To celebrate our 10 Year Anniversary, we are going to be sharing an insight into how various members of staff across the organisation have progressed internally.

At Care in Mind, we are passionate about investing in our people and helping them to achieve their professional goals. We achieve this through staff support sessions, in-house training, and other career development opportunities. Across the organisation there are many inspiring individuals who have advanced through roles, whether solely residentially or starting in the Residential Team and moving through to Head Office. Here, Amanda Kavanagh shares an insight into her own journey.

When did you join Care in Mind? and, what was your role?

I joined in January 2015, and I started as a Bank Support Worker, where I then quickly progressed to a Team Leader position within our residential service in Liversedge until late 2018.

How have you transitioned through roles and how did you end up in Head Office?

I did a lot of Health & Safety work in my previous job. I brought a lot of forms with me to Care in Mind that I used to implement different checks at Lyndhurst. I became a bit of a Health & Safety bod, and undertook the audits within the home, at this point, a role within the Quality Assurance department became available at Head Office. Based on my skills and abilities I was successful in the role of Quality Assurance Auditor. I had done so well in the interview, and I was so enthusiastic about the company. I was so happy about getting this role as I wanted to stay with Care in Mind, as I think it is such a fantastic company, and having worked with young people in the homes, I know that what we do works brilliantly.

It has been great working with Tracy Sellors, Quality and Compliance Manager, and I have learnt so much from her. I have also done quite a lot of training over the last couple of years, and I really enjoy the job because I am still helping even if I am not working in the Residential Team.

What initially attracted you to working with Care in Mind?

I’d worked in social care for over 20 years, and I was working in another company where Care in Mind used to come in and provide psychological and Clinical Nurse Specialist sessions for the young people. Through talking to people, I found out that there were jobs coming up at Lyndhurst, so that’s when I applied for the job, because I just felt that I really wanted to work for Care in Mind as they seemed like a really ethical, brilliant company. I was really attracted to the model of care and the different way of working, it made complete sense to me.

How have you been supported by your managers and colleagues through your development?

Brilliantly! Tracy is so knowledgeable, and she is so generous with her knowledge, so I have learnt a lot from her. She has always been good at seeing the gaps in my knowledge and finding courses I can go on to fill those gaps, so over the last couple of years, I have completed a lot of external training.

Over your time with Care in Mind, how do you feel the organisation has changed?

It has changed massively. There were only two houses when I started, but now we have really grown, which I think is really good and other people are now appreciating our model of care and understanding that it works really well.

Why have you stayed at Care in Mind? /What has made you want to remain with the organisation?

I think that ethically it is a really good company. The ethos of the company and the way we work with people is just brilliant, and that is the way I want to work with people. I think as well that there are just a lot of really good people that work at Care in Mind, and it’s excellent to be surrounded by people like that. Everybody is just really interesting, open and supportive, because we all want the same thing; for the young people to have good outcomes.

Do you have any advice for fellow colleagues who are keen to develop within Care in Mind?

I think what worked for me was being enthusiastic… and just be happy in your role. I think people sometimes come into social care jobs and it is not quite what they expected, but you need to accept these challenges and with support from your team, be happy and successful in your role.

What would you say to someone who is interested in a Support Worker role with Care in Mind?

It is a really rewarding job! It can be very challenging working with young people, but ultimately, it is so rewarding.

If you’re interested in a career with Care in Mind, check out our current vacancies here.