Why do you work in social care

A question I often get asked is why do you work in social care? It's a question I often struggle to answer, not because I don't know why i do, but because it's difficult to explain the drive and motivation, that feeling you get from being part of people's lives, from being given the chance to affect change, it's certainly not the money, those that know me know I have had higher paid jobs, I have had lower paid jobs. I go with what inspires me to make a difference, where can I have the biggest impact?

But this last week or so gave me a real example of why I work in social care, it sums everything up that can't be put into words.............

I have the privilege of working with a person who has been diagnosed with alzheimers vascular dementia, she spent most of her time in her room, isolated and alone. She was labelled as the one who bites and attacks people, don't be alone with her in her room. I was appalled by such labels being given to someone who was obviously scared, confused and anxious at the changes that were happening to her, all whilst being 'medicated' to reduce the behaviour.

I set about making changes, observing team members, monitoring thir interactions, their body language, smells, colours etc. exploring her past alongside relatives, finding out every detail in an attempt to piece together the jigsaw that had become scrambled.

Together we learned, made mistakes, laughed and stamped our feet out of sheer frustration at each other. We made environmental changes, colours in her room, words we used to communicate, sharing facial expressions when words weren't enough, deeper we delved, until we began to understand what was happening.

We discovered a whole new world, together, in partnership......... Slowly we began to understand each other, slowly she began to come out of her room, slowly in her own way, she began to interact with others, slowly the smile on her face began to return, the behaviours growing less and less, until last week when alongside the CPN I decided it was time to withdraw the medication that surpressed some of her 'behaviours'.

This week I saw the most beautiful smile I have ever seen, this week I saw her have physical contact with her daughter which has not happened in over a year.

THAT'S WHY I WORK IN SOCIAL CARE...............................