Our Team

Rachel and Alison are sisters who are passionate about helping people of all ages to thrive. They are both mothers of school-aged children, so it is important to them to ensure their work, family and self-care are balanced, so that exploring their passion of supporting others to thrive does not come at the expense of supporting their own children to thrive. They want their kids and their clients be the best they can be, as they explore and conquer their own challenges and successes.

Both Alison and Rachel have a long history of supporting people with special needs, both in their family and professional lives. As such they have an excellent understanding of the challenges many families face in getting adequate, personalised support for their loved ones. They started Capacity to Thrive to pass on their knowledge and experiences to other families and they hope that their practical, commonsense approach will help both their clients and their families to rest easier knowing that their loved one's capacity to thrive is being developed.

Rachel Jenkins

Rachel's broad skill set, true passion and creativity is the backbone of our business. She has spent much of the last decade supporting our nephew and brother manage their disabilities and this has inspired her to use the skills she has learnt to help others.

Rachel has a passion for learning and has demonstrated this throughout her adult life where she has trained and worked in childcare, hairdressing & beauty therapy for more than 20 years. She also has a Certificate 1V in Training & Assessment and a Certificate 3 in Companion Animal Services.

Rachel is mum to an energetic 4-year-old son, and 4 fur babies, Ella, Sully, Poppy & Rocky. They love helping her with the work she does in animal care, therapy and training. All 4 dogs are very cuddly and love meeting new people.

Rachel is very practical and can work with you and your family to design an individualised program of support to suit your specific needs, so if you think you'd benefit from her support, please get in touch with us.

Alison Buchanan

Alison is a mum to 2 teenagers and has been a teacher for 30 years in both the NT and SA, working with students from Preschool to Year 12. She has worked as a classroom teacher, specialist Music and IT teacher, in Assistant/Deputy Principal roles for over a decade and in corporate roles with the education department, supporting teachers to be the best that they can be.

Alison has first-hand, extensive experience working with children who find thriving at school difficult or find that they need a more individualised approach or more practise with functional life skills than they can get at school. For more than a decade Alison has helped children and families navigate the behavioural and learning challenges that present with disabilities or additional needs. She has a passion for supporting students with special needs and their families to identify and achieve their own personal goals, so they feel successful.

Alison has a strong belief that progress is more important than perfection and that we can all learn if only someone spends the time to figure out how we learn best. If you think that Alison's experience might be of help to your family, please get in touch with us.

Bronnie Smith

Bronnie has recently joined Capacity to Thrive. She brings a range of skills to our team.

Bronnie has a Certificate in Pet Obedience Training and has extensive experience in providing animal therapy, having worked and volunteered with Therapeutic Dog Services Inc. since 2016, including conducting human training, undertaking temperament testing of potential pet therapy dogs and dealing with facility management.

Bronnie initially used her Blue Heeler, Spike as a therapy dog. He achieved Level 4 in training and his Community Canine Certificate. Spike loved being involved in animal assisted activities at various facilities, including mental health, palliative, stroke and general wards in hospitals. Bronnie also worked with incarcerated people at James Nash and Ashton House, groups of individuals living with a disability and elderly people in aged care facilities and their own homes. Her experience assisting people from all walks of life is exactly why Bronnie is such a great fit as a Capacity to Thrive support worker. Get in touch if you think Bronnie would be a good fit to support you.