Geoff has 6 children, and his 13 year old son is autistic. Geoff says, “I suppose this lead me into this line of work, and made me want to learn everything I could to support him.”
On starting his new role, Geoff remembers, “I was very quiet and lacked confidence when I first came to the Lifeways Group. I have gained a great deal of knowledge and training and this has given me a lot more confidence. I would never have had the self-belief to go after the position of Team Leader if it had not been for the encouragement and mentoring I received from my manager and colleagues.”
Geoff went straight into care work from school, but he didn’t have any care qualifications. He has worked incredibly hard and through lots of training he now has multiple care qualifications and an NVQ Level 2 in Management, and is currently working towards his Level 3.
Geoff provides support to people in their home and is often out and about in the community with the people he supports. “I’m very hands on, I love planning and taking part in social activities. I love working with the people we support and would much rather be supporting them to be active than stuck in an office all day. There’s a supervisory side of my job and one of my strengths is support planning. I’ve been asked to mentor others with their support plans. My audit scores are really high and it’s really nice to be asked to mentor others.
What gets me up on a cold and wet morning is the people I support and my team. I love doing this job and I can’t see myself doing anything else.”
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