We caught up with one of our Senior Support Workers to find out what its like to work in our West Sussex Supported Living Service.
I work with around 15 different customers. All of them have Learning Disabilities and some have physical disabilities, challenging behaviour or mental health issues.
I work with some people in their own homes and to support them to access the community and I provide one to one support to some people who attend a local day centre. Everyone I work with lives within 15 miles from where I live.
Things I support people with range from shopping to cleaning, personal care, cooking, socialising, accessing leisure facilities, looking after pets and support on holiday to name but a few!
I see people on a regular basis and have been able to build good relationships with them. I have got to know them well and their families and friends.
My shifts are all a different number of hours and I work different days on different weeks. Sometimes I work with two or three people in one day. If I am working at one of our 24 hour services I might work from 5pm-10pm then I sleep in, I then work from 07:00-09:00 when I will either go home or go on to another shift.
I like to do two sleep ins per week but there is an expectation for staff to do a least one. I use my own car to take customers out. I have business insurance.
I like being out and about all the time, going to different places and meeting new people. I like to help people to achieve new things e.g. one of my customers taking her dog for a walk on a new route that she had not had the confidence to do before. I have also supported a customer to go on holiday for a week to Austria, I had never been there before either, and it was something that I might never have got the opportunity to do.
I like being able to use my initiative and try new things.