Career in spotlight... Community Liaison Officer... Seana Henry

Let's hear from another Levande Legend in Seana. Seana started in our corporate office in Sydney and chased her dreams to be directly supporting our residents with a career in our operations team. A highly passionate and respected Legend in the Levande team.

Tell us about yourself and what inspired your career at Levande??

I have a background in Media and Communications, where I've worked as a Researcher and Producer across community radio, live broadcast television, television production, and creative agencies.

Almost two years ago, I decided it was time for a career change and made a complete turnaround. Now, I’m studying Dementia in the faculty of Medicine at the University of Tasmania.

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and whilst I was looking for work at the beginning of this year, I eventually secured a job as temp contractor at Levande. I quickly learned their business model and that they work with the ageing population. From the moment I heard that a team was planning dementia training for frontline village staff (at Levande), I wanted in! Levande’s Operations and Wellness team is amazing – and this is the team that I aspired to work with.

Can you share your experience working as a Community Liaison Officer?

My role is very resident focused and working closely with the organisation.

I meet and get to know so many residents ageing from 70- 80 - 90’s and 100’s – they sit at my desk and I visit them in their homes; we chat about life, have a bit of fun and I’m always listening out for anything that they may need help with so that they can live a little better.

I have a split role in the company – the other part is working in the Levande Living Plus team. "Plus", is a wellbeing program. In a nutshell it aims to deliver services for our residents based on their needs, wants and health conditions. We work with a home care provider at delivering services into people’s homes such as cleaning, companionship, meals and gardening. This is vital for allowing people to live well in their own homes for longer, being healthier and feeling more connected. (These are also risk factors for reducing the risk of developing dementia over time).

What advice would you give someone considering a career in retirement living and what are the benefits of the role??

My manager and I recently had a chat about what is a Community Liaison, and she summed it up perfectly – on the outside you need to be an approachable, people’s person, positive etc and on the inside you need to be organised and project management driven. Also noting, that you need to be good at creating and maintaining relationships and building trust.?

Benefits – working with people who are in their 90’s and 100’s – who radiate with positivity, good health, excellent cognition and have no comorbidities. I’m slowly learning the secret sauce to a long and a fulfilled life.

How do you ensure our residents needs are met??

I like to think of the residents as my family, and I treat them as if I was helping a family member with something. I’ve been told I’m the villages 'grand-daughter.'

I think it’s really important to acknowledge that the ageing population can be forgotten about in society and deemed as not important, but in fact it should be the opposite – they need help in certain situations and majority are not tech savvy so require extra assistance and patience when trying to navigate what’s so easy for you and I. When a resident thanks me for helping them with something so trivial, I think that speaks volumes about how difficult it can be for them trying to get by in life.

How do you balance work with personal interests? How does Levande and the team support your goals??

I’ve been trying to balance full-time work, being a part-time student and being a Pilates instructor for nearly two years now. Levande has some great employee benefits such as study leave – perfect for those last minute uni deadlines, flexible work for certain roles and a program called 'one simple thing' - which is directly aimed at keeping your life balanced. Add in a really supportive leadership culture and amazing colleagues who are always happy to help each other and we all aim to find that balance together.

Tell us three qualities you bring to this role to ensure success??

• Communicator – there are some definite transferable skills from my previous roles to where I am now at Levande. It’s important to note that I deal with families as well – it’s vital for the families to be informed and for them to feel secure that someone cares for their loved one.
• Personable – I am working with people who have lots of life experience – they know difference between a good and a bad egg.
• Be willing to understand an individual and their background – everyone has a different story to tell, and requires different assistance.

If you would love to follow your passion in creating amazing opportunities for our residents to live full and vivid lives.. reach out to our careers team at [email protected] and explore how you can also become a Levande legend!

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