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Being a support worker
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jadely98
Posts: 6 Forumite
Hi guys, just going to post here as I found a thread of someone else who asked a similar question to me, but I wanted to do a more updated description as previous thread from few years ago.
Basically, I don't know what to do. I feel so drawn to being a carer or some sort of care role. I am 19 now and when I turned 18, I worked at a care home full time for a month. It was so bad but not because of reasons you may think. I found personal care 'okay' and everything. It's just the hours, I did 40 hours a week and because it was my first care role it was so stressful and I found myself depressed all the time and having anxiety.
Personal care was okay other than the fact that I had little support from whom I was shadowing and I was expected to dress people on my own after 2 weeks even though I requested more training and the woman would be aggressive towards me, acting as if I was abusing her, telling me i'd be in sh*t when her daughter came in. This made me so put off because I would tell people and not have any support, and I found it so hard to focus from being tired all the time.
I even went to HR because of the lack of support and the man did not give two hoots, a girl I met in my induction, who I became friends with also went to HR as she was being bullied and they just ended up having an argument and she quit on the spot.
I don't know if being a care assistant for the elderly is my thing. But the thing is, I want to do something similar. I keep feeling like that one care home gave me a bad experience but I believe it can be different somewhere else. I felt so good in my uniform knowing I was there to help people, and I wanna feel that again.
I just don't know how to handle 40 hours, or the care assistant role. I'm actually so anxious to experience someone die too. I just need a care job that's more suited for me. I still wanna help people in my community and go to a job where I feel like i'm contributing.
:question:
Basically, I don't know what to do. I feel so drawn to being a carer or some sort of care role. I am 19 now and when I turned 18, I worked at a care home full time for a month. It was so bad but not because of reasons you may think. I found personal care 'okay' and everything. It's just the hours, I did 40 hours a week and because it was my first care role it was so stressful and I found myself depressed all the time and having anxiety.
Personal care was okay other than the fact that I had little support from whom I was shadowing and I was expected to dress people on my own after 2 weeks even though I requested more training and the woman would be aggressive towards me, acting as if I was abusing her, telling me i'd be in sh*t when her daughter came in. This made me so put off because I would tell people and not have any support, and I found it so hard to focus from being tired all the time.
I even went to HR because of the lack of support and the man did not give two hoots, a girl I met in my induction, who I became friends with also went to HR as she was being bullied and they just ended up having an argument and she quit on the spot.
I don't know if being a care assistant for the elderly is my thing. But the thing is, I want to do something similar. I keep feeling like that one care home gave me a bad experience but I believe it can be different somewhere else. I felt so good in my uniform knowing I was there to help people, and I wanna feel that again.
I just don't know how to handle 40 hours, or the care assistant role. I'm actually so anxious to experience someone die too. I just need a care job that's more suited for me. I still wanna help people in my community and go to a job where I feel like i'm contributing.
:question:
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Comments
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I'd suggest you are in essence too young for it. You haven't experience enough 'real life' to have an objective stance.
Care roles are notoriously tricky to come to terms with, even for hardened veterans.0 -
Any suggestions for something I can do instead that's similar?
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A lot of entry level jobs are crap in their own ways...
I appreciate that you want to do a specific type of work, and that is great, but you don't *have to* go down that route for full time employment. You could always take on a role in fast food/call center and learn new transferrable skills whilst offering your spare time to local community centres or other such causes.
If you want to go down the support role then why not consider:
- Au pair
- Teaching Assistant (give careful consideration if it is a special needs school; you'll encounter equally difficult behaviours)
- Nurse?
- You can also get these carer jobs where you look after just a small number of adults and help them in their daily lives (Shopping etc)0 -
Any suggestions for something I can do instead that's similar?
You could volunteer to help in a more pastoral/ befriending role. You'd need to find full time employment in addition to that though. What qualifications do you have?
What you describe is not unusual with people with dementia, and can also occur with people with learning and some mental health difficulties. Challenging behaviour is part of their condition, not them, and is not aimed at you personally.0 -
Any suggestions for something I can do instead that's similar?
Don't suppose you live near a care home head office? I remember going for a Care Assistant job in a fully staffed home then a couple of months later ironically a job in the head office doing facilities management, sorting maintenance for the homes popped up so you never know your luck. (I got the gist they wanted someone younger so they could train them so all is not lost) even today I saw one of these care recruitment agencies offering 2 days in the office and offering couple of shifts caring which I thought was one way of certainly being eased in.
I would try and carve a career in care younger - simply due to the referencing part and having to much history that needs checking as we get older.
I knew plenty of young girls went into care because their Mums were often carers too.
Community work is very hard as can be isolating - you can be out there on your own as opposed to being with and having the reassurance of others when in a home. It's the only way I can put it. I was fortunate in that I had a dear friend in her 60's speak with me after I nearly done a year in the community who had been a Carer herself but had to let me make the mistake for myself first.0
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