My Care Journey - Louise O'Neil

• April 11, 2023

Louise O'Neil - S.H.A.P.E Team Lead

Strength-based, holistic, approach/aspirations/assessment, promoting, enablement

My Care Journey

At school, I always dreamed I would work with children, so when I finished and made the move from London to Swindon that's what I did. I completed a childcare course doing several placements in different settings, nothing felt quite right though, I was happy, but I wasn't sure it was something I wanted to do with the rest of my life. What I wanted to do with my career went onto the back burner for the next few years as I got married and had 5 children, 3 of those in less than 2 years! Survival was the goal, and I was lucky enough to be a stay-at-home mum, running my own nursery!

When my youngest was 3 I went back to College and then University, commuting 150 miles a day to my old stomping ground in London to study Occupational therapy, I loved what I was learning, but it wasn't hands-on enough, but it did light a fire in me that we could enable people to remain in their own homes with support from equipment, technology and carers.

I found a job working in care, it was a real eye-opener for me, everybody thinks that you take a job in domiciliary care because you didn't do well at school, but those people are wrong! As a carer you may be the only person someone sees in a day, you are responsible for all aspects of keeping that person safe and alive! You administer medication, prepare meals and drinks, use equipment for transfers, provide all aspects of personal care and through all of that you provide comfort and reassurance, listen to problems, lift people's spirits, give them a laugh. You protect dignity, build confidence, encourage and support independence, enable that person to be treated like a whole person, like they matter - because they do!

I had found my calling! Care is not a job, it is a vocation, you need to want to do it for more than the salary, the hours are long and often lonely, the responsibilities far outweigh the wage, but for me, it is what I am meant to do. I worked hands on for several years before progressing into writing support plans; having that conversation with people to find out what is important to them, what they want to achieve, how we can support them to meet those goals is a privilege and a job I love. I joined First City 6 years ago when the company I worked for went bankrupt and First City rescued us all. I progressed from Support Planner to Senior Support Planner, and now I am the lead for the SHAPE team, the responsibilities are huge, the hours are long, but I am happy and have found my place.

To enable someone to remain in their own home, to live as independently as possible, to be in control of their own care is a privilege not just a job.