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Progress Care

Category: Professional Experiences

Supporting Young People

Posted on by Angeline Westley

We want to be able to share with your the amazing things Progress carers experience in their job every day.

Mark is a Progress carer and has been supporting Jay for nearly three years.

This is his story:

Jay is very high on the spectrum of autism and has minimal vocabulary.

Despite this, Jay’s Mum really wanted her son to take part in activities that benefited not only him but also the wider community.

I did some research and found a program that was looking for volunteers to help maintain and preserve parks in the West Midlands.

It was with much anticipation that we arrived on the first day alongside the other volunteers. Jay was delighted to see so many people he was going to be part of a team with. Something was said on the first day that stayed with me.

The person running the program suggested that Jay being in the park alongside other people, may not work. However, he was willing to allow Jay to stick around. When you hear things like this, it saddens you. I knew that Jay would show that he is more than capable of participating despite all his disabilities – after all, we are all able by our abilities.

Volunteering brought out so much in Jay, it’s incredible. He’s making friends, working hard and giving back to the community, which is what he and his Mum wanted.

Sadly, it was during this period that his Dad passed away. Being such a strong person, Jay carried on working even though it must have been difficult for him. He also had the added pressure of this being the first year since he finished school.

The moral of the story is that nothing is impossible. Jay has achieved great things despite others saying he wouldn’t. Whenever I see him working, I always look on in amazement to what he has achieved.

I feel so proud to support Jay and have no doubt in my mind that he will carry on achieving a lot more throughout his adult life.

Introducing Acorns Children’s Hospice Trust

Posted on by Angeline Westley

In our last update, we shared with you our mission to choose a charity to focus our fundraising efforts on. We are pleased to announce that our chosen charity is Acorn Children’s Hospice Trust.

Based across three locations in the Midlands – Selly Oak, Worcester, and Walsall – our chosen charity offer an incredible support network of care for life limited and life threatened babies, children, and young people and their families.

In the last year, they supported 876 children and 1,097 families by providing tailored nursing care; such as short breaks, emergency and end of life care at their hospices. The children and young people they look after are not expected to reach adulthood and require constant specialist care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

We have been absolutely blown away with the level of care Acorn provide, and their holistic approach to ensure that they meet the needs of both the children and young people in their care, as well as their families; an approach that we recognise well.

We certainly felt Acorn Children’s Hospice Trusts’ values aligned well with our own, and thus we made them our chosen charity partner. We mentioned in our last blog that between our staff members we would elect two charity champions that will lead the fundraising. They will be in charge of picking the activities that both our staff and young people can get involved with to fundraise. Between them, they will coordinate the events, be in charge of the money collection, and of course report back so that we can keep you updated of the fantastic events and what the money raised can help achieve.

In our next instalment, we will introduce our two chosen charity champions and find out a little bit more about the exciting plans they have in store for fundraising events. Stay tuned!

New for 2018- Our Charity Activities

Posted on by Angeline Westley

The philosophy coined by Confucius over 2,500 years ago, is still incredibly relevant today. Over the last 25 centuries opportunities have become unlimited, and decisions endless. We’ve found this to dramatically be the case when it comes to fundraising and giving back to local charities. With so many incredible causes doing fantastic work, historically we have found it a challenge to zero in on a single initiative. As a result, we have given a lot of funds to many different formidable causes, but by spreading our resources so thin, we haven’t felt that we have been able to make much of an impact as we’d like to.

 

We want to change that. We have determined that focus is the key to fine-tuning our existing process. Instead of giving to lots of different causes and making very little difference, we have decided to split our fund pot down the middle. One half will go to a charity of our choosing, and the other will be kept for projects we feel would benefit from a top up. The charity of our choosing will be one that resonates with our core values, beliefs, and aligns with our business. The remaining pot will be a flexible fund that can still be used a number of different ways. Perhaps one of the local kid’s football teams need shirt sponsors or donating annual funds that we support such as ‘The Magic of Milly Ball.’ One of the recent projects that our owners Bal and Raj have started is collecting new socks for homeless young people. This is just one example of the seemingly small but hugely beneficial projects this capital can fund.

 

We are currently in the process of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on our chosen charity, and picking our charity champions: the two individuals responsible for the fundraising activities. Stay tuned for further updates!

 

Life without Progress

Posted on by Angeline Westley

What better way to introduce our dynamic and passionate Managing Director than to get out outsiders perspective!

While writing this blog with Claire, my trembling fingers tap away on the keyboard, noting down her words, silently biting back unexpected tears.

