Jemma's Journey (A MANAGERS JOURNEY THROUGH AVE MARIA CARE )

One of our team members Jemma has kindly written out her account of her journey through Ave Maria Care from a carer to a Manager.
Jemma's journey highlights the opportunities within our company with what can be achieved with hard work and dedication

Below is Jemma's Journey in her own words:

OCTOBER 2020
My Time so far at Ave Maria

I first came on board with Ave Maria Care in November 2014, I was new to working in care as my previous history was working with children.
I begun work out in the field as a care worker in which I met and cared for many clients some who have since passed away and some that I still have the pleasure of seeing and speaking too.
I became the care co-ordinator in time, and I was lucky to have the support of Elizabeth and Edward who encouraged me to work towards gaining my Level 3 and 5 in Health and Social Care, and supported me throughout this.
I became the Registered Manager in 2019 at Ave Maria Care Sutton, and I could not have achieved this if I had not had the mentoring and support of Elizabeth and Edward who have always stood by me and pushed me to aim higher and have also ensured that I have the right attitude and skills to ensure that I am successful within this role.
Over my time at Ave Maria I have had personal circumstances that could have held me back but knowing I was supported throughout this enabled me to continue and strive towards further success within the field of care, and I know this is due to who I worked for and those that I have enjoyed caring for.
Within myself I have grown, and I have learnt many things and I was very lucky to have learnt from someone who had so much experience in the care field which enabled me to develop and learn new behaviours and skills which would prepare me for my future career plans within Ave Maria, this person is Elizabeth and although at times things felt tough the reward from doing this job as always been worth it, and the team that we have at Ave Maria allows for us all to grow and continue to develop we all have potential and both Elizabeth and Edward will always highlight this and encourage us to achieve and aim towards promotions and continue in a profession that I for one love and would not choose anything else.
I have learnt so much from those that we care for which has included the history and life experience that they have had which I have found so interesting and as also helped me to help my children with school projects from experiences that clients have told me about when living through the war such as how life was to live on rations. I would not change my job for anything I feel that those we care for gives us a purpose in life and allows us to provide care to a high standard and leave that person with a smile on their face.
My next step with Ave Maria will be to continue to my Level 7 and aim for a Regional Manager and I am certain I will be supported in this by Elizabeth and Edward.
If I could advise anyone who is thinking about coming into the field of care I would say this is a vocation not just a job, these are real people that we will care for and work with and they have lived on this earth longer than us and have so much that they can teach us, which goes towards making us better people.

Jemma