“You have to see it through their eyes rather than your own”
For Sally McArdle, working with people was always something that just felt right. While she first started off her work life as a hairdresser, she was always doing youth work alongside it, both roles in their own way showing her what it feels like to help people – and she liked that.
It was then she decided to sit down with her friend and try to come up with a long-term career goal for her future as hairdressing was not it, and they realised the social care profession would be perfect for Sally.
After initially working in Outdoor Pursuits for the YMCA in Newcastle, Sally who is from Antrim, had the opportunity to take a job in England, working in a children’s home.
“While I was over there, I absolutely loved it. When I came home, I registered to study health and social care straight away”, Sally explained.
During her health and social care course, Sally successfully applied for a part-time job at Extern, an organisation which supports people who are struggling with issues like homelessness or mental health issues, where she worked in a respite unit with children for up to 12 weeks in relation to family issues and behaviours.
Sally stayed there for four years, but when the opportunity arose for a job with the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust in a children’s home, she knew it was perfect for her.
“I had such a love for it,” Sally said. “You want the best for everyone. I loved working with the young people. I built strong relationships staff; they were genuinely there to help the young people.”
While it was an extremely rewarding experience, the job comes with a lot of challenging responsibilities.
Sally explained: “It was hard seeing how vulnerable the young people were. When you see the risks they face, which was a lot to deal with, you rely on your team to reflect and support each other – so the young person gets the best possible care and support. I always wanted the best for everyone I work with. You have to treat them how you would treat your own children.
“However, you have to detach yourself from your work when you go home, it becomes so easy to get absorbed into it all, but you can only do so much.
“It isn’t one person’s responsibility, it’s everyone on the team’s responsibility, so you have to make sure you do not put too much pressure on yourself.”
Speaking about her day-to-day role at the children’s home, the Antrim-based social care worker said: “You work alongside a team of social workers. You attend meetings, write reports, plan daily activities, and in general, support the young people. You take on a type of parental role and mentor them.”
Memories that stick with Sally from her time at the children’s home are the smaller things which made a big impact on the young people there.
She said: “Christmas became special. Some of the young people had never celebrated a Christmas properly before, so hanging decorations, watching a Christmas movie or playing games, involving the young people in preparing food, trying to make positive memories, became a memorable and beautiful time.”
After 13 years in that role, Sally made the decision to take a different role with the Belfast Trust at Willow Lodge, a respite unit for children with autism and learning disabilities.
This was a completely different type of role compared to her previous one.
“I went from working with children who knew exactly what they did and didn’t want for themselves and had no issues with verbalising it, to working for children who may not have been able to communicate in the same way,” Sally explained.
“Learning how to connect with someone, and understand what they need by their eyes and body language was a completely different approach. They were so dependent on us. It was a beautiful and rewarding experience to get to provide them with support and see them flourish.”
Her time spent there made Sally realise just how much can be missed when it came to representing autism in the mainstream care, though she can see things are changing, as nowadays it has become a better understood issue.
Sally then progressed her career again by moving to work with parents and children on the edge of care, when she took a role in Parent and Adolescent Community Support Services (PACCS), again with the Belfast Trust.
Here, she would work alongside families and help parents develop skills to deal with certain challenging situations that may arise in their family life, helping prevent their children from having to go into care.
She stayed there for three years before moving to her current job as a Community Access Worker, working with adults with learning difficulties, last November.
Speaking about her current job Sally explained: “I work with adults to help them progress to accessing day care services. They could be at home, not engaging in anything socially, and it’s my job to work alongside a social worker during their assessments and review direct payments for their day care services.”
Having had experience in all different areas of social care, Sally has found her current position her most fulfilling one yet.
“It’s such a wonderful job. Some of the clients are just lovely, and it is amazing to support them to progress in their lives,” she said.
“One of the girls I worked with at the start wasn’t engaged in anything, and she didn’t have friends or a social life. We have been able to help her build her confidence when interacting with others and transport her to and from a day service and have seen such a big difference in her personality. She has met friends, and she’s even going out socially now. It’s amazing to see.”
The other benefits to Sally’s current position is the working hours. As it is a 9-5 job working within a multidisciplinary team of nurses, social workers and occupational health, ensuring she is never on her own making decisions or supporting a person – they all work together.
She explained: “You need to be an open-minded person, and you need to have a good personality. Bringing yourself to create an equal relationship level with others is very important. Everyone has to be treated with respect.
“When supporting someone, it’s not about trying to tick a box as quickly as possible, it might take six months or it might take a week, but it is so important to make sure you move at their pace.”
Speaking about the importance of social care, and the misunderstandings around it, Sally said: “People really do not realise the challenges within working in a children’s home and in social care. However, I wouldn’t change a thing.
“You have to see it through their eyes, rather than your own. It’s been amazing in every social care job I have had to watch people flourish.”
Feeling inspired? Working together to change people’s lives… Make a difference by embarking on your journey into social care. For more information on how you can start your journey check out our A career in social care page or read more social care stories here.
ENDS