Meet Charlotte

Residential Social Care Worker, Nottingham City

I have worked for the council for over 25 years. First, I worked within school as a Special Needs Nursery Nurse. I then decided to do volunteer work at the short breaks service. I did this for 1 year before I then applied for a post as a relief worker for the residential children’s homes within Nottingham City. I was given the opportunity to work in a few of the residential homes but found my love and passion working with young people with disabilities at the council’s short breaks residential home.

I continued to do relief work there alongside my full-time post and did this for many years, eventually giving up my Teaching assistant post and working at the Residential Short Breaks Unit on a permanent contract. 

What I love about my job 

I work with the most vulnerable children within Nottingham City. Our young people have a wide range of disabilities, medical needs and behaviours that challenge; no one day is the same, and it never gets boring. I have developed such a wide range of skills through this post, and I do not believe another place of work could offer such a development in my own personal knowledge and practice. I am still learning lots to this day. Shift work worked well for me, especially when I had a young family, as I was around in the morning or evening to be with my own children, and working every other weekend also meant I had days off in the week which helped with my childcare. We also receive a good package for annual leave and have a great pension scheme. If you want to progress into more senior roles, that opportunity is also available.  

My job can be extremely rewarding, building up positive relationships with our young people and working together with their families. I also get to work alongside many other agencies, setting in place positive plans and interventions to make homes function well to prevent the breakdown of families. What is lovely is hearing from our families telling us they had a chance to recharge their batteries whilst their child had a short break at our residential home or that they were able to spend some quality time with a child’s sibling or go out for a relaxing meal. Observing the young people and seeing the changes in them as they become more independent and develop all-round skills to help them in life is utterly amazing.