Viki Hardy has worked with our Adult Social Care Customer Service Centre (CSC) for four years now, starting as a Social Care Advisor receiving incoming referrals; a trainer and now as a Community Support Worker, providing guidance and handling more complex incoming referrals.
What kind of conversations do you have in your role?
No two days are the same in the CSC, we offer a lot of different kinds of support such as organising equipment and care packages to speaking with people who are experiencing mental health issues, domestic violence or hoarding issues. Sometimes there are things that the council can’t support people with, but we can signpost to other support options.
The most typical part of each day that does remain the same is ensuring anything that is high risk or urgent that day takes priority as our most important role within CSC is managing risk and ensuring nobody is left without the support they need.
What is the best part of your job?
I have found that the best part of the job is that we can be the initial voice of Adult Social Care. It is really rewarding to be able to set a standard of empathy and understanding from the first interaction and show people that making contact is nothing to be afraid of.
We speak to people who are very nervous or scared to speak with Adult Social Care because of various reasons such as being afraid to be placed in residential care, fear of losing their independence, feelings of duty towards their loved ones they are caring for or because of their pride and dignity.
Some people just want some information and reassurance that they are doing the right thing and being able to provide that to families who are feeling a little bit lost is really rewarding.
We also have people in crisis situations where care is needed as soon as possible, and to be able to be the people who set this into motion quickly is also very satisfying.
What advice would you give to somebody who is looking for adult social care support but doesn’t know where to start?
I would say that prevention is better than cure. If people reach out to us early, then we can suggest or implement the lowest level of support possible that could increase independence.
A recent scenario I encountered was somebody was struggling with getting in and out of bed, getting into the shower and other personal care tasks and starting to need support from their daughter. When they called and spoke to us, we referred them to Occupational Therapy, who visited and assessed the person and agreed some equipment could be installed. This meant that the person could independently manage to get in and out of bed and to shower independently again, reducing carers strain on their daughter and empowering the person.
This equipment can make the world of difference to people’s lives and delay the need for any physical support which a lot of people can be reluctant about.
I would always say it is better to call and discuss someone’s situation, because you never know what we could suggest that would help. We would never pressure anyone into anything; we just want to help where we can.