This work has given me an inner strength.

I’ve seen attitudes towards people with learning disabilities change in the wider community. There’s less fear and more embracement. There’s a better understanding of people’s rights. I think Southdown has probably played quite a role in that.

I’m a Service Manager of a Supported Living service with six clients who have  learning disabilities, some of whom also have physical disabilities.

I’ve always been passionate about equality, fairness, and everyone having the same opportunities and rights. My grandad was a socialist and my nan was a nurse.

I’ve been a Service Manager for twelve years. I initially fell into support work. I started twenty years ago where I worked as a Support Worker to a person with a brain injury and then moved on to the RNIB.

When I moved to Hove, I instantly knew Southdown was the right employer. Its support is person-centred, non-judgemental, and empowering. Southdown’s values have made me stay here.

I became a Service Manager because I wanted to test myself. I wanted to use the skills and knowledge I’d acquired, with the increased responsibility and opportunity to shape the service vision of full lives, family involvement, and a confident team.

Being a Service Manager is fulfilling and busy. There are lots of opportunities to learn through experience, training, and interactions with other managers. I feel really well supported.

Being approachable, transparent, and reflective is important to me as a leader. A key part of the job is making sure you have good connections with lots of different professionals and being persistent because we’re advocating for our clients.

I think building good relationships is fundamental to a successful service. It’s vital that everyone in the team feels listened to, valued, and supported. I think that’s how you get the best out of people. As a manager, you need to bring people along with you and you do that by recognising their strengths, listening to their ideas, and bringing out their skills.

I’ve been supporting my team to build their self-esteem and skills by taking the time to talk to them about anything they might find challenging and finding supportive solutions with them. It’s been working really well and I’ve seen colleagues feel good about these changes.

Support Workers care passionately. They don’t always realise how impactful they are because they’ve been doing it for years. Even if the service is busy, I like to take a moment to praise my team and be specific about their achievements.

I work closely with my management team. It really helps with consistency of care and gives us the chance to reflect on things that our colleagues might be feeling anxious or confused about. I like to be responsive.

I work by the principle ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’. We’re all part of the same team and it’s important to me that the people we support live in a calm service where they feel listened to, are treated fairly, and everyone is respectful. They are at the centre of everything we do.

We focus on how we can improve their quality of life. It’s what we’re here for. We invest time in getting to know what motivates them, how they like to communicate, where they need support, and what their strengths are.

We bring in best practice ideas from Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) and physiotherapists and talk to families about their observations and how they feel we can make things better. We are always learning about how the people we support communicate and for those who have non-verbal communication, we use the happiness tool to help us recognise and record signs of happiness.

The people we support sometimes have really low self-esteem. Often, they’ve not had as much autonomy in their lives, and their behaviour might have been criticised in the past and not managed in a positive way. Some might be living with trauma from previous relationships or former care settings. At Southdown, we listen to what they want from life and I encourage the team to be passionate about finding ways to expand clients’ lives and experiences.

We focus on supporting clients to express what they want. My really proud moments are when the team comes together to help achieve something for a client that brings them lots of pleasure. Recently, one of our clients has been taking part in client involvement activities and attended the My Life person-centred planning tool launch day for senior colleagues. He’ll also be coming to our service Quality Day and wants to buy a suit for it! He has showcased what’s possible for people who communicate non-verbally. Stories like this are so motivational for our team.

Success for me is knowing that the people we support are as happy and as healthy as they can be, and that we’re able to communicate well with one another. It’s also having a team that feels happy and motivated and likes coming to work where there are good systems in place that ensure compliance. It’s all part of making sure clients are happy and safe.

This work has given me an inner strength. I’ve realised that I’m a strong person, even though I’m quite calm. I can hang in there, be persistent, and really advocate for people.”