Using technology to support Australians going through hard times

Dr Susan Palmer is the founder and CEO of Gather My Crew, and is a registered psychologist and health consultant. She has worked in public health and the not-for-profit sector for the past 20 years and has significant experience working with those suffering trauma. She is this weeks Pro Bono Australia change maker!

Susan has experience developing clinical psychology services, a research PhD investigating the impact of trauma on young people, experience conducting psychosocial research projects in hospital and health services, and has worked with large health organisations in her capacity as a health consultant advising on health design and service delivery. Read on for our interview with Susan!

Describe your career trajectory and how you got to your current position.

I am a psychologist by training and have worked as a clinician for many years in healthcare and trauma – but I have always been interested in systems theory and how making broader changes beyond the vulnerable individuals that psychologists tend to work with can have meaningful impact. 

When I repeatedly heard from clients and patients that they were going through tough times without support because they were just unable to ask for and coordinate help from family and friends, I knew that we needed to look at the systems surrounding the vulnerable person. 

That is what led me to step away from clinical work and launch Gather My Crew. 

Gather My Crew exists to make it easier for Australians to ask for and coordinate help so that people going through tough times (eg. cancer, sudden death, accident, natural disaster, premature baby, dementia) are surrounded by a support crew of family, friends, neighbours, and colleagues providing the right help, at the right time. Since we launched Gather My Crew, users of our app have coordinated over 300,000 hours of help for family and friends during tough times.  

What does this role mean to you?

Like many founders, this role represents a deep passion that motivates me every day. I truly believe in power of Gather My Crew to change lives when people are feeling most vulnerable. It keeps me going through all of the challenges that come with starting a charity and ensuring its sustainability. 

Take us through a typical day of work for you.

We are a small charity so my time is spent doing a range of activities, including responding to our support desk, meetings with stakeholders, introducing Gather My Crew to new referral partners, conducting education sessions with schools and/or workplaces, liaising with our app developer, analysing impact surveys, writing grant applications, developing our digital content, team meetings, sending out resource packs… It’s a lot – but it keeps things interesting. We’ve actually just wrapped up a PR campaign with MediaCast, we were the recipients of their Pro Bono for Purpose grant, so that’s been keeping me very busy with interviews.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve encountered in your career, and how did you overcome it?

Finding a pathway to sustainability for Gather My Crew has been the greatest challenge I have faced. There are so many incredible charities in Australia and it is a very competitive funding landscape. When organisations started to approach us to white-label the Gather My Crew app to improve the support and care available to their own consumers, we realised that we had a unique pathway to sustainability. And so, Gather Group was launched; a social enterprise that licences our technology and supports the ongoing work of the charity. I wouldn’t say it is a challenge that we have fully overcome just yet, but we are on our way.

If you could go back in time, what piece of advice would you give yourself as you first embarked on your career?

Psychology is a discipline that has value beyond clinical work. Don’t be afraid to shake things up.

How do you stay motivated to work in this field?

Stories shared by our community keep me going. We work hard to raise awareness about Gather My Crew so that people going through tough times know we exist but it is an ongoing challenge and one that can be frustrating at times. But somehow, on the days of greatest frustration, an email will land in my inbox from someone sharing a personal story of how they were able to get through a difficult time thanks to the help coordinated via the Gather My Crew app. They keep me motivated. 

How do you unwind after work?

I have four kids waiting for me when I get home. They are a great way to keep things in perspective and to avoid Gather My Crew taking over my life. I love spending time with them and engaging in their news and updates from the day.

What was the last thing you: Watched, Read, & Listened to?

Anatomy of a Fall with my movie club. 

Yellowface by R.F Kuang. 

I am an obsessive podcast listener. I have too many on the go at once to just name one.