With three decades of experience in the health and social care sector, Angela discovered her passion in Adult Social Care 19 years ago. She made the decision to transition from her nursing career to embrace a role in this field and has held various positions before recently taking on a new role as Head of Operations at ‘withYOU’.
“My career journey began as Nurse, which I decided to leave back in 2004 and retrain in adult social care which I found to better algin with my interests. I started out this pathway working as a day centre officer and have since progressed through a variety of roles.
“I have a real passion for social justice and supporting people to be able to achieve whatever they want in life, taking the required steps to reach these dreams. I value being able to give everyone the same opportunity, regardless of where they are in life.
“I believe that vocational qualifications are imperative for a career in adult social care, alongside studying for a HNC so that you can gain a theoretical knowledge. When I embarked on a HNC and SVQ 3, I gained an understanding of helpful theories that impacted the way that I worked and there’s a host of opportunities for on-the-job learning as you progress your career.
“Alongside having knowledge and qualifications, to work in adult social care you must have very good values and morals. It is crucial to be non-judgmental and non-discriminative, not just in work but in your everyday life – this is key.
“The biggest myth in this industry is that you are solely responsible for supporting people with personal care and challenging individuals. This is important but only a small factor of the role as there are many other factors that people do not realise. It is about being able to support people to do whatever they choose, which can involve going on holiday, taking them to football, and many more fun aspects. I believe there are more positives than negatives when working in adult social care, which I wish a lot of people knew.
“In the 30 years I have worked in the industry there has been a lot of changes but if there’s one key thing I’d like for people to understand, it’s how great this career is, and how rewarding it can be on a day-to-day basis”.
Angela’s advice to people looking to apply for an adult social care position:
“My advice to anyone considering a role in adult social care is to get a great foundation of knowledge through studying and gaining qualifications and go for it! Within this career, you need to be able to advocate for the people that you support, which you develop through learning and building confidence. I believe that knowledge is power, so I would recommend that you are open to learning throughout your career as this will make you a great practitioner.
“I wish that I could give my younger self advice to not feel pressurised into choosing a career at 16 and learn about myself and the world before settling on a career path. I knew that I wanted to work in the healthcare sector, however, did not know that this was in adult social care rather than nursing”.
