At Enablement Ark we make use of so many materials which would otherwise go to landfill or simply be dumped. And our animals and service users are very grateful!
Old tyres, pallets, tree branches …. Who says it’s rubbish?
Here at Enablement Ark we have been using old tyres to provide a ‘dish’ for the hay in the goat enclosure. They also love to climb on top of the tyres when we pile them up. Goats are naturally skilled climbers – did you know this? They are curious and active animals so climbing and balancing can be a form of play and exercise as well as survival.
Yum, yum! Lots of hay on offer from tyres that would have been thrown away
Our goats love to balance on disused pallets
With donated old pallets, we have been able to make shelving and along with tree branches, our volunteers and service users have created perches for our chickens.
Disused pallets keeping some of our library of books in order
Our chickens love our home-made perches
For more information about services offered to young people with additional needs at Enablement Ark, please email us on enablementark@challengect.co.uk
We thought getting to know our staff and their job roles would be a lovely idea. We have an incredibly professional and motivated team that inspires us daily. Next up in our ‘meet our staff’ series is Nicky King from Community Enablement Team and Enablement Care.
Nicky King. Registered Manager of Enablement Care and Community Enablement Team.
Q. What is your role with Community Enablement Team and Enablement Care? Registered Manager of both Enablement Care and Community Enablement Team.
Q. How long have you been working in care, and how did you get into it? I started working in care eight years ago. I spoke to a friend who had always worked in care, and she told me I would be great in a care role, so I plucked up the courage to change my career path. I have never looked back; it was the best decision ever!
Q. What does the future hold for you? Do you have an area of special interest? The future is full of positives and much more hard work and studying.
Q. What is your favourite part of your job? Interacting with the service users and knowing that you have made a difference in their lives somehow or in some way. Working alongside staff and helping and guiding where I can.
Q. What’s the worst part of your job? That is a difficult one; I would only say that sometimes the hours can be very long, but sometimes it is needed to ensure everyone is happy.
Q. Do you have a funny story to tell? Most recently, I was talking to a resident; she asked where I was going – I told her I was going out to work in the community, to which she replied, “You’re like dog s**t you get everywhere.” That really made me laugh!
Q. What’s your superpower? I’m pretty sure all carers have one. I think I am a bubbly person, and I always try to get people to sing and dance with me, no matter where we are, and they do so. I think my superpower name should be Dancing Queen.
This is a picture of me in Mexico, where I achieved my lifelong dream of swimming with dolphins; it was the most beautiful experience ever!
Q. What do you think is unique about Community Enablement Team? It allows our service users to live their best lives, enjoying time doing what makes them happy. Whether that is maintaining their bills and household chores or going to the seaside, disco or archery, there is nothing our team will not be happy to support with.
Alpaca walking with a service user.
Q. What advice would you give anyone just beginning their caring career? Take each day as it comes; no two days are the same. That is the best part of the role. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed. Being a carer means that no working day will be the same. You need to take care of yourself; remember to be patient; everyone is an individual. Don’t forget to enjoy yourself; this passes on to the service user. Feel free to ask questions and learn from your mistakes. Build a relationship! That is the most important aspect of care.
Q. What do you think of the training facilities at CET? We have exceptional in-house training and have recently moved onto an e-learning programme, allowing everyone to learn as many new parts of care as possible.
Q. What would you be doing if you weren’t working in care? I would probably still be working in the accounts department of the family business that my husband has built up.
Q. What’s your favourite activity outside of work? I am a massive Liverpool FC fan, travelling all of England and Europe to watch them. When I am not at work, I ensure I get to as many matches as possible!
I was in Paris for the European Cup Final and got a picture with the great Dirk Kuyt!!
We currently have a position available for an experienced Registered Care Manager for our 23 bedded care home. The home is registered for adults under and over 65 years who have dementia, physical disabilities, mental health, and learning disabilities.
