When I left school I went onto college to study Dance at Filton College. When I finished the course I was really stuck for ideas about what to do as I realized it wasn’t really for me. Dance was very much me doing something for me but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.
I was offered some bank work at the Move On Project in Weston-super-Mare, which I really enjoyed. When a full time position came up, I applied and hot the job. I’m now working towards my NVQ 3 in Health and Social Care and still enjoy the work I do.
Mirella
I am a care and support worker at Sheltered Housing and Independent Living for the elderly at St Monica Trust. I have been working as a carer for four years and before that I trained as a General Hospital Nurse in Belgium. I love looking after people and helping people and being there for somebody when it’s most needed as it makes me really happy. While working at St Monica Trust I have completed my NVQ2 and NVQ3 in Health and Social Care. I love working here because I feel I am a part of a huge family by both staff and residents. I have also finished a mentoring course as I do mentoring in my workplace.
Being a Care Ambassador helped me to have more confidence and share my experiences about the job I love and always wanted to do. I feel valued and appreciated both by our residents and colleagues. It feels lovely to be a part of a great and a caring team. What I love about my job is giving the best care and bringing a smile on our resident’s faces makes my job worthwhile.
Samantha
I am 23 and currently working as Care Assistant in a residential home. If you had told me at sixteen that I was going to be in the caring profession I would have said you were wrong, I have been on a more obscure journey than most finding my job. It wasn’t a simple route but definatly an experience. I first knew that I had a natural aptitude and empathy for caring from a young age where I used to volunteer at a group for disabled and disadvantaged children, until my GCSE's and other studies became my focus and I had to give it up. I then finished my studies GCSE's, AS's, A levels were I found my strength in Art, I completed my Foundation in Art and Design and then went to university for three months. University was not for me, so I left, it was hard to make this decision as its always seen as the route to take, and to grab the strength to say this wasn’t for me was hard. I moved arou0nd to London where I did lots of little jobs to pay the bills and go out these included factory jobs retail jobs and cleaning jobs.
Until one day I told myself that I had enough of this attitude that I had adapted to life, I’m at work for over half my lifetime so why not do something you enjoy. I looked back in my life and remembered the voluntary work and thought that was the time when not only did I feel good about what I was doing but people were benefiting form me, as an individual. I saw my job advertised, I went for it and luckily got it. I remember before sitting outside thinking I can’t do this, I’m not strong enough, but I’m so glad I went in as I now do the job of my dreams. I have onsite training, nearly finished my NVQ 3 Health and Social Care, but I’m working at the same time so I have money coming through to me. The people I work with depend on me and I depend on them, there’s not one day that I don’t want to go into work.
My job also adapts to me, the home I work in knows my strengths in Art so allows me to run activities and do murals through out the building. It’s a fast, challenging, ever changing environment, with a huge support system with an always increasing amount of opportunities. I’m now applying to universities to become a RMN Nurse, Registered Mental health nurse, which I would never in a million years think I would be doing with my life. Care Ambassadors is a great scheme to volunteer with as I feel like I can feel the gaps that I needed filling when I was making a choice about whom and what I wanted to be.
Sue
I’ve always wanted to work within the Care sector, after completing my A-levels I was going to go straight to University to train as a nurse but after advice I decided to get work experience as a Health Care assistant first. Whilst in this role I did my NVQ2 in care and realised how much I enjoyed working with patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia so I decided to get more experience in the mental health field.
I started work for the National Autistic Society (NAS) in 2003 as a support worker in a hospital for adults with Asperger Syndrome who were sectioned under the Mental Health Act. I loved this job supporting people to become more independent and took every opportunity of learning I could completing my NVQ 3, Counselling qualification, Medication Administration qualification and many other training courses. After 2 years I applied to be the Staff Development coordinator and loved being involved in the recruitment and management of staff as well as training the trainee support workers to be support workers. Whilst in this role the NAS let me go on leave for 5 weeks enabling me to go volunteering in Ghana which was a life ambition of mine.
Since then I have taken all opportunities that have arisen within the NAS managing the Bristol Area Outreach Service, then the Bristol Befriending scheme before starting as Manager of Pinecroft in March 2010 which is a residential home for adult males with Asperger Syndrome which acts as a step down home from secure units. I then became the Registered Manager in July after going through the registration process witht he Care Quality Commission.
