Meet Jack, On Call Support Assistant in Supported Living

Three words to describe me: Class clown, hard working, relaxed.

Before joining I worked for Autism Wessex for 3 years as a support worker, before that I was working in Specsavers!

Day-to-day, On Call is an interesting and varied role. We could be covering a shift in service, assisting staff with medication or taking people to appointments. Our main responsibility is to be a point of contact for the staff working in our services to ask for help, assistance or advice on a situation. This can be helping to give medication through to explaining how an oven works in service. It can be hugely rewarding as we are able to visit most of our services day to day and build a great relationship with the staff and people we support.

One of the biggest challenges I face regularly as a male in this line of work is the care I am able to provide the females we support. Over the years, some of the ladies we support have come to trust me and have now voiced their preference for me to assist them over other staff. Whilst I make sure to always allow female staff to lead, I am now able to help and be a second member of staff where needed, much to the joy of a few ladies we support.

One of my favourite moments was being able to encourage and assist a gentleman we support to spend more time outside his home and be a little more adventurous when out. We ended up being out almost all day every day, walking up the Castleman Trailway, Moors Valley, the seaside and quay, as well as a few parties. This was hugely rewarding for both me and the gentleman I supported.

More recently whilst On Call, the best times are had when we are able to stop at the homes of the people we support, spend some time with them, as well as let the staff get a 5 minute sit down. We help cook, clean and spend time with the people we support and personally, those times are the best times!

I am currently working towards achieving my level 4 in Health and Social Care with Diverse Abilities. This is my main goal at the moment, and it will allow me to progress up to a Team Leader if the time is right. Currently though, I thoroughly enjoy the position I hold and I am looking to continue for a few years to come at least.

For people who have just started or looking to join, the best thing to do is to listen, try to soak up as much information as you can and get stuck in. The staff we have in our services have a great amount of experience and there are detailed care plans for the people we support. Whilst you don’t have to know them by heart, having a good knowledge of these and with help from current staff will help you to really make a difference in these people’s lives.