Christine trained to be an auxiliary nurse before moving with her family to Spain when she was in her fifties. After spending many happy years abroad, she decided to return to the Fylde Coast and at the age of 70 decided that she wasn’t ready for retirement just yet.

She saw one of our Clifton Homecare branded cars saying “Staff Wanted” and so she got in touch and hasn’t looked back since. She admits she didn’t fully know what a Domiciliary Care Assistant was, but decided to take the plunge at staying active and employed.

Christine’s Social Care Journey

Christine started off shadowing other members of the team and started to enjoy the work that was involved, although she admits it was a little daunting at first getting used to the procedures, but quickly got into the swing of things.

Christine often says that she absolutely loves her job, she love the clients; they are like my friends. She admits that she gets a lot more out of the role than she puts in and it is so rewarding and fulfilling.

Christine has lots of memories of her time working at Clifton Homecare and can’t pinpoint it down to just one but she remembers a time when one of the clients she had a particularly close relationship with sadly passed away. She remembers the support she received from work and the office at Clifton Homecare was so valuable to her at that time.

Strong Client Relationships

Christine’s working pattern is usually 20-25 hours over a week. She says that her clients like familiarity and routine and enjoy getting to know their carers and you should never rush clients when on a care call. She says it feels like the relationships with some of her clients is like a relationship with friends where it doesn’t feel like she’s going to work.

We asked Christine what she enjoyed the most about working at Clifton Homecare and her response was: “I just love my job. I look forward to getting up. It’s more than just a job and I want to go to work each day.”

Christine’s Interests

When she’s not supporting our clients in their homes, Christine enjoys spending time with her family especially her son who lives in Cheshire. She loves her home, reading a good book and walking in the local area

Maria works for Clifton Homecare as a Care Assistant. Maria’s family used to run a Guest House and she was brought up in this environment. She has been a Hairdresser since she was 15 years old and still works, self-employed, as a Hairdresser. She combines her role as a Care Worker with Hairdressing and loves the fact that she has the flexibility to do both.

Maria’s Social Care Journey

Maria joined Clifton Homecare at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with no prior experience of Care, after closing her hair salon. She had thought about a change of career just prior to this and came across an advert for a Care Assistant for Clifton Homecare which emphasized that no prior experience or qualification was needed and on –the job training would be provided.

This appealed to Maria, who is a hands on person, and she started working with is in March 2020. She describes it as “the best thing that could have happened to me at the time!” despite never having done a role like it.

The Value Of Working In A Caring Profession

At the time, Maria’s Mum sadly started her End of Life journey yet the social Care knowledge and experience Maria gained through her role became invaluable and she was able to support her Mum and family through this sad time. Working in Care has also helped equip her with the skills and knowledge to be able to better support her Dad, who lives with Dementia.

Maria says she has a real passion for caring and she admits that getting a job in Social Care was life changing for her. She loves to help and make a difference to others and working to support our clients to help keep them safe at home throughout the recent Pandemic felt so rewarding as she felt she was helping others aswell as her own family.

Maria started off working full time hours at Clifton Homecare and loved every part of her job. When her Mum sadly passed away, Maria took some time away from work to spend time with her Dad and family, but knew she didn’t want to leave the role completely. Although she handed her notice in, she started to really miss her job and so asked if she could still work but on reduced hours. Maria returned to work when she felt ready and gradually started to increase her working hours up to 20 a week, which is currently Marias’s working pattern. This also means that she can still combine her hairdressing work when she required.

Supporting Clients

During the time Maria has worked at Clifton Homecare, she has many special memories of spending time with clients. She built a close relationship with Doreen and Norman who ran a Guest House business, similar to her own Mum and Dad and they shared the same strong family traditions. Their common love of food and drink meant that Maria often used to cook for them and her Italian heritage meant that pasta and wine was often on the menu! She felt like she was caring for her own Grandparents and they had a strong rapport. When Norman sadly passed away, Maria was devastated and she felt like she had lost her own Grandad. Maria loves the fact though that she still provides support to Doreen and their relationship has grown in different ways.

Working In Social Care

Maria’s advice to someone who has worked in other sectors but may be considering a switch to working in Social Care is to definitely give it a go. Once you start to shadow other staff members and see the type of work that is involved, you can see how very rewarding the role of a Care Assistant can be.

You have the flexibility of fitting work into your own life circumstances and she likes the fact that there are plenty of opportunities for improving knowledge through training and also career progression if so required. She has found the support at Clifton Homecare to be invaluable and knows that whenever she has any problems she just needs to ask for help. What also helps is the staff are always sharing advice, experience and best practice through a group WhatsApp group.

Maria’s Interests

Outside of work, Maria enjoys taking her dogs for walks in Stanley Park or along the seafront. She often takes her Dad out to the pub or for lunch or a coffee to Poulton-le-Fylde or Scorton. Her grown up children enjoy seeing that Maria is happy in her job as they know she loves making a difference to others.