I have been lucky to complete further qualifications in these roles and now have my NVQ 4 in Coordination of learning and development, an Infection control qualification, my NVQ 4 in Leadership & Management of care services and a portfolio of training courses I have attended.
In my spare time I volunteer for the Julian Trust & Caring at Christmas, both Homeless charities in Bristol in which I work with a huge array of people from all different background including some with addictions, learning difficulties and mental health issues. I am very passionate about my work and love working in the care sector helping to make a difference, I couldn't do anything else.
Tracey
My name is Tracey, I have had a varied nursing career spanning through 22 years.
After leaving college,I enrolled as a Pupil Nurse at Southmead Hospital undergoing my Enrolled nurse training.After two years of hard training,I unfortunately failed my final examination for me to qualify. Feeling upset & ashamed that I had failed at a health career,I left Southmead hospital to contemplate my next move.
Believing I could still work as a nurse,I began working as a Health Care Assistant at a local nursing home.This job was very rewarding caring for 45 residents needing help with all daily care & support,but I felt I needed a new challenge
In 1986, I applied for a different type of nursing-a Community Health Care Assistant. I was offered the job & had to undertake the new N.V.Q training system that was about to commence.My first role in the community was to assist people in their own homes with personal hygiene but gradually over the years & gaining my NVQ level 2, I was able to perform Aseptic technique (sterile dressings), Observations (temperature,pulse & blood pressure readings),and my favourite,Venepuncture (taking blood samples)! I stayed within the community team for 17 years,enjoying each year.
In 2005.I also began to work as a part-time care assistant at a local residential home, helping the 37 residents with their daily living requirements. Again, I thoroughly enjoyed this & in March 2005, the manager of the home offered me the opportunity to train towards my NVQ level 4 & become the deputy manager.
After 2 years studying,alongside working,I have now gained my NVQ level 4,aswell as my Registered Managers Award.I have also gained a level 2 in Introductory certificate in Team Leading,certificate in Food & Hygiene, POVA, Mental Capacity Act, Infection, Prevention Control Awareness, amongst the mandatory Health & Safety, Manual Handling & First Aid.
Out of work, I live with my partner & 16 year old son (who himself is going to study Health & Social Care in sixth form), 3 cats, fish & I enjoy reading, cinema & playing on the computer!!
A career in health care is a very rewarding job & I love it!
Karen
My name is Karen. I have been working in the care sector for 28 years and thoroughly enjoy my job.
I am currently working as Registered Care Manager for Housing 21 in a Very Sheltered Housing Scheme for adults over the age of 55. Housing 21 provide a care and support service for adults requiring assistance with individual needs.
I have been working with Housing 21 for the past 8 years, previous to this I was a care assistant for 20 years in various care fields. I have worked in hospitals, nursing homes and residential homes.
Since joining Housing 21 I have completed my NVQ Level 2,3 and 4 and am not able to manage a team of staff to provide a high quality service. There have also been many other training opportunities that I have successfully completed including a Moving and Handling assessor’s course, trained first aider, Communication for profoundly deaf adults and NCFE medication level 2 certificates.
Working in a rewarding job is what motivates me, everything is different day to day and you never can tell what the next day may bring!
Angela
My name is Angela and I work for Aspects and Milestones Care Trust. I have worked with Aspects and Milestones since I was 18. I love my job and cannot imagine doing anything else!
I have my NVQ Level 4 in Care Management, am a registered nurse for people with learning difficulties (RNLD), an NVQ Level 3 assessor and deliver epilepsy awareness training for the trust. We have first year nursing students placed with us at the home.
At the moment, I am the manager of a small residential care home for people with learning difficulties and mental health needs. I do a job share with someone I have known for 17 years, so this works really well. We both work 3 days a week and it is important to us that we get the work/life balance right as we both have children.
I love working with a diverse range of people and being able to give person centred care. One lady I support wants to book a holiday at a hotel that offers spa treatments – guess who will go with her – poor me, I will enjoy it as much as her!!
I work with a wonderful staff team who are able to offer person centred care in a homely environment. I have a wide range of jobs – one day I can be doing paperwork, the next helping with personal care. No two days are the same and I love it!
Carolyn
I started my career 41 years ago when I left school at 16 and started as a pupil nurse at Ham Green Hospital in Pill. I stayed there and at 18, did my SEN training. After passing the exams I remained working in the NHS until I had my wonderful daughter Johanna.
