This article is sponsored by North Yorkshire County Council.
Some workers leave the care sector for jobs in retail, but Alex Slade has taken the opposite route and is riding high with a successful and satisfying career in North Yorkshire.
In addition to her work helping those who have been in hospital to live back in the community, Alex has a day each week studying for her Level Three qualification in Health and Social Care, which will help her career progress.
In the meantime, however, Alex, 29, enjoys her role with the County Council’s north Harrogate reablement team because of the positive impact she can have on people’s lives. She said:
“In this team you see people progress and sometimes they can go on to not need care.
“It is lovely to help people become independent again and I find it very rewarding.”
The job can involve, quite literally, getting people back on their feet after a fall, or learning to look after themselves again after a stay in hospital.
She had spent five years working as a one-to-one carer before moving to the re-ablement team, a switch which allowed her to get to know a wider spectrum of people.
It is a very different world from the early years of her career, working in a burger bar at 16 before moving on to shops.
Although Alex finds her main work rewarding, she has a broad sphere of responsibilities, including spending time as an Independence Co-ordinator, conducting assessments to work out the type of help – such as specialist equipment – clients may need.
She also acts as the team’s ‘champion’ for both medication and recycling – working with GPs and their patients to prevent unintended stockpiling of medicines, which could be harmful in some cases, while also encouraging people to recycle waste when her visits are taking place – helping them make a positive contribution to society despite the restrictions they may face.
Alex’s spread of responsibilities, coupled with working towards a higher qualification, reflect the career development encouraged by North Yorkshire’s senior staff. She said:
“My team manager always wants us to be our best-selves and encourages us to do more.”
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