What The Role Involves

A Day in the Life of a Support Worker

Well first, although every day is different, I have learnt so much about the service users I work with, all my colleagues and myself in my first 12 months working as a support worker.

I have a real sense of pride in being a part of great team at Select Support Partnerships where every member of staff strives to support our service users to become more independent, develop their confidence and provide them with a range of options to ensure they have lots of variety in all aspects of their day to day living.

I like to get to work early, if my service user is awake I like to go and say “good morning”, then talk to my colleague/s finishing their shift, have time for a good handover and read the communication log, find out any priorities for our service user and everything that has happened since I was last on duty, is there anything in the diary for today, an appointment, planned family visit or do I need to pick up any medication or any other essentials.

Now it’s time to plan the day, get today’s outfit ready,  to look as smart as possible, when our service user is fully awake and ready, it’s bath or shower time, brush the teeth, maybe a shave, then dressed.  Breakfast time, has to be something healthy and something they like, with breakfast comes medication, may need a bit of encouragement, anything else to wash apart from the dishes?  Paperwork, I nearly forgot, I need to start completing my paperwork and record some essential information.  Now we can all chill out for a bit and carry on planning the rest of today’s meals, may need to go shopping for a few things.  Out we go, are we driving, walking, on the bus, tram or in a taxi, we get everything we need to before lunch.  Lunch, are we eating out or getting back home to prepare lunch, best ask our service user “what they want to do”.

Lunch was nice, now there may be a weekly activity to attend this afternoon or shall we go for a drive or a walk around a local park, really enjoyed that, now one of my favourite parts of the job, cooking the tea, again something healthy and something they like, dishes again and time to tidy up and get some cleaning done.  Not long left on my shift now, bath, shower time, brush them teeth again, dressed for bed and medication with supper.  Just remembered, complete my paperwork and it’s time to say “hello” to my colleague/s arriving for the night shift and pass on any essential information.

I really enjoy all aspects of my work, I have been on some great training; developing my skills and gaining the knowledge required to carry out my work.  I have received lots of encouragement from my managers and colleagues.  I have started working towards my Diploma in Health and Social Care and I am continually learning how to deliver the best person centred care I can.

Inspiring, Creative, Interesting, Exciting, Challenging but Rewarding, Making Someone Feel Great is My Everyday Job

So after my first 12 months as a support worker, I don’t think I want to do anything else now.