Wondering what the Social Care Practitioner role looks like day-to-day? Nina, Registered Manager at Juno Oxton discusses some of the responsibilities and focuses of the everyday life of someone in the Juno Care team.
The role of the social care practitioner is varied and at times challenging, however, fundamentally rewarding. Just like any home, there will be tasks to complete and fun times to be enjoyed, with some report writing and record keeping thrown in the mix.
Juno’s Social Care Practitioners are expected to focus on the needs of each individual child or young person and be nurturing, caring, empathetic and non-judgemental. It’s vital that practitioners focus on spending quality time with children and young people, and never be bogged down with paperwork to the extent that children and young people find them unapproachable. In our consultations with care-experienced young people, they mentioned paperwork as one of the main barriers to forming relationships with the care team. To address this concern, we introduced waking night shifts, giving the team time to complete paperwork, meal prep, and complete other tasks that might take time away from young people in our care.
Social Care Practitioners need to be responsive, responsible, and able to give children and young people their full attention, make them feel listened to and develop their sense of belonging. The Care team is trained to understand the impacts of trauma and the effect this has on a child or young person. It’s crucial that the Practitioners want to be there for people in our care, be passionate about helping and supporting all aspects of their lives, develop their knowledge, and work hard to assist children and young people to feel secure and settled.
As advocates for the children in our care, our Practitioners have to liaise with other agencies and professionals, representing Juno and, if necessary, challenging decisions. The team must always have the well-being of the children and young people at the heart of everything that we do, ensuring that others involved in their lives are doing right by them too. As a team we aim to create a happy space, where children and young people feel loved, safe, well looked after and surrounded by adults they can trust.
Yes, there will be checks that need completing, reports that need writing, and appointments to attend, Practitioners need to transport children and young people to various locations, have dishes to clean, clothes to wash, and floors that need sweeping. However, it’s a person’s ability to make another person smile, someone who can challenge boundaries, understand someone’s feelings, their needs and the impact of their life experiences, someone who is caring, honest, responsive and will always do their best to make things better that is the most important aspect of a Social Care Practitioner’s role.
Does that sound like something you’d be interested in? Discover the latest vacancies here and join the team!