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Leading my own care: how I employ and support my team as an individual employer

We spoke to Michael* and his mother Christine* to find out more about how they employ and lead a team of people who provide support for Michael.

Michael lives in a specially adapted annex at his family home while he waits for a permanent home to be purchased on the street he grew up in and adapted to meet his needs, He’s supported by a staff team that’s been handpicked based primarily on values. Many of the team are people who had known and supported Michael prior to, during, and following his time in hospital, plus other support workers, collectively referred to as ‘Team JP’.

‘Team JP’ is a small but stable team that’s seen a notable lack of staff turnover. Christine says that staff love working here and genuinely like and admire Michael. It’s not simply a job; Michael’s family ensure they like their work, value them as people, and crucially invest time and money from any extra funding they’re able to source into training and professional development so that staff feel appreciated and invested in.

Michael and his family believe that happy, fulfilled people provide the best support, and they’ve created a work environment which allows each member of the team to feel supported and satisfied in their roles.

The team have regular supervisions which not only review performance but give each team member an opportunity to share their opinions and goals as to how things can be improved or adapted. Michael’s family take these ideas from the team on board and look to implement them wherever possible.

This opportunity for regular input and communication allows staff to see that they’re truly valued for everything they can bring to the team and helps to support a culture where everybody can make a difference to support the provision itself as well as Michael.

Supervisions allow staff to share what they would like to do more or less of in their roles, and explore professional development ambitions that they might have. From this, Michael's family will help to find opportunities to develop those skills.

Efforts are continually made to find opportunities to give back to the staff what they put into Michael's provision, whether through flexibility with hours or more long-term professional development strategies.

The team are also kept up-to-date with national guidance and best practice. They’ve studied, researched, and been supported to learn about positive behavioural support, autism, active support, intensive interaction, trauma informed care, and mindfulness.

The way in which Michael’ family has built and led the team has resulted in a team which is happy in their work and which is providing the best support for Michael. They’re willing and open to learning and development and put it into practice.

When the team’s work has been reviewed by other professionals involved with the support of individual employers, it’s been noted that the team all appear to live and enact important values, and that Michael’s choices and rights are respected and upheld.

The team know Michael extremely well: his likes and dislikes, strengths and vulnerabilities, history and diagnosis, his sensory needs. They’ve developed the ability to tune in and read his subtle cues so that they’re able to adjust any given situation to manage his anxiety.

Professionals from Intensive Interactions who have provided training and support with the team have been impressed by their level of openness, honesty, and insight, which they believe comes from a mixture of having the right people in place, but also in developing those people and the encouragement of reflective practice and creative thinking.

*names have been changed.

Are you an individual employer leading a team of support staff for yourself or relative? You can find more support and information for individual employers on our IE Hub.

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