Read: Liam’s story

New-found happiness in support work

Liam joined Autism Care, part of the Lifeways Group, in 2009. Before this he worked as a service receptionist for a car dealership which involved invoicing, finding out what was wrong with peoples’ cars, chasing payments and dealing with customers.

“My job was mundane, the same thing day in day out. Often dealing with customers who were annoyed, frustrated and abusive. I remember thinking there must be something more to life than this”, Liam remembers. “My sister-in-law and mother-in-law both worked in care and I heard them talking about their days and thought - I want to feel like that. I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives and feel that passionate about my job.”

Liam saw an advert for a support worker position in Rotherham and applied. “I haven’t looked back since. I absolutely love this job, it’s become a way of life! My family life is really important to me, I’m married and have two young girls. Being a support worker means I get the best of both worlds, it enables me to have a balanced work and family life.

Lifeways provides so much training like manual handling, risk assessments, fire safety, nutrition, medication, restraint training, first aid and so much more. It makes a huge difference being properly trained. Not only are you given the opportunity to learn new things, but the knowledge has really boosted my confidence. That confidence gave me the drive to apply for a team leader position when one became available at the service. I have received incredible encouragement from my managers throughout my career here. They really inspired me to stretch myself and have provided invaluable advice and mentoring so that I am now looking to advance within Lifeways Group. I am on secondment at the moment as a support manager and I am really enjoying it and we’ll see where that leads.”

We asked Liam what advice he had to anyone who was thinking of getting into support work and he said: “If you can make the leap into care, take a chance and do it! The rewards are incredible, helping people to lead an independent life is the most empowering thing I have ever done. Creating that bond with someone is just incredible. You work so closely with people that you become like family.”

The role of a support worker