Leah
I am currently the acting deputy manager of a service near Lincoln. I have been with Voyage for over seven years and have enjoyed every minute of it.
I started at a service near where I used to live. I knew from being a little girl that I wanted to look after people and help them. I came to Voyage on a two week placement whilst I was at college doing an Access to Nursing course. Whilst there I fell in love with the home, all the staff were fantastic and the service users were very friendly, made me feel at home and were a pleasure to work with. After my placement had ended I started working weekends and the occasionally weeknight on bank. After leaving college I had a year before my course at university started, what better way of spending a year but to work full time with Voyage.
The day came when I had to leave to pursue my lifelong dream of working within the NHS as a staff nurse. I cried and cried. At first I worked every weekend but, as my workload at university increased, as heartbreaking as it was I had to stop working at the home. Popping in every now and then to see how everyone was, it became evident that I had done the wrong thing, but I have never started anything and not finished it, so I struggled on.
A year and a half later when the workload at university become second nature, I decided that I would take a weekend job. What better job than to go back to Voyage. Unfortunately they were not taking on any staff at the home where I had worked, so I decided to try another home. This home was very different to what I was used to, more challenging and seven of the service users had Prader-Willi Syndrome. ‘WHAT!’ I remember thinking. I’d never heard of it, but after I googled it I was interested to learn more, so I applied for Bank.
Six months later, still on Bank, university wasn’t working for me, so as disappointing as it was, I left. My heart wasn’t in it, it belonged to Voyage. So I became a support worker, and I LOVED IT. Supporting people at college, going shopping, on holiday, supporting them to get the best out of life and to be as independent as possible. Helping them and watching them learn to do things for themselves that we all take for granted is the best experience ever. I truly had the best job in the world. I wanted to help more, I love training and becoming more knowledgeable, therefore I applied for a senior support worker role. With this I took great pride and responsibility in my work. Eight months later I earned the position of acting deputy manager. In the absence of a manager, I now run an eight place service, with a fantastic supporting staff team and eight friendly service users.
Everyday I get up and look forward to going to work, I am very grateful to Voyage for my growth within the company and I look forward to progressing further. Here’s to the next seven years, thank you Voyage.
Call the information and referral line on: 01543 437 037