor in Wine.

“The staff in Wine are really good to work with. We have a good joke around. Even if I’m having a bad day with other stuff going on, I want to come to work and help them out.

“And I like learning about the process to make a product and everything that has to happen to get a finished product.”

As Leading Hand, Nathan finds great reward in helping others to enjoy their work and achieve their goals.

“Bedford sets goals each year for everyone. Ever since I started here, I’ve looked at the goal they have for what they want me to try to achieve for the year, and then I’ve always set myself goals to push myself past my own limits.”

“I’ve hit basically all the goals I’ve been set and have set for myself.”

Nathan reaches out to those around him to encourage his team-mates, and said “Now when I get a chance, I try to coach the people I work with to get them to break their limits.”

We asked Nathan what advice he gives them, and he said, “I say just because someone can do it better than you, don’t allow them to do better than you. Set that person as your goal, and work to do it better - use that goal to better yourself.”

“If I can get more people to achieve higher than what they thought they were capable of, then that’s a win for myself.”