Meet Hayley Coutts, a passionate individual with many skills and dreams. From starting her career as a professional dancer and cheerleading to now being one of our adored Support Workers.
Not long after COVID-19 hit, Hayley’s career pathway took a different direction. She decided to follow her heart and passion for helping others.
A year and a half later, working at Momentum, Hayley has never looked back! “I have always taken up a caring role, and I thought, why not do it as a job and turn that into my every day?!”
Not only does caring for people come naturally to Hayley, but cooking for those she loves is also a considerable part of her identity.
This year was particularly significant for the Support Worker after she auditioned for Australia’s legendary cooking series, ‘My Kitchen Rules.’ With Hayley and her auntie’s hard work and dedication paying off, they were beyond ecstatic to have made it onto ‘My Kitchen Rules 2022.’
Hayley grew up cooking nostalgic Italian dishes with her family; however, it wasn’t until 2019 that Hayley’s desire to learn more about cooking became more prevalent in her everyday life.
“I work mainly at the Support Independent Living (SIL) houses in the Gold Coast, and the minute I could share the news about making it through to My Kitchen Rules, the looks on all my clients’ and colleagues’ faces were priceless!” mentioned Hayley.
“Every day at work, my client Emma kept asking me when she could watch me on television because she thought I would be famous, said Hayley.
“My clients and work peers were eager to see all the childhood meals I was going to cook in front of the whole of Australia! Seeing their pure excitement made my heart feel so full.”
In the last year, Hayley has made delicious healthy muesli bars for one of her lactose-free clients, and one of her biggest motivations when working with her clients has been encouraging them to be mindful of their food options.
The cooking star is dedicated to educating her clients on how easy it is to eat healthy and yummy meals, and just recently, Hayley organised a cooking session for a group of her SIL clients, Emma, Heath, Jaime, and Mitch.
“Every day at work, my client Emma kept asking me when she could watch me on television because she thought I would be famous”. – Hayley, Momentum Support Worker
Hayley guided the clients through the cooking session, but each of them took on their own roles organically. Keith took the initiative to chop the ingredients, Emma put on her best assistant chef character, Jaime became their photographer, and Mitch cooked the chicken with Hayley.
Everyone participated confidently in the group environment and showed their best cooking skills whilst increasing their independence and social skills.
To say they loved this experience is an understatement – as the joyful looks on everyone’s faces during the cooking session and sitting at the dinner table together said it all.
Hayley’s vision is to mix her cooking passion with support work, enabling people living with disability to ‘connect through food,’ have fun, make informed decisions and provide the tools to create delicious and nutritious meals.
Stay tuned for the next cooking session with Support Worker, Hayley, and SIL clients and get ready for what scrumptious recipe they will cook next time.
If you are looking for a career change, or want to find out more about our Support Worker roles please call our friendly team on 1300 900 091.
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live and work, and pay respect to Ancestors, Elders both past, present and the emerging Jarjums.
