Hi my name is Philippa and I am one of three of the evening/weekend support workers at Rothesay Court. I have worked at Rothesay court for 18 months now and no two days have ever been the same!
Our shifts vary from 6 hours in the evening (Monday to Friday) to 13 hour shifts on Saturdays and Sundays, which sound long but we are always busy.
We spend a lot of our time lone working at the weekend, but work closely with the day and night staff to ensure the wellbeing and safety of the families and the building.
A support worker is literally just what it says. We support the residents of Rothesay court; this could mean having a quick chat with a familiar face to sitting with pregnant mums while they are in labour.
It is our job to welcome new residents when they first arrive at the centre and complete the needed paperwork and housing benefits.
Throughout a resident’s stay at Rothesay Court we complete lots of different type of work with the families from parenting skills, routines, money management and supporting new parents with their new born babies. When a family is ready to move on, we also complete resettlement work to ensure that each family is prepared and confident to move into their own property. All this work is allocated to us by the resident’s key worker and is tailored to what each family needs at that time.
Somewhere between all that, we also help families seek medical advice if it’s needed for themselves or their child – this can be through phoning 111 or using NHS Direct (online).
We run groups and resident’s meetings through the week and at the weekends to try and encourage the families that live here to spend time together and allow their children to play together. Groups could be as simple as an hour of crafts on a Saturday but around Christmas we do lots of activities with the families and do party food and games on Christmas day.
Although this role can be very tough some days (…and super emotional) it is worth it to see families who come in due to so many different circumstances, move on to their own home with new skills and as a stronger, happier family unit.