Motivated mum helping others to put trauma in the past
A LARA mum who has overcome trauma to dedicate her life to helping others has been nominated for a national entrepreneurial award.
Community services leader Nicole Doherty runs three community service-based companies, works across aged care, mental health and youth services, and is also a doting mum to three-year-old son Austin.
Ms Doherty is in the running to be named Ausmumpreneur of the Year after being named a finalist in the national awards.
The busy mum experienced sexual abuse and kidnapping when she was young, which led to mental illness and substance abuse.
To overcome these traumainduced challenges, she has focused on helping others and now operates three social service companies.
Her first company, Wyngate Care, employs 30 staff across Melbourne and Geelong who assist people with complex needs to live at home. Wyngate Care trains staff through sister company D and M Connect by providing vocational education qualifications for community services in the disability, mental health and drug and alcohol sector.
Ms Doherty said the desire to help and support other peo- ple who had experienced trauma, while also empowering mums to return to the workforce, were the key drivers behind her success.
She is developing a model of disability housing for young people through her new com- pany, Empowered Liveability, which has more than 20 new complex care houses in development, including properties in Geelong.
“Apparently there are about 6500 people under the age of 65 living in nursing homes because they have high needs or a complex disability,” Ms Doherty said.
“We are building luxury four-bedroom homes to provide them with the accommodation to have support at home.”
She said she was excited and humbled to be nominated for the awards and hoped her success would inspire other mums to pursue their dreams.
“Mums don’t always get a lot of acknowledgment because we just get on with things,” Ms Doherty said.
Geelong psychologist Jessica Cleary is a finalist in the award’s rising star category and has psychology practices in Werribee and Geelong.
The awards will be presented on August 31.