I took a 5 year break to look after her until she went to school. I then went back to work for the NHS until 28 years ago when I started work for the private sector, this was at St. Monica Trust. I remained there for 23 years gaining my NVQ Levels 2, 3 and 4 and the Registered Manager award. 5 years ago I went to Whiteladies Residential Home to help the manager for 3 months. While I was there, the manager retired and her job was offered to me. It is a wonderful home to work in, the staff are great, real hard workers, and we have such fun, the residents are wonderful! We have great times with them as they are all so different and enjoy giving me a hard time!
I have never wanted to work anywhere else, except for looking after other people. I even have my daughter working with me which is great. I became a Care Ambassador about a year ago and it great being able to go and talk to young people about social care and hopefully inspire them to give it a go
Amanda
I have supported children and adults with Learning disabilities for over 30 years. I started as a volunteer, then I was a support worker for many years. I worked in large hospitals, small group homes and respite for children with learning disabilities.
For 15 years I worked in a nursing home for Brandon Trust supporting people with profound learning difficulties. Over 3 years ago, I trained to be an NVQ assessor after many years of undertaking courses including counseling, NVQ Levels 2 and 3 in care, childcare and education Level 3 NVQ and a 1 year course at West O England University in empowering practice.
I am now working as a NVQ assessor and recently qualified as an Internal Verifier and a preparing to teach course at Level 4.
Lizzie
My name is Lizzie and I work in social care as the Registered Manager of a residential home for clients with mental health needs. I have been doing this role for 3 years now. The work is hard but very rewarding. With my team, we assist service users to meet all their daily living activities and help them to enjoy life as much as possible. As many lack motivation, and some social skills, this is often a challenge. I love going out with my service users. In our day to day lives, we tend to take things for granted ie. going to the cinema or shopping for clothes. All my service users need support with these things. Running the home is a constant ‘juggling act’. I must maintain Health & Safety standards and monitor clients medication/health with the GP for example,
I had various jobs before my nurse training in the 1980’s (in Psychiatry) working with people in acute hospital settings to teenagers with drug/alcohol issues in the community. I therefore have experience and knowledge gained in the field and also with my subsequent degree and studies.
Sharon
When I left school, my grades weren't that great. I had passes for the old style of exams, I did CSE's not GCSE's, but they weren't O Level passes. I started working with Freeways in 2003. I was 32.
Before this I worked in London, in hotels as a food and drinks asst buyer. When I moved to Bristol I worked in a factory, then in security, then in an office as a receptionist, then I made sandwiches and managed a sandwich round.
I started as a part time support worker, working 35hrs a week. I completed on the job training, this being induction training and completing an LDAF, Learning Disabilities Award Framework, now known as the LDQ, Learning Disabilities Qualification. This is the equivalent of an NVQ 1 & 2.
I then started working as a full time support worker, working up to a Senior Support Worker. This is a position that is earned not applied for. It also meant a little bit more money. During this time I completed my NVQ 3 in Health and Social Care.
I then became a Team Leader, this is a position that was applied for, again a little bit more money. I remained a Team Leader for 6 months before becoming a temporary assistant manager, covering for maternity leave, a little bit more money. In this time, 6 months, I applied and was successful in becoming a registered manager, this I have been for 3.2 years, nice pay rise. Throughout all of the promotions it wasn't the money that made me do it. It was nice but my job has become very
I am now very near to completing my NVQ 4 Leadership and Management.
Throughout my time with Freeways I have been paid for all the training I have attended.
Throughout all of the promotions it wasn't the money that made me continue. It was nice but my job has become very important to me, why? The things I do on a day to day basis ensure that the service users that use the service I manage have a full filled and beneficial life. I ensure that they can become the people they want to be, I can ensure that they are able to access what they need and want to become those people. I'm also very fortunate to have a job that I love and never have to worry about getting up in the morning to go to it!!!!!!
My qualifications include NVQ 3, LDAF, Autism Training, Safe Guarding and many more!
Diane
My name is Diane Piekarski. I am presently a Matron/Manager at a nursing home in the Chew Valley called Stanton Court.
