Julie’s rewarding career in care!
Meet Julie. She’s a Senior Support Worker at Northfield House, one of our specialist autism residential care homes in Somerset. Driven by an interest in care and wanting to help others, Julie’s career began at the tender age of 18, taking her on a journey through various roles, before finding her place at Voyage Care.
Starting her career in care
Having an early interest in care, Julie enrolled at college to study Residential Care, before securing her first job as a Support Worker at a local care home. She found great fulfilment in helping vulnerable people, however her curiosity led her to explore other opportunities and she took on a new challenge working in a restaurant, eventually managing it.
Although she enjoyed this experience, she missed the fulfilment of working in care. She found herself another Support Worker role, this time at a larger care home. Regaining that passion she’d missed, Julie then received devastating news that the care home would be closing. But all was not lost, as this paved way for Julie to begin her Voyage Care journey!
Julie’s Voyage Care journey
Julie joined Northfield House as a Support Worker, an environment she’d soon fall in love with, creating lasting memories with the people we support.
Julie was motivated to progress, and her dedication and hard work didn’t go unnoticed. When the opportunity became available, she applied for a Senior Support Worker position at Northfield House and was delighted to be offered the role. This was a special moment for Julie, and her varied work experience equipped her with the valuable knowledge and skills to take that next step.
In her new role, Julie has many key responsibilities. These include managing the people we support’s medication, organising their activities on-site and out in the community, and ensuring her ever growing list of paperwork is up to date.
Passion for person-centred care
One of Julie’s biggest passions is delivering person centred care, putting the people she supports at the heart of everything. She gets so much fulfilment seeing them do the things they love, and working to goals they’ve set.
At Northfield House, each person we support has a bespoke support plan, tailored to their needs, preferences, and interests. Julie and the team empower them to make their own decisions about their care and how they want to live their lives. With Julie and the team’s support, they choose what activities they want to do, what meals they would like to eat, and how they’d like their day to be structured.
Julie loves to get out and about and see the people we support enjoying themselves! She especially likes accompanying them on amazing days out. She’s even supported them to go on lots of exciting holidays, visiting sunny spots like Spain and Portugal!
A job that’s so rewarding
For Julie, the most rewarding part of her job in seeing the massive difference she’s making to the lives of vulnerable people. Watching them have fun, smile, and visit places they enjoy makes it the best job in the world.
Even on the challenging days, the positives always outweigh the negatives, and everyone at Northfield House pulls together as one team, offering compassion, kindness, and words of encouragement when times are tough.
Thriving on teamwork, Julie is a big advocate of the supportive, nurturing culture at Voyage Care. Together, the people we support and her teammates have become an extended family.
Julie takes pride in seeing the people we support at Northfield House grow their independence and become active members of their local community. She loves spending time with them, getting stuck into activities, and supporting them to accomplish amazing things!
Going on public transport for the first time and gaining the confidence and independence to take part in work placements are just some of the accomplishments Julie has helped support.
Supporting Julie’s progression
At Voyage Care, we offer lots of different avenues for training and progression. We specially train our teams, so they are empowered with the knowledge and insights to support the various and complex needs of vulnerable people. We empower them to learn essential skills, so they provide amazing care for the people we support, while also taking steps to progress their careers.
Julie has experienced this first hand during her time at Voyage Care. We’ve supported her to achieve her NVQ Level 2 in health and social care, and she’s received extensive training in a range of specialist areas such as first aid, nutrition, and autism support.
Always keen to learn, this has helped Julie develop in her role and discover new skills and passions.
Start your own Voyage Care story
Inspired by Julie’s story? If you want to help change the lives of vulnerable people, view our current vacancies and start your own journey today!