Support worker Review

I am a support worker looking after children with challenging behaviour. I support them both in their homes and I also support the teaching staff when they are in school. I also provide care and help them with personal care. I also support transitions for when they go home or when they access the community.

I have learnt about dealing with difficult behaviours and how to settle the children after they have had incidents. I have also learnt about medication and I administer medication everyday. I have learnt sign language through the makaton sign language, so I can communicate with some of the children who are non verbal.

I am enjoying the programme as I am learning about the different aspects of social care. I am of the older generation and this is the first type of qualification I have studied since I left school in the mid eighties. I am enjoying the challenge and when I finish the programme, I will get the qualification and all the hard work will be worth it.

The programme is well structured and the assessor is always there if you need any extra support. We are always provided with all the relevant PowerPoints and any extra materials that we need to complete the units that we are currently studying. The face to face sessions are good as I am able to ask for any extra support that I need.

The support from my employer is good, I get training days every three weeks and during the COVID crisis they make sure that if we need to take time away from the house that I am working on to attend a zoom call, they make sure there is extra staffing in place.

The training provider is good, they are always there for when you need extra support so that you are able to continue with the unit you are on. They also give you all the relevant supporting documents that you will need so that you can reference your work in the unit you are doing.

It makes me approach my job in a different way as you are gaining extra knowledge and I can put this into practice during my working day. It also gives me knowledge that I may not have known before, and I feel I am able to support the children to the best of my ability.

The only activities that I can get involved in are when I am able to support the children when they access the community. When we are able, we take them swimming, going to the safari park. In the summer we even take them to the seaside, we do anything that we think will help them in their day to day lives.

Yes

It’s a great way to get and achieve valuable qualifications that are transferable throughout the care sector. They also help you to gain your English and maths skills and this is good because if you left school a long time ago you may not have your certificates, but with aspiration training you are given the ability to gain them again.

Even if you think you are too old to gain new knowledge and qualifications, let me say that this is the way I felt before started the training. I am now half way through the course and I am feeling so proud of myself just knowing that I am not too old to do anything if I put my mind to it.