What Makes A Good Care Assistant?
Care work can give so much back to those that pursue it as a career, but it’s a step that should be taken with the right consideration.
You should start by asking yourself why you want to work in care.
It could be for the rewarding career, to see the difference you can make, to develop life skills or for its flexibility. It might be you enjoy working with people, want variety in your day-to-day, or you simply know you could do well in it.
You might understand the need for care, have some first-hand experience of it, or perhaps have never considered it as a viable career path.
There’s no prescriptive background for what creates a good care worker. It’s something we’re often asked - whether you can ever really teach someone to care.
The reality is that you can’t force something as natural as care. You’ll already have the qualities that make you a great carer in you.
Our role is to provide you with the best training to care professionally and enable you with the support and means to do so.
You don’t need a catalogue of experience behind you to move into qualified care work but certain characteristics will stand you in good stead.
Understanding
Having empathy for people and the ability to understand their situation, needs and feelings, will allow you to better care for people in the way they desire.
Knowing why care is needed and what you mean to those you’re caring for really matters.
Communication
It’s more than sharing a cup of tea with someone. It’s the companionship you can deliver through that and what your conversation can bring to people’s lives.
Communication is not always straightforward for those with physical and mental difficulties. The right communication can build a bridge back to comfort and independence.
Commitment
A care worker can be a lifeline to someone in need. It’s why consistency, routine and reliability are so critical. When someone’s quality of life and independence relies on your support, you need to put them and their care first.
Strength
Care work can be challenging, it can be difficult and at times it can be deeply emotional. As an anchor of support to someone, you need to have the strength to put their care first.
It’s why having the right provider to support you and the carers is so important. Care is best delivered when the caregivers are fully supported, happy and enabled.
You Care
At its heart, it’s about human relationships and ultimately you need the ability to connect with someone on a personal level in an often difficult situation.
We encounter a lot of care workers with previous experience of administering care within their family, whether it’s younger siblings, older relatives or the special needs of a family member.
There really is no substitute for life experience and care work is a career that will equip you in turn with an abundance of that.