The successful candidate must have the following:
At least two years experience as a Registered Care Manager for Adults
Diploma L5, or Registered Nurse or equivalent professional qualification
Good standard of written and verbal English
Excellent communication skills.
Full driving license
What Are The Key Responsibilities?
Ensure that excellent standards of support are provided to the people who use our service by staff.
Ensure that all person-centred care plans are reviewed and updated electronically on Log My Care within the required time frame.
Maintain a profitable service through monitoring of cost control, maintaining high occupancy levels, fee adjustments, and effective budgeting.
Ensure that the service achieves and remains compliant with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, health and safety, financial regulations, company policies and procedures.
Maintain a full complement of staff within the service through safe recruitment.
Manage staff e.g. training, delegation of tasks, holding of disciplinaries, conducting investigations, monitoring staff absence.
Take responsibility for personal development and attendance at training.
Support staff to maintain the service to a high standard e.g. assisting with cleaning, covering shifts if there is a staff shortage, and administering medication.
Ensure all staff supervisions and annual appraisals are completed on time.
To build professional and positive relationships with staff, the people who are provided with care, and external agencies.
Ensure the service has a positive reputation and good relationships with people in the local community, families and friends of the people who use our service and potential purchasers.
Achieve excellent internal and external audits of the service.
Investigate thoroughly any alleged misconduct, maltreatment, abuse reported in the service.
Ensure excellent knowledge of current policies, procedures and governance affecting the service and the company.
Ensure that the culture within the service is enabling for people who use our service, actively promoting personalised services with maximum control and choice.
To share on-call with senior care staff, and ensure all relevant information is shared with the senior management team. This will come with an added on-call allowance.
Become a Registered Manager with CQC
The post with a relevant qualification with two years plus managerial experience will be graded at £35,000 full-time (37.5 hrs) equivalent.
Job Type: Full-time
Salary: Up to £35,000.00 per year
Benefits:
Free parking
On-site parking
Schedule:
Monday to Friday
Weekend availability
Ability to commute/relocate:
Sutton-In-Ashfield: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
To apply, please send your CV to operations.lead@challengeCT.co.uk
Our small and friendly home ‘Enablement Care’ in Sutton in Ashfield currently has vacancies for those looking for residential care. It is not often that our home has rooms available so please get in touch asap if you would like to know more or would perhaps like to have a look around to meet our staff and get a feel for our home.
Things people say about us…
“We enjoyed our visit to see my nan, they were very welcoming, checked who we were, and checked our LFTs and temperature. We wore our masks and enjoyed our visit. It was clear my nan was well cared for, she was smart, clean, cheerful, and warm.”
“On visiting the care home I found a warm welcome from members of the staff. The home was clean and well organised. A room was set aside for our visit so that we could have a one-to-one chat. This is useful as it gave us a quiet space with my mum. We were able to stay as long as we wanted and we did not in any way feel in the way. The staff do an amazing job and look after their every need. A big thank you to everyone for looking after my mum and keeping her safe.”
“My Mum has been treated with warmth and care since the day she arrived. She is 91 years old and has difficulties with social anxiety that make her loathe to spend time away from her room. The staff always make time to be reassuring towards her, encouraging her to leave her room for meals and for short periods of time and they support her in feeling confident to do so. They are always welcoming when I visit and they are caring. I know I can ring and speak to the manager at any time and ideas to address any concerns that I have will be suggested and implemented. Mum can be resistant to accepting help and wants to be as independent as she can be with regard to personal care, this is respected but staff are always on hand to check that she has managed to dress or undress correctly and to remind her about everyday things such as teeth brushing and washing. Mum always looks clean and well cared for when I visit, a hairdresser, chiropodist, and aromatherapist visits regularly and the food is excellent.”
For more information please give us a call on 01623 397750 or email info@challengect.co.uk.
Enablement Care is a small and homely residential setting in Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire. We have 23 bedrooms, and 12 of these are ensuite. Our aim is to provide a high standard of genuine care for older people, people that have mental health conditions, and those with dementia and physical disabilities. We promote independence, and self-motivation and always aim to give out residents a high sense of self-worth.