My careers spans nearly 40 years if you include dipping my toe into care at 16 years old as a carer in a local nursing home. I went to train as a Registered Nurse at the BRI in Bristol. After qualifying I continued my love of looking after older people at Keynsham Hospital and then developed my skills in paaliative care at St. Peters Hopsice, where I remained for several years ending up as the equivalent of a 'McMillan nurse' in the community.
I then had a short period of time bringing up my first two girls, returning to work as a night sister at another local nursing home. I moved 18 years ago to the present home I work at, firstly working on nights, fitting this around bringing up my next two children. Eventually, five years ago, I decided that management was the way I wqanted to go and promoted to Matron/Manager of Stanton Court Nursing Home.
Jane
My name is Jane and I work for St. Monica Trust in Bristol. I have worked for St. Monicas for 17 years, 6 years on the bank and 11 years full time.
I became interested in care work after my mum became terminally ill and wanted to stay at home. Although it was hard work and I didn't have a clue what I was doing, a side of me emerged that I didn't know I had, and knew I had more to offer than working in a shop which I had previously done.
My first care job was at Oaklands, which was a residential home for the elderly in Almondsbury. I left after 4 years to have my first son. After I had my second son, I needed to work, but finding a job with suitable hours was hard to find until a friend told me about St. Monicas and to this day I have never looked back.
Over the years I have built my career path through enjoyment and excellent training at St. Monicas. Through my training I have achieved NVQ levels 2 and 3 and also passed my mentoring certificate. My main role now as a Senior Care Assistant is the wellbeing of the residents I look after, to make sure they are properly cared for with dignity, respect and kindness by the team of NCA's on our unit.
I absolutely love my job and wouldn't choose to do anything else.
Penny
My name is Penny, I am married with 3 grown up sons and 6 grandchildren.
I first realised there was a need for carers, be it in your own home or in a care home, when my mother became ill and needed a lot of care, and eventually became wheelchair bound. I helpednurse her, and this inspired me, I realised I had a lot of patience and apptitude for the work.
I first spent two years working in a small nursing home, then applies to St. Monica Trust and have been working for them for 12 years, the last 6 as a Senior Nursing Care Assistant.
I love my job, I find it very satisfying, going off duty and knowing that I have worked my hardest to make a difference to someone's day. Part of my job involves mentoring new staff, which is very rewarding, especially when the staff settle and really enjoy their work.
I am very happy with my career, I continue to update my training and have achieved NVQ 2 and 3 in care whilst working on the job. I am looking forward to contributing to the Care Ambassador Scheme.
I’m Samantha Humphreys, I am 23 and currently working as Care Assistant in a residential home. If you had told me at sixteen that I was going to be in the caring profession I would have said you were wrong, I have been on a more obscure journey than most finding my job. It wasn’t a simple route but defiantly an experience. I first knew that I had a natural aptitude and empathy for caring from a young age where I used to volunteer at a group for disabled and disadvantaged children, until my GCSE's and other studies became my focus and I had to give it up. I then finished my studies GCSE's, AS's, A levels were I found my strength in Art, I completed my Foundation in Art and Design and then went to university for three months. University was not for me, so I left, it was hard to make this decision as its always seen as the route to take, and to grab the strength to say this wasn’t for me was hard. I moved arou0nd to London where I did lots of little jobs to pay the bills and go out these included factory jobs retail jobs and cleaning jobs. Until one day I told myself that I had enough of this attitude that I had adapted to life, I’m at work for over half my lifetime so why not do something you enjoy. I looked back in my life and remembered the voluntary work and thought that was the time when not only did I feel good about what I was doing but people were benefiting form me, as an individual. I saw my job advertised, I went for it and luckily got it. I remember before sitting outside thinking I can’t do this, I’m not strong enough, but I’m so glad I went in as I now do the job of my dreams. I have onsite training, nearly finished my NVQ 3 Health and Social Care, but I’m working at the same time so I have money coming through to me. The people I work with depend on me and I depend on them, there’s not one day that I don’t want to go into work. My job also adapts to me, the home I work in knows my strengths in Art so allows me to run activities and do murals through out the building. It’s a fast, challenging, ever changing environment, with a huge support system with an always increasing amount of opportunities. I’m now applying to universities to become a RMN Nurse, Registered Mental health nurse, which I would never in a million years think I would be doing with my life. Care Ambassadors is a great scheme to volunteer with as I feel like I can feel the gaps that I needed filling when I was making a choice about whom and what I wanted to be.
