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Our Story
Every journey starts somewhere. For us, it started with our families. Walking alongside our grandparents through the aged care system showed us the challenges, the confusion, and the moments where things could be so much better. Those personal experiences shaped who we are and why My Care Journey exists today.
We want to share our stories with you, because they’re not just part of our past, they’re the reason we show up every day to make the care journey simpler, clearer, and more empowering for others.
Joseph’s Story – Founder & Managing Director
I was always close with my grandmother, Esma. We shared a special bond, and when she began her care journey, I naturally stepped in to help. Because of my background in aged care, I could see the system from both sides, the sector’s processes and the lived experience of families trying to navigate it all.
I started out working in finance in the aged care sector, then worked my way up to senior leadership roles. From there, I founded my own consulting firm, partnering with Executive Teams and Boards on strategy, sustainability, and change management. This gave me the opportunity to visit providers all across Australia and see firsthand how everything, from leadership decisions and finance allocations to lifestyle programs and catering , shapes the daily lives of residents, before you even get to the quality of care they receive. Some providers deliver truly excellent care. Others leave a lot to be desired.
For Nan, I was able to advocate and guide her through the complexity, making sure she was supported to live at home for as long as possible, and eventually helping her transition into a residential aged care facility where she felt safe and cared for until she passed away in 2021.
Supporting Nan through her care journey opened my eyes in a whole new way. Â I realised that even with my knowledge of the aged care system, there were a lot of barriers and dead ends. And not everyone has someone in their corner with the inside knowledge to understand how to navigate the system. Too often, people face confusing choices, inconsistent information, and varying quality of care on their own, and that shapes their entire experience in the last years of their lives.
That’s why I started My Care Journey in 2022. For me, this is personal. I know that everyone’s care journey is different, and while the system may be the same, no two experiences are. My parents are now at the beginning of their own journey with home care, which makes what we do in My Care Journey even more real and important.
I believe everyone deserves a journey where they feel informed, respected, and empowered, and that’s the vision that drives everything we do at My Care Journey.
Zabe’s Story – Operations Manager
I feel really blessed that my 96-year-old Nanna is sprightly, sharp, and able to live independently. But when her health started to decline, our family had to begin navigating the aged care system. And even though I’d worked in aged care myself, I found the process confusing, frustrating, and at times disheartening.
My mum has been Nanna’s carer since my Nannu (Grandfather) passed away in 2007, and as the grandchild living closest to Nan, I took helped out a lot too. Being a big Mediterranean family, we’re pretty close, but also, everyone is very loud about their opinions. Add in a few cousins who worked in aged care, and Nanna’s care journey quickly became complicated. In hindsight, having an independent person to guide us, cut through the noise, and provide professional advice would have had a positive impact.
Working with My Aged Care was especially confusing. No one really explained the process properly. We felt like we were being buffered from person to person. I remember trying to explain to my mum and Zija (auntie) that the assessor wasn’t actually “My Aged Care” but an independent contractor. To them it was all the government, and that misunderstanding alone created tension and stress.
When the assessor finally came, the experience was far from respectful. My grandmother migrated to Australia in the 1950s, and while her English and intellect are excellent, she was patronised during the assessment. In protest, she refused to speak English for the entire session, which only made the assessor more patronising. Some of the questions didn’t seem appropriate through a cultural lens, and it left us all a bit tense and misunderstood.
When she was first assigned a package, Nan was still relatively independent. What she really needed was a bit of help around the house. So when the provider sent aged care workers to help clean, the quality wasn’t up to Nanna’s standards. My family was also confused and couldn’t understand why “a cleaner” wasn’t actually a cleaner. In the end, we let the package go and organised a private cleaner.
Several years later, Nanna’s health rapidly declined so we tried again. But this time we hit another roadblock. My Aged Care told us they “don’t do reassessments,” and they simply put her on the waitlist to be reassigned the old package that no longer met her needs. It wasn’t until much later that I discovered reassessments can only be triggered through a provider, something no one explained to us at the time. Because of those negative experiences, my family has never re-engaged with a provider, and today Nanna still doesn’t have a home care package, even though she could benefit from one.
My experience drives me every single day. I don’t want other families to feel so confused and disillusioned by the system that simply opt out altogether. I want people to have the clarity, support and the confidence they need to actually get value out of the care available to them, without the frustration and without the endless guesswork.
How Our Stories
Shape Us