We currently have vacancies within our home, if you are interested in finding out more, please get in touch by emailing info@challengect.co.uk or please give us a call on 01623 397750.
We welcome you to arrange a visit to take a look around at our friendly home.
A Day in the Life of April (Support Worker to Registered Manager)
April Parker
Hi, my name is April Parker-Clark and I’m the Registered Manager of Community Enablement Team. It seems appropriate to tell you all about my life as a manager.
It all started five years ago. I was shopping in town when I received a call from a familiar voice, asking if I was looking for work. My answer was yes, and that’s where my role began.
Previous to being employed by CCT, I was on maternity leave with my youngest, and prior to that, I worked in a residential supported living service.
I began my career with CCT as a support worker, and I knew that this was my forever job. It was completely different from supported living! I gained my Level 3 in Health and Social Care whilst working my way up to team leader after six months.
Progressing a year later, being humbled to be asked to take on the role of registered manager.
Fast forward to four years later, I’m now a fully qualified Level 5, with a good CQC rating and a staff team that are so supportive and service that no day is the same.
I could sit here for days telling you about what I do daily because no day is the same. I could be doing:
paperwork attending meetings training working alongside my colleagues in the community supporting medical appointments with the service users
Every day is different, and as a manager, I have to be ready for anything and everything.
Throughout my whole life, I was always told, ‘if you do a job you love, you’ll never have to work a single day for the rest of your life.’ This has stuck with me throughout and has been my inspiration to pursue my goal.
I start my day by checking my emails, they come thick and fast from the day before, and you never know what’s going to be asked of you the day after. I then load our rota system, check that all calls are being attended, looking for any issues for the following week, making sure all service users’ hours are catered for and making sure all staff have their allocated hours, breaks in the day and acknowledge any time time off requests.
I have a schedule for the month where I write down all my targets, due dates and audits.
Whether the audit is on the service user’s files, daily records, care plans or medications, completing audits helps me see what we as a team are doing well or what we may need to enhance. This allows me to create an action plan (if required) on what I need to do as a manager to support staff to ensure these audits are successful each time with minimal requirements.
Each month there is a scheduled managers meeting; this allows for all managers across the service to discuss what’s happening and offer support to one another. The managing director can provide guidance in areas as needed.
As I express to my staff, all feedback is constructive, and we as a team all work together to make sure the service is running safe and effectively.
Audits are time consuming, but they help me work out what we need to improve; this is vital for our growth as a business and a team. Involving the team I find is a great strategy, enhancing our team effectiveness.
Every month I hold team meetings for all the staff. We have used many platforms for this and find that holding a full day of meetings split into different times is the one that works the best. Completing this supports all staff and allows for the development of the staff team to grow. This is an excellent way for me to inform the team of how well we are doing, what we can improve on, and any new initiatives, training or events we have planned. Also, it is a good way for staff to discuss any concerns they may have and what challenges they have in the workplace. I try to make team meetings as fun as possible while being professional and serious when I need to be. We always have cake and coffee!
We use Microsoft Forms for staff and service users to gather feedback on the work that we do. It is not all rainbows, but this is a good way to build a relationship with relatives and an effective way for them to voice their concerns. All feedback is constructive! I write up an action plan and I take it from there; anything the team and I can do to improve the quality of care, we will.
I also have to go out to different environments to ‘assess’ new potential service users; I love this part of my job. This is where I get a small but detailed care plan on an individual that the adult social care services have sent me to review and assess.
Most referrals are generally within the Nottinghamshire area; I may have to go to hospitals, other care homes and the service user’s property.
Every day is a new day, and I learn so much. The most amazing people I have ever met, I have met in this line of work!
Looking for a satisfying and progressive career in social care?
For a full list of our current vacancies, please click here.
For further information on any of our vacancies, please contact us by email on info@challengect.co.uk
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