Meet Emily, Short Breaks Supervisor

I would describe myself as passionate, friendly and reliable.

I came to Diverse Abilities just before my 3rd year of uni, studying Psychology with Counselling with the hopes to have a job supporting children with additional needs and a passion for understanding Autism and Speech and Language. I had no experience working in the role! I was a member of short breaks crew for 2 years from July 2022 - June 2024 before being hired as a supervisor.

My day-to-day role can look different depending on whether we are in the school holidays, or a term time weekend session. But as a supervisor I always come in, set up the session with the short breaks crew, or arrive at the venue if we are out and about in the community. I then brief the staff, talk them through the children they will be supporting and the plan for the day. During the session I make sure everyone is enjoying themselves, they are safe and help with any challenges we may face. At the end, I debrief staff to make sure everyone has had a productive shift.

My biggest challenge has probably been learning to drive! Diverse Abilities hired me as a supervisor and I said I would learn to drive to help with transporting staff to sessions and being able to supervise sessions in the community that were outside of BCP. I had a lot of anxiety around driving and it took me nearly 18 months, but I passed this April!

I honestly don’t know if I can pick one favourite memory, I have had the absolute privilege of supporting so many wonderful families. During my first summer as supervisor, I ran my first Coping with Chaos session at Blandford Leisure Centre and Laser Guys. This day always sticks in my head because it went exceptionally well despite me being so nervous, I cried tears of joy from how happy all the children were at the end of the day. I will never forget how supported my transition from crew to supervisor has been.

I have just started a job as a Speech and Language Therapy Assistant in a mainstream SLCN base and I aspire to continue learning and enjoying my SALT work. But I don’t see myself leaving Diverse Abilities and I hope to one day be able to work for Short Breaks full time too.

My main piece of advice would definitely be to just be silly! Don’t worry about how daft you think you look, the more stuck in you get to interacting with our children, making them laugh and enjoying their interests, the better support we provide them and our Parents and Carers are the most grateful for those who get completely involved.