Roma loves helping the vulnerable but one day broke down about the mental toll it takes… through her tears she has exposed a gap that needs filling in the NDIS

A support worker has claimed the NDIS is ‘years behind’ where it should be, after it broke down and revealed the heavy toll her job is taking on her.

Roma Daly, 25, cares for young people with disabilities and regularly posts videos on TikTok talking about the good and bad sides of the job she loves.

In a post that has been viewed tens of thousands of times, an upset Ms Daly spoke through tears as she claimed the job had taken its toll.

In August, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten announced that the State and Territory Governments had agreed to changes that will help reduce the scheme’s rising costs by $14.4 billion over four years.

Ms Daly has welcomed the recent major overhaul of the NDIS following a series of fraud scandals and concerns over its huge costs, which reached $44.3 billion in the 2023-2024 financial year alone.

She told Daily Mail Australia one of the biggest problems with the NDIS was the lack of funding for young people with disabilities.

“I don’t think they realize what their participants actually need,” she said.

“I work with young people, they are the people at the NDIS who get the least money, and they are the ones who need it the most.

“They’re growing, they’re going through school, and they need the support workers, they need their allied health providers, and they can’t get that without funding.”

She believes if NDIS spent more money on children and young adults it would save the government millions in the long term.

‘That’s why I’m studying to become an occupational therapist, so that I can help as many young people as possible in that early intervention phase and nip it in the bud.

“(Support workers) help them with their daily lives and their daily tasks, such as self-care during adolescence, becoming a teenager and then entering the real world.”

Ms Daly said this support in the early years will ‘give them so many more opportunities and give them so many more skills’.

She said there are days when she has to sit back and remind herself, “I’m doing this for the right reasons, and that’s where I talk a lot about self-care and preventing burnout on my TikTok.”

‘Because as a supporter we have to give a lot of energy, attention and support to our participants, but we must not forget ourselves.

“We have to make sure we take care of ourselves. And if that is not the case, we cannot provide the best care.’

Ms Daly said she works with many participants with autism spectrum disorder and “it’s that emotional regulation and that pushback that I get.”

“As a counselor, working with meltdowns can be quite overwhelming,” she says.

‘TThat’s probably one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced, as I work with a lot of young people.

‘There are so many highlights. It’s such a rewarding job, but it comes with its share of lows and of course it can have just as much of an impact as that day.

‘That doesn’t change the fact that it is so rewarding and so much fun. bBut there are definitely low points because we give so much to our participants,” she said.

The young people she works with vary are between 11 and 25 years old and have conditions such as autism, cerebral palsy, ADHD and neurological problems.

Ms Daly grew up in Tasmania and moved to Queensland in 2019 to study exercise science at Griffith University, which eventually led to her chosen career.

After college, she worked as an administrative assistant at an exercise physiology clinic on the Gold Coast, but said it “really served no purpose.”

“Then I met this incredible participant (who) came to get exercise physiology at our clinic, and we built an incredible relationship.

‘That’s where it just started, and I started supporting him, taking him to football one weekend. It grew from there and I found my passion,” she said.

This work led her to make more connections and gain more participants.

“And now I have a great company and I have a number of employees working for me. It’s just blossoming, which is so amazing.”

Ms Daly said it was because of the NDIS that she decided to set up a company instead of just being an independent support worker.

“I think the coming changes will be very good and will weed out the unreliable providers,” she said.

‘My values ​​surrounding my company are to provide the right careo my participants.

“The registration processes that are coming will be great and ensure that we provide exceptional care to those in the community.”

Despite her passion for what she does, Ms Daly feels the NDIS is ‘years behind’ where it should be.

Ms Daly’s TikTok video gained sympathy as social media users shared their own experiences.

“As a support worker, I have certainly come to realize that we are the most resilient, strong-willed and caring people in the world,” one person wrote.

‘No one else could understand our work.’

“I really feel like this right now and I feel so defeated, exhausted and mentally drained,” a second added.

‘I’m stuck with nights and active care, it takes a lot of effort by the time I get home and I have to work 14 hours at a time for minimum wage. There’s so much pressure on me.’