This week we are introducing our Mentor & Trainer, Suzanne
In the next of our series of introducing the team, we are meeting Suzanne, our Trainer and Care Pro Mentor
Hi I’m Suzanne, I’m the trainer and a Care Professional Mentor for Home Instead. My role is quite varied. My mornings are spent doing care visits to clients, to keep my skills fresh and to keep my hand in at the job that is at the core of the business. Following these visits I return to the office to concentrate on my mentor and trainer role. As a mentor I check-in with my team of care pros regularly, ensuring they are heard and supported as best I can. Carrying out supervision, support visits and coffee meetings with my mentees, and ensuring the new recruits achieve their care certificate is all involved. As the trainer, I deliver all of our training programmes, be it the two day induction course, medication, manual handing or basic life support refreshers, or our City & Guild assured Dementia course. I love the variety of my role, and feeling part of ensuring our care pros feel supported and able to provide the quality care we would all like our loved ones to receive.
I worked for Home Instead previously, as a care professional, but left to pursue a career as a Person-Centred, Therapeutic Counsellor. However, I had qualified as a counsellor for personal reasons and it was not meant to be as a career choice. So, I decided to return to Home Instead, having previously found it a rewarding role for a supportive company.
Before Home Instead (the first time round) I worked within the NHS as a Physiotherapy Associate Practitioner, out in the community, and before that as a Rehabilitation assistant and an Occupational Therapy assistant. Going further back I have experience of working within home care, residential homes and a variety of office based work. I now feel like I have found my niche and where I am meant to be. I am proud to be part of the Home Instead team.
It means that our clients and care pros are not just a number. It is so important to us all that we REALLY listen, and get a feel for how we can help and make a difference for our clients, ensuring the care we deliver is all about the clients likes, dislikes, values, beliefs and cultures. The focus is on the client and doing things together, enabling them to keep as much independence as possible. We also want to support our care pros and make them feel valued and supported, so it is more than a job to them. To us it’s personal, to me, means we are all a team, aiming to provide the best care possible.
Outside of work I enjoy spending time with my husband and children, our two dogs, two guinea pigs and rabbit. My daughter is about to turn 21 and my son is almost 18. Walks in the countryside, watching wildlife with our two dogs is one of my favourite things to do, along with watching a good murder mystery on TV or a trip for afternoon tea with friends.