A Day in the Life of a Team Leader

Learning Disabilities

‘……working in a care home is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get’

“I guess if you are reading this you are probably wondering what it is like to be a support worker, helping individuals with learning disabilities.

So where to start….If you are on an early shift it’s a 7am start and that’s because unlike you and I, the people we are helping often can’t do anything for themselves, i.e. they need support with personal care, eating, drinking, and mobility and so on. That’s the thing about caring for vulnerable adults, straight away it makes you really appreciate how lucky you are.

Every day is different due to our service user’s level of support, admissions and discharges from respite and issues that may occur. Most of the people that use our respite service have different needs, some require a lot of support, others just need minimal support and some only need prompting and supervision.

As a team leader I need to prioritise the needs of each service user and utilise every member of staff’s time to ensure all our service user’s needs are met.

As well as supporting service users there are also other tasks to be done such as attending reviews for key clients and supporting service users to access the community. We also support service users with activities, update care plans and support service users in residential bungalows.

I’m not going to sugar-coat it, caring is hard work but when it comes to it you are doing a worthwhile and satisfying job. There are not many jobs that can hold a candle to being a carer.

You have to have a big heart and you have to want to make a difference to the lives of the people you are caring for. I can show you the right way to do something and I can teach you what you need to know, but you have to care and I mean really care. Is this you?”