0:11
Dan y Garreg is a six bedroom home
0:14
with lots of communal areas.
0:16
They've got a nice, big kitchen area, dining room, and a games room
0:20
which the young people love.
0:27
So, before coming into the care sector,
0:30
I primarily was a teacher in Spain,
0:34
which I did for eight years,
0:37
teaching a range of people from adults in business to
0:43
younger people in summer camps.
0:46
And before that, it was health and safety.
0:49
Especially when you're teaching the young people in summer camps, for example,
0:53
you're there to help them to achieve something.
0:57
So, those skills will transition
1:00
and you can use those skills in the care sector as you’re primarily
1:05
doing the same thing,
1:06
teaching and supporting, helping, nurturing, caring.
1:10
With the health and safety before I did the teaching side of things,
1:14
there's a load of legislation
1:17
and guidance that we have to follow and strictly have to adhere to,
1:21
and it's no different in the care sector also.
1:23
There’s things and rules and boundaries that we have to follow, so that
1:27
the young people we support and care for have the best care that we can offer.
1:39
I did the Level 4 and 5 qualification
1:41
because it seemed like a natural step for me to go on to next.
1:45
I had just finished my Level 3,
1:48
the Level 4 came up, the potential position of a deputy manager came up,
1:53
so, they go together.
1:55
And I knew that I could learn a lot from the Level 4,
1:59
and I could use
2:01
the practical experience from Level 5 then to implement some change into the home.
2:12
So, I learnt a lot from Level 4 in terms of understanding legislation,
2:17
what legislation is out there.
2:19
And also from things like theories and coaching models.
2:24
As a result then, I'll take a more proactive approach, and try to anticipate
2:30
things happening rather than react to things that have happened.
2:35
Hopefully then, this can get passed on
2:36
to the staff team through reflections of things that have happened,
2:41
and we can use our reflective conversations
2:44
to always try to improve things moving forward.
2:47
At the end of that then, you have better support
2:51
and care for the young people, which is ultimately what we're there for.
2:55
I always remind the staff that we're working in their home
2:57
it’s where they live, so if we're just doing everything we can
3:01
to ensure that we are as knowledgeable about our own job as possible,
3:06
they benefit from it, the young individuals.
3:15
Managing my time,
3:17
it wasn't easy.
3:18
It was a challenge because,
3:20
you know,
3:20
it is a qualification that you're trying to get done at the end of the day
3:23
and you don't get given this stuff for free. You have to put the work in.
3:27
It involves a lot of time, but it also involves time management from myself.
3:31
So the way that I did things was in two week chunks.
3:36
My tutor would give me
3:40
a small assignment to complete on whatever,
3:43
to be done in two weeks.
3:45
So I would get that done in the first week, and then I can switch off for second week.
3:51
So I know the pressure for that
3:53
two weeks is off in the latter half of the fortnight.
3:57
Especially the Level 4, it is quite involved and you do need
4:00
to sort of focus in
4:03
for a good hour or two
4:05
to get your brain sort of working on that academic line of thinking.
4:09
My learning primarily was done on a one to one basis with my tutor,
4:15
so I always felt that I had that support, and then I did my own research,
4:21
which is important because you need to find
4:24
this stuff out for yourself,
4:27
which will give you a better understanding
4:29
of what it is you're actually looking for.
4:31
What was in the Level 4 standards
4:32
definitely helped to guide me and keep me on that path.
4:38
I'm not an academic person,
4:41
and I did think I was going to struggle.
4:44
However, I comfortably, in the end, comfortably got through the Level 4 and Level 5.
4:58
So, my project was done
5:00
on the Independent Life Skills (ILS) that we have in the home.
5:04
The original documents that we had, they were outdated.
5:06
So with the Level 5 being project based, work based,
5:11
it was a perfect opportunity for me
5:13
to take the original ILS programme and revamp it and make it fit for purpose,
5:20
which is what I found really rewarding
5:23
about the Level 5, because it's not a case of me doing a project
5:27
and ticking a box to say “well that’s done now.”
5:30
That is actually implemented into the home. Off the back of the Level 5 it’s now,
5:34
the ILS programme, is now up and running within the home
5:37
and we had young people involved from the start.
5:39
What I liked about the qualifications
5:42
is the Level 4 taught me everything that I need to know
5:45
about the job that I'm doing.
5:46
And then the Level 5, which I love doing the Level 5
5:50
because it is implementing everything
5:52
you've done in Level 4, and you put it into practice
5:55
into your own, or my own care home.
6:00
When I first started
6:03
in my position as deputy manager, I lacked a lot of confidence.
6:07
But having completed the Level 4 and Level 5,
6:11
I’m now a lot more confident.
6:14
Ultimately, it made me more knowledgeable about my own job
6:18
and what would be expected of me in the managerial position,
6:22
and it was all there for me.
6:24
I also appreciate that I had very good guidance
6:28
throughout the course from my tutor.
6:31
It has taught me everything I needed to know to be able to move forward.
6:35
I can’t harp on enough about how important it is to get the knowledge from that Level 4
6:40
and then use our knowledge to implement the Level 5.
6:42
And of course having already now done the Level 4 and 5,
6:46
that will help me to register as a manager moving forward.