Day Services

Working in Day Services gives you the chance to help provide people with a break from home, creating a supportive environment in which they can take part in activities, meet people and learn skills that could lead to employment and greater independence. Support with personal care is also provided. Different titles for this post include support assistant, personal assistant, day services assistant, care assistant and support worker.

Who could you work with?

Day Service workers generally provide services to older people, people with learning disabilities, mental health problems, physical disabilities, those who are substance mis-users or young offenders.

What does the job involve?

This will vary depending on the type of day services being provided and the needs of those attending but generally Day Services enable people to learn, or re-learn, everyday skills like cooking and sewing. They act as a meeting place and provide social activities and can also support people to gain useful skills. Working in Day Services may also involve attending to personal needs, ensuring that medication is taken as prescribed and accompanying people on educational or social outings.

Day Services can give families or carers a break to catch up on their own routine and support them to continue to provide care at home.

Day Services can also involve training people in a range of vocations e.g. woodworking, horticulture, catering skills, etc. You might work in a garden centre, for example, where such skills are practised or a woodworking centre where products are made, marketed and sold. The common feature of all these examples is that people come to learn specific skills, which are transferable into employment.

What kind of person is needed?

This type of role is offered by social services departments and some private or voluntary organisations with individual centres and projects varying in size.

Employers will be looking for honesty, reliability, flexibility and a mature attitude with good communication skills. Being a good listener is an important quality. Essential to this role are sound values which promote respect, dignity and choice, as is the ability to act as a positive role model. As a Project Worker you would also be an effective skills teacher.

Qualifications

You will not need a qualification to start but, once you are working, most organisations will support you to achieve the relevant National Vocational Qualification through training and assessment on and off the job. If you are involved in teaching people particular vocational skills e.g. catering, carpentry, etc you may need a relevant qualification in that field although experience may be enough.

Domiciliary Care

Home Care Workers offer support and practical support in the home, making a real difference for people from all walks of life and with a variety of needs. Other titles for this role are family aide, domiciliary carer, home help or home care assistant.

Who you could work with?

You could work with older people, children, people with learning disabilities, people with mental health problems or with physical disabilities.

What does the job involve?

This is a fast growing and changing service and it is needing to respond to new needs (e.g. short term care) to support people regain confidence and skills as they build up strength after hospital discharge, accidents or illness. There is also a need for rapid response services to help avoid unnecessary admission to hospital.

It involves the provision of new, flexible support services for family carers and service users including emotional and social support, listening and befriending, all of which make an enormous difference to peoples lives.

By working with individuals, either directly or through supporting their families and carers, people achieve greater independence, enabling them to live at home as long as possible. Dependent on the needs of the individual this may be by support with personal care or assisting with daily living routines.

Sometimes you'll give support with day-to-day activities such as preparation of meals going to the shops, paying the bills, writing letters, keeping in touch with family and friends. It may be supporting people to pursue leisure or educational activities that allow them to participate in opportunities that without this level of support they wouldn't normally be able too.

Whatever the needs the main aim is to support the individual to achieve as much independence as possible and therefore allowing them to make choices and decisions about what they do and how they do it and by doing so enabling them to stay in their own home environment for as long as possible

Within children services, domiciliary care may involve providing parenting skills, advice/counselling and behaviour management, with the overall aim of preventing family breakdown whilst protecting the child.

What kind of person is needed?

You will need to be reliable, sensitive and flexible, with a mature attitude, good communication skills, including good interpersonal skills and the ability to listen. Being able to work as part of a team is vital. You will be a positive role model for people young and old. This requires sound values, which promote dignity, respect and choice, coupled with tact and diplomacy and the ability to work on your own initiative.

Qualifications

Social Services departments, private or voluntary organisations will not expect you to hold a qualification when you start, but they will support you to achieve a relevant National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) once you are working. Training and assessment will be both on and off the job.

Residential Services and Supported Living

Those who work in peoples homes, whether they are residential homes or smaller homes for two or three people, support service users to live as independently as possible. This involves assessing their individual needs and ensuring that they receive the right level of support and assistance to meet those needs. There is an emphasis on skills development and enabling people to participate in everyday activities in line with their abilities and their needs. This might involve working in homes for older people, people with a physical or learning disability, mental health problems or people who are substance mis users.

What does the job involve?

Through your work, you can enable people to have choices about things that are important to them and to have the opportunity to participate in every day living whilst living in a safe environment. It could be support with domestic tasks such as washing, ironing and cleaning or providing assistance with personal care such as washing and dressing. Regardless of the activity involved, the person's involvement will be in line with their own personal need and their ability to participate will determine the level of support and/or assistance they require.

It may involve supporting people to visit the doctor, take part in leisure activities or giving them the support they need to live a normal, full life. To understand what people need and how they can contribute to meeting that need, staff will need to be involved in assessing the individual's capabilities and contributing to the development of how the care and/or support should be delivered. This will involve working with other people from different professions and possibly from different organisations, not only in planning and delivering the care and support but also in terms of reviewing it to see if it is working or needs altering.

Important in this role, wherever possible, is to enable individuals to maintain family and community links that are important to them and for families to be involved in planning and reviewing care arrangements. Equally important is enabling people to move from residential settings to more independent living where this is in line with their needs.

What kind of person is needed?

You will be honest, reliable, sensitive and flexible with good communication skills and a mature attitude. The ability to work as part of a team and as a positive role model are equally important. The ability to listen is essential and your interpersonal skills should come with strong values that promote dignity, choice and respect.

