Testimonials
Beside You Foundation’s mission is to provide holistic wellbeing to families by fostering a unique journey with compassion, empathy, integrity and respect.
I have known Kristy for about 5 years. I first met Kristy when she was running a Contact Centre in Belmont for the Department of Child Protection.
Kristy left her job but has always stayed in contact supporting me and my family, she is now a very close friend and throughout my time knowing Kristy she has dedicated herself to helping those in need and has gone beyond helping those meet more than their goal.
Kristy is a caring, loving person, she'll never judge you and will always encourage you to just be you.
I honestly wouldn’t have achieved some of my proudest moments without her support.
I have known and worked with Kristy McDowell for about 17 years and what has stood out for me is the passion, empathy and compassion she has for her clients. Kristy has always worked hard and closely with her clients to empower them to take control of their lives and to believe in their capabilities and strength.
Kristy has worked with some of my clients and she always provides an excellent personable service where clients feel listened to and outcomes are achieved. Kristy has made her valuable time available for her clients at any time of the day.
Finally, Kristy works with her heart, understanding what our clients go through on an everyday basis, where some take for granted the “she’ll be right” attitude. Kristy truly feels her client’s pain and that is why she developed amazing rapport with them. Her clients continue to call her back because other workers don’t seem to quite understand the depth and magnitude of what our clients feel on a daily basis BUT...Kristy does!
Kristy has a wealth of knowledge and experience working with families and children in particular Aboriginal children and families in a variety of settings. She always maintains a professional manner and is respected for her ability to work collaboratively, communicate and negotiate in some very challenging situations.
Department of Communities
Kristy assists families at a fundamental level by building close and harmonious relationships with them and maintaining contact as needed. She has over two decades of experience in the field and it is a credit to her that she continues to be a dedicated and passionate worker who wants the best for her families and knows how to guide them towards a better life.
What Kristy means to us ..
We first met Kristy as the coordinator at Fulham house Belmont approx. 10 years ago as we began to meet our kids there for a 2 hour visit once a fortnight. Kristy would have been advised by our case manager at the time that I could potentially be loud, aggressive, unpredictable and in general just to be cautious of the children's father.
Despite what Kristy was told, Kristy treated me like I was somebody who is worthy by coming out of her office with a smile to introduce herself, handshake and looking me in the eye giving me the benefit of the doubt and deciding she will take me for how she meets or perceives me.
In the beginning we had to stay at the facility while visiting our children. Overtime Kristy got to see our interactions with our kids firsthand as well as receiving the supervisor’s reports from the visit. I used to enjoy going to Fulham house, we would get there a bit earlier and I would have a whinge to Kristy about DCP Cannington and tell her how I'm feeling and what I've been up to since the last time I saw Kristy.
Kristy always took the time to see me/us and would listen. She would give me her opinion and/or advice. I found her to be understanding, passionate, honest, reasonable, fair, and encouraging.
Kristy will give credit where it's due, but she'll pull you up too if she needs to because she generally wants to see people like myself and the kids to be reunited. I felt Kristy went above and beyond her role at Fulham house to see the right things take place for the kids in care and their biological parents.
After a substantial amount of time went by, and not one problem between the staff, parents and kids, Kristy organised a worker by the name of Leanne who would be best suited and willing to put her hand up for supervised visits outside of the facility.
Kristy approached senior colleagues at the Department to advocate on our family’s behalf, raising her opinion about our contact visits moving forward for our family. This meant our visits could take place out of the facility and into the community while still being supervised.
I feel without Kristy voicing her professional opinion and organising a supervisor for our visits, we don't know if we would ever gotten outings because I felt stereotyped by DCP Cannington with bad character references which was opposite from Kristy and staff at Fulham house encounters with me and my family.
We still keep in contact with Kristy on a regular basis where we look at her more like family as she does with us!
Kristy guides her clients well through the court system and helps them to navigate Child Protection – an endless changing landscape often terrifying to parents. Kristy has a strength in being able to identify issues early and assist clients to resolve issues before they become larger problems. Sometimes she delegates these tasks to lawyers or others often better placed to assist with that particular issue. What is clear to me is that when Kristy is assisting a client, I am confident that the client will be supported holistically and humanly. Kristy really does walk beside her clients.
Kristy has an ability to provide a clear pathway forward for her clients by providing them with next steps, solutions while also making the client’s accountable for their decisions and actions. This is often a delicate balance to achieve but Kristy does this, and it shows in her relationships with her clients and also the outcomes achieved due to the holistic support Kristy provides to each of her clients.
Children’s Court (Protection) Services
“WE STILL KEEP IN CONTACT WITH KRISTY ON A REGULAR BASIS WHERE WE LOOK AT HER MORE LIKE FAMILY AS SHE DOES WITH US!”
