Where it all started
Ten years ago, Like Family’s co-founders faced a problem so many families know intimately. A parent needed support, but with full-time jobs and busy lives of their own, they simply couldn't be there enough. What he was missing wasn't help around the house - it was connection. Every day he would try to get out into the community and lose his way, and the isolation was taking a toll that no amount of practical help could fix.
So they suggested a carer, and he pushed back immediately. He didn't want a stranger coming in and telling him how to live his life. But then they thought of a friend of theirs, someone young and outgoing who loved the beach and lived for music, and everything changed. He'd spent his life as a jazz musician, and the moment he heard she loved music too, he said he'd go anywhere with her.
What followed was a real friendship. He got someone to share his passions with, his family finally had peace of mind; and their friend, who was far from her own family overseas, found something she didn't know she was missing: a sense of connection to people outside her own generation, at a time when she needed it most.
That relationship is the reason Like Family exists. It highlighted just how much this kind of support was needed, and how little of it was out there.
A decade on, Like Family is live across the east coast of Australia, delivering more than 1.8 million hours of care, and operating as an NDIS registered provider, which means real trust and safety protocols sit behind every match made, protecting Members and Carers alike.
What is a Social Carer?
At the heart of everything we do is a simple belief: connection changes lives. Like Family exists to reduce social isolation and loneliness, and every single thing our Carers do, whether it's a chat over coffee or hands-on personal care, is underpinned by that same idea. It's why we call our Carers ‘Social Carers’ rather than ‘support workers’. The name reflects what actually matters here, which is the relationship, not just the task being completed.
That connection shows up in a few different ways, depending on what a Member needs and what a Carer is drawn to.
For some, it's companionship, shaped entirely around shared interests. A coffee catch-up, a walk, a trip to an expo, even turning up to Comic Con in full costume together. It's just as much about the everyday things too, having someone alongside you for appointments, errands and groceries, so they feel less like chores and more like time well spent.
Sometimes the best matches come from exposure to something new on both sides. One young Member who loved WWE wrestling was paired with an older couple, and he wasn't convinced at first. A few months later, he was teaching them how to play video games so they could join in with their grandchildren, while learning chess from them in return.
For others, it's about daily life support, the shopping, meal prep and light household tasks that help someone stay independent, along with skill building like digital literacy and learning to manage the small logistics of everyday life, from budgeting for a meal to getting to the shops and back.
It can also mean community connection, getting out to social events and building friendships, and just as importantly, helping someone build the confidence to make friends of their own.
And for Carers with the right qualifications, it extends to personal care, hands-on support like showering, toileting and medication assistance, delivered with the same warmth and respect that runs through everything else.
Real stories, real range
The people who become Social Carers come from every kind of background imaginable, and their reasons for joining are just as varied. To give you a sense of that range, here are a few stories that came out of a recent webinar with student carers on our platform. They're a small slice of a much bigger community.
Nick was studying healthcare at university when he joined Like Family, and found the course was heavy on clinical theory but light on the human side of caring for someone. Working with a nonverbal Member who has autism, he built a connection strong enough that a few gentle prompts led to a genuine shift in behaviour that others hadn't managed. Nick has since gone on to become a doctor, and he credits the interpersonal skills he built as a carer with helping get him there.
Marie is a Certificate IV graduate with training across medication administration, health administration and mental health. Living in a more remote area, she'd found it hard to access conventional work, but the flexibility of the platform let her build a client base close to home, sometimes for just half an hour at a time, helping with breakfast and medication. Over time, she's built strong relationships with her Members and uses her training to genuinely advocate for their best interests.
Valentina is a student who fits shifts around her study schedule, letting her Members know when exams mean she's unavailable. It gives her the flexibility, independence and sense of purpose she wouldn't find behind a retail counter, while still letting her choose her own clients and hours.
These are just three stories from one particular slice of our community. If you'd like to meet more of the people who make up the Like Family community, explore our carers here.
Why people love doing this work
Ask any of our Carers why they stay, and the answers tend to circle back to the same few things. It's flexible, it's meaningful, and it genuinely respects them as people, not just as workers filling shifts.
- You're in control: As an independent contractor, you choose who you work with, what kind of support you offer and when you're available. If domestic assistance isn't your thing, you simply don't accept those activities. There are no rosters, no lock-ins and no must-dos.
- It's meaningful: Every activity and every message is a chance to genuinely make someone's day better, not just tick a box on a checklist.
- The pay is competitive: Rates reflect the value of the work, with a higher rate for personal care in recognition of the qualifications it requires. Note: our rates are reviewed annually, and new rates will take effect from 1 September 2026, with all Carers given plenty of notice ahead of time.
- The admin is handled for you: As an NDIS approved provider, we carry public liability and personal liability insurance for our Carers, chase up invoices so you get paid, and manage the Member relationship, so you can focus on the part you're actually there for.
- You're backed by a trusted community: A 4.7 rating on Google, ten years in the sector and more than 1.8 million hours of care delivered mean you're joining something established, with a customer care team on hand whenever you need support.
Getting started
We've recently rebuilt our onboarding from the ground up, and it's one of the things we're proudest of. Rather than filling out endless text boxes, you'll work through a short, video based experience on the app or the web, whichever suits you best. You'll answer a handful of questions on camera, each one under two minutes, and those answers are used to build your profile for you. It's quick, it feels human, and it means your profile ends up sounding like you rather than a form.
Explore becoming a Social Carer
Those videos stay behind the scenes. They're used purely for onboarding and are never shown to Members or used for marketing.
Alongside your video responses, you'll need to complete verification, which starts with an NDIS worker check. A police check or Working With Children Check are useful additions too, and the latter is required if you'd like to work with Members under 18. Once everything is submitted and verified, activation can happen within 24 hours, which means you could be matched with your first Member sooner than you'd think.
If you've been curious, this might be it
Being a Social Carer is meaningful work. It genuinely helps reduce isolation and loneliness for people in your community who need connection as much as they need care, and it tends to give back just as much to the people doing it. Flexible hours, real relationships and a sense of purpose that's hard to find in a lot of other jobs.
If this sounds like something you'd love to be part of, we'd love to hear from you.
Sign up to become a Social Carer · Find out more · Get in touch with our team
Our Carers are the backbone of everything we do, and we're always here to help if you have questions along the way.