My journey into care and what the role involves
As a positive behavioural support worker the most important quality needed is caring, not only for the individual but for their family and your staff team.
I was initially introduced to care through my teaching of Jujitsu, a martial art, to children diagnosed with autism and ADHD. I was able to transfer the skills learnt from this into the care sector and I haven’t regretted it. I have also earned a level 3 diploma in residential child-care, which again enabled me to provide better care not only for children, but adults too. I was able to transfer those skills to support young homeless adults and now adults within their own homes.
I was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 7 which gives me an insight into how other people may struggle. I also suffered brain damage at the age of 16 due to sleep deprivation, this resulted in my having seizures (which fortunately I no longer suffer from), giving me a unique perspective in this area.
I have worked for Happy futures for just over 3 years now and it is an amazing place to work, it is very much like a second family.
The day-to-day life of a positive behavioural support worker
Working at Happy futures on a normal day is never boring, as each day is always different. As I mentioned in the introduction caring is key, as all of the day- to- day tasks can be learned, but if you don’t care you are in the wrong profession.
The more you are willing to put into your role the more you will get out of it. It is so rewarding to be part of a team that has helped an individual to grow and become more independent. The more you get to know the individual in your care, the more you can develop their coping strategies. Behaviour is a way of communicating wants and needs, so your role is to work out what an individual needs or wants from their behaviour’s, and then offer a more pro- social alternative.
As a support worker you must be prepared to learn and develop yourself, as much as the individual, and Happy futures are very supportive in staff growth.
There are your general tasks of making sure everything is well documented on Nourish. Nourish is an electronic system that gathers data so that it can be analysed in order to see if there are patterns. There is also Medication, which again is a system that is electronically signed.
Other day to day tasks done with the individual, include personal care, cleaning, crafts, socialising, cooking and even gardening. All these tasks help with promoting independence.
A few examples of my activities on a day could be that one day we are body boarding with a BBQ on the beach, another day craft making rock art then on the evening going to a disco, or we could be going to York and supporting the individual to drive a self-drive boat up a river and back.
The days are as varied as your passion to improve a vulnerable person’s life.
For more stories about the lives of men in care, please see the link below
https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/news-and-events/blogs/we-hear-from-men-working-across-social-care-about-why-they-love-their-job