Qualifications

Social Services departments, private and voluntary organisations will not expect you to hold a qualification when you start but they will support you to achieve a relevant National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) once you are working. Training and assessment will be both on and off the job.

Residential Services for children and young people

There are a variety of services run by different types of organisations that provide support and care to children and young people, including those with physical and learning disabilities, all of which need dedicated staff to ensure that they run efficiently.

Care officers are responsible for providing this care - other roles or titles include support assistant, personal assistant, support worker, residential care assistant, residential worker and care assistant.

Who could you work with?

Care Officers work with children with learning disabilities, mental health problems, and physical disabilities and with children who have suffered from neglect or abuse or are in a situation where their parents or guardians can no longer provide the safe, home environment that children need. Where such situations arise and result in a child no longer having access to "family care and support", Social Services takes responsibility for this and provide a range of services aimed at meeting the needs of the child and the family including arranging fostering or placements with families.

What does the job involve?

The aim of residential settings is to support children and young people to lead as ordinary a life as possible, providing care and support to them and their families whilst providing a safe and protective environment for them to live in. You can encourage them in their daily living such as attending school, taking part in leisure and recreational activities as well as providing emotional and social support and supporting them to develop meaningful relationships with other children and adults.

It may be that part of the role is to enable children to move into a family or in some instances, for older children it may be preparing them to leave the residential setting with a view to them living more independently. This may involve preparing them for work in terms of supporting them to acquire skills and knowledge or supporting them to gain meaningful employment by supporting them with application forms and preparing for interviews. It may extend to supporting them to find suitable accommodation and securing the relevant benefits that they may be entitled to.

To achieve these aims for children it is important that agencies that can support are involved at the earliest stages and that the aims and objectives of the care plan are agreed by all concerned including, to the maximum degree possible, the child themselves and their families. This means linking with different people at all levels and with a range of different responsibilities.

What kind of person is needed?

You need a mature attitude, sensitivity, honesty and be reliable with good communication skills, the ability to listen and act as a positive role model. You will have sound values, good inter personal skills and be happy to work in a team. Previous experience of working with children and young people is desirable for this type of work.

Qualifications

Settings include residential homes, respite services or small group homes and you don't need a qualification to start. Once you are working, you will be supported to achieve Level 3 National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in Caring for Children and Young People. On and off the job training and assessment is provided. For further information, please see the Qualifications section for the Fact Sheets on NVQs.

Social Work

Helping people assess their needs with a view to them finding solutions which improve their lives and give them choices, would be your main objective as a Social Worker. You could work with older people, children, young people, offenders, people with learning disabilities, mental health problems, physical disabilities, or who are substance mis-users.

What you have to do

Part of the process of assisting people in taking control of their lives, will involve building relationships with a wide range of people starting with the individual themselves and with their family and carer. To do this means overcoming barriers to communication such as language differences, disability and emotional difficulties. There needs to be an emphasis on enabling people to express their feelings and views and exercise their rights when appropriate. This support is sometimes provided at a time when life is most challenging to the individual concerned.

In assessing people's needs and finding solutions, you will be helping them to be as independent as possible. Your work may extend to protecting them from the risks they face while this assistance is provided. It may involve working with the health service, education, housing and employment services, the police as well as other people within your organisation such as support staff and occupational therapists. Working with these other key people, you will be involved in setting up plans for individuals and constantly reviewing the situation to make sure that the individual's needs are being met.

How it all works

Social Services are the main employers of Social Workers, who undertake this assessment/care management role but those with a social work qualification work in other roles in a variety of settings.

What type of person is needed

You will need to be honest, reliable and flexible with a mature attitude and good communications skills. Essential to this role are sound values, which promote dignity, choice and confidentiality; you will happily work as part of a team, showing effective interpersonal skills. You will also need to act as a positive role model.

It will be important to have good time management skills and be an effective planner and have the ability to manage and present information effectively and clearly.

Qualifications

You will need to have the Diploma in Social Work (DipSW).

Different people that use services

Older People

Your role is to provide a safe, secure and stimulating environment. But it's not all about tea and sympathy!

Whilst many older people in residential or nursing care may be heavily dependent, they deserve the same quality of life opportunities as you do. As well as providing personal care such as feeding, washing and dressing, your role could include helping to organise and participate in recreational activities or arranging days out.

If you work in home care, you'll be able to give someone dignity, independence and more choice over how they live their lives. On a practical level, your role might include helping with dressing or bathing. But it's much more than that. The regular contact that home carers provide matters so much to people who may live alone or have little social contact. Home carers liaise with other professionals, neighbours, friends and family to ensure the best possible outcomes for people.

Day care for older people provides opportunities for much valued social contact with other people, as well as perhaps a midday meal, group activities and organised outings. Your role is to facilitate these opportunities.

Adults with Physical or Learning Disabilities

Life is for living! This is all about creating an environment where people have dignity, maximum choice over their own lives, and have every opportunity to fulfil their potential and achieve their goals. For some, this could mean getting a proper paid job, for others it could mean participating in a favourite sport.

If you work in day services, your role could involve enabling people to play a more active role in the community, such as learning skills to prepare for a job.

Children & Young People

 Children and young people in residential care often have very complex and diverse needs. Some may have a severe physical disability; for others it may no longer be possible or appropriate to live with their own family. Some children stay for a few nights, others may stay for many years. Your role could include planning recreational activities, supervising routines such as mealtimes and helping maintain links with families.

You may also help to manage moves to foster care or adoption, assist young people who are experiencing problems at school, or provide support as they move towards adulthood and independence.

Information on the "Different people that use services" section is from Care Focus Somerset