Our Team
Capacity to thrive is a family business. Rachel, Matthew & Alison are siblings who are passionate about helping people of all ages to thrive. We are all parents of school-aged children, so it is important to us to ensure our work, family and self-care are balanced, so that exploring our passion of supporting others to thrive does not come at the expense of supporting our own children to thrive. We want our kids and clients be the best they can be, as they explore and conquer their own challenges and successes.
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​We all have a long history of supporting people with special needs, both in our own family and professional lives. As such we have an excellent understanding of the challenges many families face in getting adequate, personalised support for their loved ones. We started Capacity to Thrive to pass on our knowledge and experiences to other families and we hope that our practical, commonsense approach will help both our clients and their families to rest easier knowing that their loved one's capacity to thrive is our priority.
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Rachel & Matthew are our support workers. They are both warm and compassionate and are dedicated to supporting clients with dignity, comfort, and respect. They both take pride in helping people feel safe, confident, and well cared for in their daily routines, always offering a friendly and supportive presence. In home or community support, helping our clients thrive is our specialty. Rachel and Matthew are 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 their support, please get in touch with us.
Alison looks after our administration but has been known to support our younger clients or those who are keen on exploring music further if the need arises.
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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 7-year-old son, newborn daughter and 3 fur babies, Sully, Poppy & Rocky. They love helping her with the work she does in animal care, therapy and training. All dogs are very cuddly and love meeting new people.
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Alison Buchanan
Matthew Jenkins
Matthew is a father of 4 young men, 26-year-old Jo who has autism, ADHD & anxiety, 9-year-old Sebastian and 2 stepsons he raised into adulthood. His experience as a father of 4 boys makes him a perfect candidate to work with young men.
Matthew is also a qualified mechanic and has over 20 years’ experience detailing vehicles.
He is known for his organisation and attention to detail and is a hard worker. He is a friendly person with a caring and gentle nature who is well suited to work with anyone who needs support to help them thrive.
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.
