Carly joined Cygnet in March 2020 in Covid. Her Service then shut down and didn’t re-open until September 2020. Carly joined Cygnet’s North West Supported Living that September, as a Support Worker looking after adults with mental health difficulties. She’d previously worked in Children’s Services but changed to working with Adults, so Cygnet provided a new experience. As a Mum of 3, and with the experience of her eldest daughter having some mental health challenges, she has lived experience of what the mental health journey can be like, and, how best to support people who are experiencing challenging times.
Carly has worked at Cygnet for 2 years as a Support Worker and was promoted to Senior Support Worker in 2022. The role of a Support Worker when compared to a Senior Support Worker differs a great deal. Whilst Carly still has interactions with the Service Users she has also supported our Wigan, Warrington, Preston, and Macclesfield Services. The split is now approximately 40% time spent with Service Users and 60% of her time spent undertaking management responsibilities.
What do you enjoy most about the job?
I like being busy and it never stops! I love interacting with Service Users and Staff – as I travel – some I don’t see every week but when it’s time to meet up, it’s nice to catch up and see what has been happening and what progress has been made. I also like the travel – I go to Wigan say twice a week and Macclesfield perhaps every other week so there’s variety. They’ve usually missed me and have an issue or two to tell me about! It can be incredibly rewarding too – which keeps me motivated during the more challenging times. I had a real success story last April. We had a Service User over from Ireland who had been with Cygnet for 5 years and we moved him into Assisted Living. Within 4 months he had gone on to start a University course! It makes me so happy to see progress like this happen.
How did the senior promotion come about and have you enjoyed it?
I always knew I wanted to move up but I wasn’t very confident. I can put a brave face on but might not feel as confident doing things like support plans. After 2 years in the role, my confidence has grown massively. It grows a little every day and I’ve been supported to gain new skills. I’ve done Safeguarding and I’m a Safeguarding Lead. I’ve done a Medication Assessor qualification so I can help train new starters in medical assessor competencies. Also, Cygnet has paid and supported me to do a Leadership and Management course Level 3 – which is due to finish soon. Outside of the development opportunities I’ve had, the day-to-day job is different now from when I joined as a Support Worker. I see Service Users every week in their homes and make time to see people and check-in. But the majority of my work now is management which in the main, is very rewarding. Jobs cover things like; managing sickness, being on-call for service users, investigations into complaints, interviewing new people, supporting staff, and assessing care & support plans,
