Magnus Health - Female Entrepreneur of the Year

Company: Magnus Health, Beenleigh, QLD, Australia
Company Description: Magnus Health is an Australian disability service provider which supports participants in South East Queensland with complex mental health diagnoses such as; Schizophrenia, Early Onset Dementia, Alzheimers and Parkinsons, Acquired Brain Injury, Autism, Intellectual Disability, Dissociative Identity Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Female Entrepreneur of the Year – Consumer Services –11 to 2,500 Employees

Nomination Title: Shelley Jacks

Shelley Jacks is the Founder and Director of Magnus Health, an Australian disability service provider, supporting participants in South East Queensland with complex mental health diagnoses such as; Schizophrenia, Early Onset Dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, Acquired Brain Injury, Autism, Intellectual Disability, Dissociative Identity Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Prior to launching Magnus Health in 2019, Shelley worked as a psychologist for many years, including in correctional services with high risk violent and sex offenders for a decade, in hospital in acute mental health and in her own private practice for six years.

Without Shelley and the Magnus Health team’s support, many of their participants would be institutionalised for the rest of their lives. Their aging parents are often wracked with worry about what will happen to their children once they’re gone. Magnus Health enables participants to live independently and stay out of hospital, by building capacity and independence. Our mission is ‘freedom through support’.

Shelley is a well-respected entrepreneur and leader in the disability and health space. She is a finalist in the Gold Coast Women of the Year Awards and the Small Business Champion Awards in 2021, with the winners yet to be announced.

- Making a difference
In less than two years, Magnus Health has made an enormous difference in the lives of 27 clients and their families in South East Queensland and this number will just continue to grow.

- Growth
The business is very successful, already achieving $4.2 million in revenue annually. In just a short time Magnus Health has built an excellent reputation, loyal clients and advocates, and engaged and high performing staff.

- People
We have a unique workplace environment and culture compared to competitors, based on empathy, understanding, creativity and innovation. Many Magnus Health staff are nursing and/or psychology students who receive extensive training in mental health when working with Magnus Health, which will help raise the bar for mental health support in the healthcare system once they graduate.

- Best practice
When Magnus Health launched, we were new to the Australian Government’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (which funds disability services) and had to develop compliant procedures, policies and training from scratch which are now considered best practice.
We’ve now successfully passed two National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) audits, without any minor or major non-conformities identified and lovely positive feedback from our clients and staff.

- Unique supports
Magnus Health is one of the few service providers providing 24/7 support. This service involves staying with the participant day and night to support them and ensure they’re safe. Offering an entirely new support we’d never offered before involved developing a new end-to-end process and protocol.

- Making a differenceMagnus Health fills a significant gap in the market. Without our support, many of our clients would be institutionalised for the rest of their lives. We not only give them access to freer and fuller lives, we also give their families peace of mind.

- Growth
Magnus Health is one of the fastest growing disability service providers in the region. That growth has enabled the creation of 55 jobs for people from all walks of life in South East Queensland and support for dozens of families.

- People
Shelley works hard to provide a psychologically safe place for staff to provide feedback and present new ideas. We don’t subscribe to the idea that you shouldn’t bring your emotions to work, at Magnus Health we understand that life can be messy and difficult at times and we are here to support our staff with whatever struggle they are going through at the time.

- Best practice
We have developed an online training package using Teachable, with 15 modules for NDIS policies and procedures containing videos, slides and quizzes. We’re now looking at rolling this out to other disability service providers.

- Unique supports
We are always investigating where there may be gaps for services which we can fill. Within the next year we will develop an allied health branch. We’ve already diversified into psychology and will add occupational therapy, speech and physiotherapy over the coming months.

Reference any attachments of supporting materials:

- 2020/2021Profit and Loss
- 2019/2020 Profit and Loss
- Participant case study
- Support worker testimonial