A Greek Australian brother-sister duo committed to helping others have opened their own business, providing specialist support services to people of all abilities and backgrounds.
Launched in January 2024 in Rosebery, Sydney, ‘BlessedBeing’ is run by Mary and Kosta Kalantzis, who help serve more than 25 people within the Greek community.
The 23 and 20-year-old Greek siblings shared that they work alongside a team of seven carers which consist of qualified nurses, middle-aged women, young men, and physiotherapists, who then cater to clients of all ages.
Some of the NDIS services BlessedBeing provide include capacity building, in-home care, behaviour, and community access support. Mary said their business strives to create specialised services tailored to each client’s individual needs.
“We service everybody, but we put a focus on our Greek community,” Mary told The Greek Herald.
“We found that that’s where we sort of connect with the most as we grew up with our grandparents in their home.”
Why Mary and Kosta started BlessedBeing:
Mary and Kosta revealed they decided to start up BlessedBeing after observing many Greek-speaking individuals struggling to find the help they needed due to language barriers.
“I study a Bachelor of Psychology, and one day while I was at uni, I just started looking into social care and welfare,” Mary said.
“Coming from a Greek background, I saw firsthand from my grandparents how hard it is not having Greek-speaking helpers around and I wanted to find support for them… I then said to Kosta, ‘why can’t we create services on our own that can provide support to them and their friends instead?’
“Here in the Rosebery community, we’ve got a lot of Greeks too, especially lots of grandparents, so we wanted to create a service to help them.”
20-year-old Kosta said what makes BlessedBeing unique to any other NDIS provider is that it breaks down language barriers between clients and caregivers.
“We just wanted to create a space to provide the best care for everyone and everything,” Kosta said. “We all speak Greek too, so all our carers are Greek-speaking carers.”
Running BlessedBeing:
Kosta and Mary shared what it means to them to run BlessedBeing.
“Being able to provide for people that are from all ages, and Greek as well, just makes the community a bit stronger,” Kosta said.
“It feels like everyone kind of unites in a way, and it just allows us to build good relationships with everybody and make them feel comfortable.”
Mary said she also loves running the service and being able to provide services that support the Greek community.
“BlessedBeing means a lot to us,” she said.
“We hope to eventually grow a big enough platform to be able to cater to more people, and with more demand, we will have more carers ready to go.”
Community response
Whether it’s going to the gym, having a coffee next to the beach, or participating in various social outings, Mary and Kosta said they aim to ensure that each of their clients receive personalised care to meet their needs.
They said that in the 10 months they’ve been offering their services, the Greek community has been nothing but supportive towards them.
“The feedback we’ve been getting from clients and their families is amazing. It makes it all worth it,” Mary said.
“We always want to make sure we’re providing quality staff and giving people the best care we can offer, and it feels so rewarding to help people.
“Growing up with Greek heritage and being able to provide for people in our community is very important and special to us too.”
Kosta, who is currently undertaking an electrical apprenticeship, said he hopes to someday take on working with BlessedBeing full-time.
“It’s a very nice feeling knowing that you can help people and take care of them and provide whatever they need,” he said.
“Being able to do my electrical studies right now is really great as I can kind of incorporate that into BlessedBeing and can then use those skills to support clients in the future too.”
As a psychology student, Mary also aims to use her skillset to better cater towards her clients.
“There’s a lot of psychologists that work with our clients as well, so just being able to have that accreditation, would also really help open doors for our clients,” she said.
Future goals
Aiming to close the gap in support services for the Greek community and beyond, Mary and Kosta shared that they hope to expand their business to other parts of the nation in the future.
“We plan on expanding and just developing the company into a bigger corporation,” Kosta said.
“At the moment we are trying to make connections with local churches and organisations and hopefully that will then help us grow.”
Those interested in learning more about BlessedBeing and how they can receive their services and embark on their own BlessedBeing journey can visit www.blessedbeing.com.au. Mary and Kosta said their staff will happily guide people through the process, organise a consultation to assess what the client needs and then create a personalised plan for them.