As we discuss the elements of the Progress business; from the company’s story to the achievements in residential homes and to the passion behind the Fostering Agency, one’s mind cannot help but to flicker back a decade.  A vivid image of a cold frosty January, as one’s 16-year-old self silently closes the front door to their father’s home for the last time. Clinging onto a sparsely packed shoulder bag as salty tears fall over burnt skin, moistening the blotchy purple marks and teeth-indented face; making a choice that far too many other young individuals face, prematurely propelling me into the solo adventure of adulthood a few years too early.

What I would have given at that crossroad for an organisation run by a managing director who unequivocally and bluntly states and I quote, “it does not matter how long an individual is with us, whether it is two hours or twenty years, we will make a positive difference in their lives. If you come to us with only a garbage bag, we will make sure you leave with a suitcase, a set of clothing that fits you, and a feeling that you matter.”

When I speak to the individuals at Progress; whether it be the Fostering Manager, the Social Workers, HR, or indeed the Managing Director, there is absolutely no doubt that each and every one of them are not only singing off the same hymn sheet, but that they make one heck of a formidable team. There are no words to describe, knowing there are children in the hands of people that put their entire hearts and beings into making a difference to the lives of these young people.

When I discuss Claire’s background with her, starting from Support Worker and working through the ranks, she talks about the importance of the role; when an individual chooses the role as a support worker for the wrong reasons, they can actually do more harm than good. If you spend time with someone from an abusive background used to hearing how they are not good enough, or your response to understandably challenging behaviour is not one of patience and effort to overcome the underlying root of the problem, you could add further damage to that individual. Do it for the right reasons; you will have no idea when the smallest seemingly insignificant efforts you make for the best intentions for that child could make the most powerful and positive impact on their lives. Same rules apply when considering the position of a Foster Carer.

The old cliché of ‘having a why that makes you cry’ when it comes to motivating yourself, is clear in the passion that each individual working for Progress shares. Unanimously, it is agreed that while not the easiest industry in the world, when your heart is in it and your primary focus is the child themselves, it delivers unmistakably the best job in the world.

It has been noted that sadly, there’s more demand for children in need of help than there is supply when it comes to the ratio of Foster Carers within the industry. When you have the means and desire to change a child’s life for the better, what’s stopping you?

If you are looking for a team that works as one single unit with endless personal development opportunities for yourself, parallel to those of young people whose future selves would show you no end of gratitude, perhaps a career as a Foster Carer or a Support Worker could be for you.

I know which company I would recommend.

Please check out our fostering area and our vacancies page and get in touch for more information today.

New opportunities with Progress

Posted on by Angeline Westley

Thanks to the continual growth of our organisation and our latest residential development, Stourbridge House, we have the fantastic opportunity to welcome new faces to the Progress team.

As an organisation who invest heavily in our employees and encourage them to grow in all aspects they can, we always offer vacancies to the current team, before advertising to the outside world.

We are pleased to announce having completed our internal recruitment, not only are we looking for individuals to join our residential team at Stourbridge House, but we will also need to fill the vacancies left by our team, thanks to our exciting restructure.

For those of you who missed our announcement, Stourbridge House is our most recent property. It is a three-storey, beautifully designed building, fully equipped with ingenuitive technology, purpose built for children and young adults to accommodate short breaks and assist in their transition to independence.

Thanks to the variety of roles available, we have an opportunity for people of all abilities. The Support Worker and Team Leader roles are ideal for candidates with experience working alongside individuals with additional care requirements. Our Flexible Support Worker roles (FSW) have a different prerequisite.

The FSW works alongside children and young adults with additional complex care needs, whether that be working out in the community or within our properties. As an entry level into care, the Flexible Support Workers role requires more heart than it does time spent in the industry. Experience can be helpful, references are necessary. It’s not for everybody. It takes a special type of personality; someone who really wants to make a difference. That is the person we are looking for.

It is not easy to tell these qualities from a piece of paper. Neither does someone’s background influence our decision. Our current Flexible Support Workers come from a variety of backgrounds. Teaching, fitness, hospitality are just some of our teams’ experience. Some even joined us straight from university without having any work experience but had sterling character references.

The role of Flexible Support Worker could take the applicant to a mixture of locations; our facilities, the person in care’s home, working out in the community or out on activities. The Flexible Support Worker will be buddy, mentor and care giver for people with complex care needs. The role is perfect to give people the opportunity to work with young people. The days can be challenging, but they are also incredibly rewarding.

We are looking for candidates with a deep-rooted desire to make a difference. We want people whom we can rely upon equally to accurately document and report while having the patience to sit and enthusiastically play the same game of hide and seek for hours on end. Can you relate?

If you feel you have the passion it takes to join our fun, dedicated team and enhance the lives of young people, get in touch. To find out more about our vacancies, click here…