What is support work?
Support work is usually defined as supporting people who need care to live their life as independently as they can.
But talk to any Support Worker and they’ll tell you that while that’s true, there’s far more to the role than this definition suggests.
We support learning disabled and autistic adults with varying needs. Our Support Workers take a person-centred approach. This means we focus on understanding each of the people we support.
We learn how they like to communicate, what motivates them, what frustrates them and what they want to achieve. This takes time and patience, but when a Support Worker has the answers to these questions, the impact they can have is huge.
Of course, working in social care is unlike most other jobs, and supporting vulnerable adults comes with a few considerations.
What does support work involve?
Managing behaviour
Learning disabled people can sometimes display unpredictable behaviour, or behaviour that can be challenging to support. Often this is because of a communication breakdown. The person displaying challenging behaviour wants or feels they need something, but this is not being recognised by those around them. Sometimes it’s way of expressing control. Either way, the job of a Support Worker is to work to understand the underlying causes of the behaviour so they can better support the person showing it.
For this reason, having the ability to listen and communicate well are both valuable skills for a Support Worker to master, and patience is considered a virtue.
Shift work
Supporting learning disabled people is a 24-hour job. Support Workers often work to a shift pattern that will include evenings, weekends and sleep-ins. It can be a physical job too, including bathing, toileting and dressing the people we support who may find it more difficult to manage these tasks themselves.
Responsibility
Support work involves a high level of responsibility. You’ll receive comprehensive induction training and will need to follow Hft’s Operational Standards. These are designed to tell staff what they must consider and do to provide support that is person–centred, protects each person’s rights and meets the legal and regulatory requirements.
These cover a wide range of topics, from supporting people with their medicines, or money and benefits, to safeguarding and how to recognise abuse. They are written with support workers in mind. What you must know and do, and where you can go for further information or advice, is always clear. They also include best practice. This means the ways of working that will give the best outcomes for the people you support.
You must keep the person you support at the centre of everything you do. And make sure their choices and wishes are always put first.
Can I apply?
In most cases, if you’re aged 16 or over, you can apply to work as a Support Worker. Since you’ll be supporting vulnerable people, you will need to go through an enhanced disclosure check against the Disclosure and Barring service. But having a criminal conviction won’t necessarily exclude you from a career in social care.
If you believe in treating people with dignity and respect and empowering people to make their own choices, we’d like to hear from you. A career as a Hft Support Worker might be just around the corner.
Take a look through our vacancies now, and make the first move towards a new career with Hft today.