Catherine McDougall still pinches herself that a radical decision to start a tech company has led her all the way to the pages of Vogue.
After all, the school rowing coach was wading into uncharted waters when she set about creating a digital tool for the first time.
It was 2022, she was 30, and her father Ross had suffered a sudden stroke. She quit her job to become his carer, supporting him through his rehabilitation and the challenges of living with an acquired brain injury.
But she quickly discovered a glaring gap in the system. There was no platform to store his individual needs — from favourite foods and medications to care routines and pet hates— to ensure continuity of care.
“When caring for a loved one, uncomfortable questions often arise: What happens to my loved one if something happens to me? Will they be able to continue to live the life they want? How do I go about sharing what I know?,” she says.
“After extensive research, we discovered that there wasn’t an easy-to-use, real-time ‘future planning’ product available in Australia or anywhere to capture all aspects of an individual’s support needs and other aspects of their life.”
So she talked to a family friend, and they decided to set one up themselves.
The result was Support Plus, which launched in 2023 and is making a significant impact in the caregiving community.
“What started as one of the hardest chapters of my life eventually became the reason Support Plus exists,” she says.
“Support Plus is the first platform designed to create a personalised plan for current and future care.”
Her achievement has been recognised nationally. Catherine reached the finals of the Enterprising ME Kickstarter Challenge in 2024, and featured in a Vogue Australia spread as one of the 2025 Vogue Codes Future Innovators Award finalists.
But she doesn’t take any of her business successes for granted.
Catherine is acutely aware of the responsibilities that come with handling sensitive information.
“For us, cyber security isn’t just a technical issue, it’s a human one,” she says. “We work with highly personal data, so we have a real responsibility to protect it — not just for compliance, but so our clients know they can trust us.”
With the ever-growing spectre of cyber crime, and with health businesses a key target, she understands how damaging an attack could be.
“We know there are some scary things out there, but we don’t let fear dictate how we operate. Instead, we focus on being proactive, informed, and putting the right practices in place so we can manage risk with confidence.”
Catherine credits free courses like Cyber Wardens with helping safeguard her business.
“The most helpful part was how practical and actionable it was.
It broke down cyber risks into real-life scenarios and gave clear steps on what to look for and what to do, rather than just theory.
“It’s not about knowing everything but feeling equipped to recognise when something isn’t right and knowing what steps to take next.”
She says cyber security is “one of those things that’s really easy to push down the list”.
“But the earlier you understand the risks, the better positioned you are to protect your business and your customers,” she says.
Today, the small business takes a “layered approach”to cyber security.
“We use multi-factor authentication, strong password practices, and limit access so people only have what they need,”she says.
“We also place a big focus on awareness, encouraging our team to pause, double check, and speak up if something doesn’t quite feel right. For us, cyber security is as much about behaviour as it is about systems.”
Explore the range of free Cyber Wardens courses at cyberwardens.com.au.
