The range of care work

The range of care work available through Caremark means that hours are flexible enough to accommodate most people’s availability and preference.

Whilst many of us might prefer time off at weekends, it suits Aaron Taylor to work his hours then and have weekdays as downtime.

Aaron, 30, who has worked previously in home care support, is now part of a dedicated team that provide in-house, round the clock care to a 50-year-old customer.

“I do 40 hours over a weekend living in house with the customer. The hours suit me and I enjoy the work – we have become more like house mates than customer and carer,” says Aaron.

The customer has learning and physical disabilities and also finds contact with the general public challenging.

“It’s about offering re-assurance and finding ways to take the stress out of situations,” he says. “The customer really likes trains but travelling on a public train would be too much. So we’ll plan a trip to a railway museum when we know it will be quiet and drive there.”

Aaron has also worked with teenagers with autism and other learning and physical disabilities.

 “Often it’s a case of being open minded, approaching things from a different angle and when you achieve that breakthrough moment it is so rewarding,” says Aaron.

“All kids love to go exploring and building dens so it’s about finding safe areas of the beach or the woods, they can do that. Getting the balance right between helping them and then stepping back to allow them to be kids and discover things for themselves.”

Aaron used to work as a manager of a hotel on a Spanish holiday resort and he says the people skills required in care work are similar.

“You start from the position that the customer is always right – so how can we help them to achieve what they want.”