About Us - Hearts In Action

Matt's Story

Why Matt walked away from a share in the business.

Matt spent twenty years in the automotive industry. He started as an apprentice, worked his way up to supervisor, and was eventually offered a share in the business if he stayed.

He chose to leave, because he wanted to help more people than he could through automotive training.

Over those years, Matt found himself drawn to the mentoring side of the work. Many apprentices came from disadvantaged homes and brought behavioural challenges with them. Instead of letting them go and replacing them, Matt worked with the business owner to create space to mentor them.

He helped them understand what employers actually look for. Knowing how to do the job mattered, but it wasn’t enough. They needed to show up with the right attitude, be reliable, not be afraid to fail, and be willing to give things a go.

Over time, he saw them change. They started taking initiative, thinking for themselves, and working more like tradespeople than apprentices.

That shift mattered. When they finished their apprenticeships, they weren’t just qualified. They were dependable, employable, and in a position to earn more and live independently.

But many of them were dealing with things training couldn’t touch. Parents struggling with addiction. A dad who’d left. A mum who’d died young. Domestic violence at home.

So Matt helped where he could, often out of his own pocket. Mechanical repairs that would’ve stopped them getting to work. One young person’s parents wouldn’t drive him in, so Matt picked him up himself until he could organise an electric scooter, since he lived close enough for it to be a safe option. Another was about to become homeless. Matt made calls, posted on Facebook, found him a place, and helped him move in.

Matt has been through difficult times of his own. Those experiences sent him looking for answers, and he found many of them through psychology — through reading and audiobooks.

Over time, friends and family going through their own challenges began to talk to him. Through those conversations, he started to notice a pattern. The things he had worked through for himself were helping others too.

He’s now completing a degree in psychology to build on what he’s learned through reading and experience.

Knowing how to do the job isn’t enough. It’s how you show up that matters.

— Matt Saxen

Grace's Story

Grace and Ashley.

Grace got into childcare because she loved kids. After years on the team, her boss asked her to run the centre.

Working with children takes a lot of patience. Every parent knows you have to meet the child in front of you where they are at. What they need, what they are trying to work out, and how to reach them. In childcare, you are doing that with a group of children, each with their own needs and pace.

Ashley was four when he started at the centre. He had been moved between foster homes week to week, and he cried every day. There was no permanent carer in his life. No one who would be there next week. There simply are not enough foster carers.

Grace decided she would step in.

Even though she had a blue card, even though she ran a childcare centre, even though she already had every qualification to work with children, it still took months. Paperwork, assessments, home visits, training.

When it was done, Ashley moved in.

Ashley’s mother had used drugs while pregnant, and he carries the effects. Emotional regulation is hard. Processing what is happening around him is hard. When those collide, the frustration comes out as anger and then tears.

His teachers used to send him home with reports of being disruptive. He could not sit still, the classroom was hard for him, and he was making it hard for everyone else. Now the reports are good ones. He is sitting in class, he is learning. He is still cheeky and always testing the line, but he is doing well.

Ashley is part of the family.

Grace saw someone who needed consistency, and she became that for him. She shows up, she stays, and she does what she says she will.

There are a lot of people who need that.

Good support is steady. You don’t have to think about it. It just works.

— Grace Saxen

Antaylia's Story

Antaylia saw disability support from the other side first.

Her mum needed support, so workers came and went through her family home for many years. Some were good. They showed up on time. They listened. They cared about getting it right. Others didn’t.

When you're a kid, you can’t always explain what you’re noticing. But you notice. You know which car pulling into the driveway means it’s going to be a good day. The ones who bring something with them when they walk in. Warmth, energy, presence and genuine care.

And you know which car support worker makes the day harder. The ones who do the minimum. Who need to be asked twice. Who have to be watched. Where the family ends up being left to do the work the support worker should have done.

So Antaylia learned early what good support is. It isn’t complicated. It’s being present. It’s someone who wants to be there. It’s speaking to someone, not over them. Turning up when you said you would. Paying attention to the small things. The dishes that need washing. The washing is still sitting there. Knowing when to step in and when to ease off because it’s just not the day for it.

The bad ones would be on their phones. The last-minute cancellations or simply didn't show up. Their actions clearly showed the shift was something to get through to get paid and they didn't really care about the person they were supporting.

Antaylia ensures the team understand what it actually feels like to need support, and what their role really is when they’re providing it.

When that understanding is there, Support fits into the background the way it should.

And the person being supported can focus on them, their day, and what they want or need to do.

I’ve seen support come into a home and make life easier. And I’ve seen it make everything harder.

— Antaylia

How can we help you?

Three different paths led us here. Each shaped by what support should be, and what it shouldn’t. Hearts in Action is what we built from that, so families don’t have to carry it all on their own.

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