Rachel’s journey to Therapy Lead!
Rachel is our dedicated Therapy Lead at John Cabot House, our Headway accredited brain injury rehabilitation service in Bristol. Starting in 2018 when she was just 19 years old, Rachel found her passion in caring for people and changing their lives from the moment she joined us.
As a Therapy Lead, Rachel manages all aspects of therapies for the people we support. Her daily duties include setting goals with the people we support, sourcing opportunities for them to access the community and engage in activities, as well as reviewing rehabilitation and adapting care plans in line with their changing needs.
Rachel joined us as a Support Worker and had no previous experience supporting people with brain injuries. Instead, it was Rachel’s passion for caring for people and her natural kindness that has allowed her to thrive at John Cabot House and with the support of her team and expert training, she quickly worked her way up to Therapy Lead.
Growing up as a young carer
From a young age, Rachel became familiar with many reasons why someone might need additional support. All her siblings have autism, so she grew up as a carer for many members of her family. When she started school, she would have regular meetings with staff about different aspects of care, and she always looked out for her siblings, tailoring her daily life to suit their needs and preferences. This gave Rachel detailed insight into what it’s like to care for people with complex needs.
Finding her passion
While at school, Rachel completed work experience in an elderly care home. Even though Rachel was used to caring for others, this avenue of care wasn’t for her. Not making plans to work in care after she finished school, Rachel went on to study hairdressing at college.
But hairdressing didn’t fulfil Rachel, and she knew she was destined for more. Seeing first-hand the difference her support made to her sibling’s lives, care had become a big passion for her.
When Rachel graduated college, she began her job search, and came across a Support Worker role at John Cabot House. The role was caring for people with autism and brain injuries and, even though she lacked experience in brain injury support, she was confident in her knowledge of autism. Rachel took a punt and applied.
During her interview, she learnt John Cabot House was more tailored to brain injury rehabilitation and suddenly felt daunted, unsure she was cut out for the role. But after finding out she was successful, Rachel decided to go for it, and it instantly sparked her passion!
The path to progression!
After beginning her new role as a Support Worker, Rachel began to take the people we support into the community and sat in on some therapy sessions. She realised this was exactly what she wanted to do and started carving a path to get more involved with this aspect of their rehab! Eventually, Rachel began leading shifts and found she enjoyed the organisation and management side of the role too.
When a Therapy Lead position came up, Rachel applied and was successful in getting the role! Rachel had background knowledge of physiotherapy as she studied it at school which gave her useful insight into how different therapies can help people. As part of her role, she now works with therapists to tailor different individual’s care plan to their own needs.
Whilst working at John Cabot House, her nan suffered a brain injury. During this awful time, Rachel was thankful for her knowledge and experience that she had gained from working with Voyage Care, as it allowed her to help her beloved nan – something she wouldn’t have known how to do before joining John Cabot House.
Training with Voyage Care
At Voyage Care, there are many training opportunities for our support teams, providing them with essential knowledge and skills to care for the people we support and grow their careers.
While at John Cabot House, Rachel has experienced this support first-hand, having studied external courses funded by Voyage Care on Oplex Careers, including Occupational Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Physiotherapy, and Speech and Language Therapy.
Rachel has also completed her NVQ Level 2 Diploma in Health and Social Care and is currently enrolled in a Level 4 Leadership Management Diploma! This is testament to our values here at Voyage Care, because as well as providing great quality care and support that helps individuals reach their goals, we want our teams to succeed and achieve their goals too.
Learning from the people we support
As well as the training she’s received at Voyage Care, Rachel’s also learned a lot from the people we support. She started working at John Cabot House when she was just 19 years old and found it daunting caring for people older than her. However, Rachel didn’t let this deter her passion and found the life of experience of the people we support to be beneficial to her.
Rachel’s learnt valuable life skills while working at John Cabot House – she’s even learnt how to cook while supporting people to relearn this skill for themselves! Not only that, she’s tried countless new activities with the people we support – things she wouldn’t have tried at all.
The biggest things Rachel has learnt though, is to have patience, appreciate life, and no matter what circumstances we might find ourselves in, to find the positives because there are so many.
Working in the care sector is all about enhancing the quality of someone else’s life, and Rachel is a perfect example of how the people we support can enhance yours too!
Learn more about our roles!
We have a range of career opportunities across the UK. If you are interested in joining Voyage Care and enhancing the lives of others, view our latest vacancies and start your next best decision today!