How long have you been in your job and what did you do before?
I’ve worked in the Substance Misuse Team for 5 and a half years.
Through studying for my Social Work degree course and some other Social Work roles prior to working for RCT Council, I’ve been involved in this area for around 10 years. Within RCT, I started off as an Agency Social Worker, then had a temporary position before being made permanent.
Initially, volunteering with younger people in my local community got me interested in “helping” others which then led to me working full time in a Residential School for children with severe Autistic Spectrum Disorder. This was the bedrock of my learning and how to support vulnerable people in a professional capacity.
What does your job involve and what is a typical day like?
My job is vary varied, typically moving between visiting people (face-to-face), in their own homes, hospital, care home, rehab centres, etc. or speaking on the telephone, assessments, meetings with other professionals as well as completing work on the PC. I spend a fair amount of time travelling all over RCT.
What’s the best thing/s about your job?
Building relationships with service users and seeing progress, sometimes over many years.
What positives have you experienced in your career with RCT Council?
Since starting with the team, I have been greatly encouraged to pursue my own learning interests around Substance Misuse. This in turn has allowed me to build confidence where I can now deliver specialist training to other Social Workers and professionals.
What is the best thing about working for RCT Council?
There are always opportunities for development. Also, people generally stay in their roles and you can build support networks.
What would you say to someone thinking of applying for a job in social care at RCT Council?
It can be a challenging environment at times, with other professionals and service users and you must have some resilience but overall, social care is a very emotionally rewarding career.
The Substance Misuse Social Work Team is quite unique in my view. We always provide authentic support to service users and all of my colleagues regularly carry out tasks “above and beyond”. You certainly have to have a creative mind set and a solution focused approach.