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Proud to Care is
getting interest across the UK, with a number of London boroughs launching
Proud to Care and interest from as far as Liverpool, Wales and West
Sussex. Closer to home, Plymouth held a second Proud to Care Ambassadors
event on 6 September with excellent engagement across health and care.
Sally-Ann Turner, Proud to Care Devon
 The first Plymouth Proud to Care Ambassador induction and training session took place on 6th September and was well attended and received.
We were given two inspiring talks by Esther Putt, Director and Holly Jones, care worker from Gemcare.
Some training sessions took place on presentation, social media & internet skills followed by information on University Hospitals Plymouth, Proud to Care, health and care providers and Livewell Southwest.
From the event some great videos have been produced which are being put onto the Plymouth City Council YouTube channel, as well as a press release.
The next Plymouth Ambassador event will be held on 4th December, 2018. For more information please contact ProudtoCare@devon.gov.uk
 On Friday 28
September, Coaver Conference Suite at County Hall will be hosting an Ambassador event from 9.15 am to 12.30 pm. This will be an induction
event for new Ambassadors and a networking and development event for existing
Ambassadors. Do you know someone in your organisation who would make a great
Ambassador? Please bring them along.
We will share
stories, ideas and network and there is a strong possibility of cake too! View the agenda here.
Please feel free to attend your local event.
Email ProudtoCare@devon.gov.uk for more
information or to book a place.
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 We have the final version of our brilliant film clip from our jobs fair in Okehampton and it is well worth a watch.
The jobs fair was not only an opportunity for people to find out more about careers in care and health, but a fantastic networking opportunity for care and health providers, the voluntary sector and the local community. We look forward to more local jobs fairs across Devon.
The final edit is amazing and we love the tone and feel of this. Please feel free to share with friends and colleagues alike!
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22 Sept RD&E Open Day 10 am - 3 pm Family fun day
29 Sept Coastal Wellbeing 10 am - 4 pm Health & wellbeing event
4 Oct Park Community School 5 pm - 7 pm Options evening 16+
8 Oct Petroc Tiverton Campus 5 pm - 8 pm Careers fair
10 Oct Petroc North Devon Campus 5 pm - 8 pm Careers fair
15 Oct Teign School 6 pm - 8 pm Education SW careers fair
7 Nov Petroc Tiverton Campus 5 pm - 8 pm Careers evening
8 Nov Petroc North Devon Campus 5 pm - 8 pm Careers evening
15 Nov Exeter School 6 pm - 8 pm Careers convention
21 Nov Ivybridge Community College 5.30 pm - 7.30 pm Careers fair
22 Nov Great Torrington School 6 pm - 8.30 pm Careers evening
29 Nov Sidmouth College 8.45 am - 1.30 pm Careers roundabout
For more information or to volunteer please email Tracy at tracy.grant@devon.gov.uk
 I’ve seen some pretty bizarre interpretations of what care and support work means to some people over the years. One that springs to mind is a colleague who, whenever we were trying to deal with challenges to someone’s day, would keep saying “It’s all about the money” in a droning zombie voice and laughing. Needless to say he didn’t stay in the company for very long and didn’t appear to enjoy a moment of it.
But here’s the thing: that attitude is very much self-induced. It wasn’t because the person we were supporting was deliberately obstructive, or that there weren’t any possible long-term solutions to what was in their way. It was because that person had convinced themselves that there was no ambition to the life of the person we supported.
Gratefully there were so many others that saw differently, and that I know more of now I have the pleasure of being a Proud to Care Ambassador. Our support style, typically, is led by empathy, invention and working as a team with the person we support, not for or to them. The person I was supporting back then may not have communicated verbally due to their Autism, but had amazing ways of converting touch to sound through their Synaesthesia, and had the drive to create their own language that way, in the aspiration that others would learn it. Through inventive, empathetic thinking, I began to understand their language in a unique learning experience I can treasure like no other. I love learning languages, so to learn one that was formed by the very person I was supporting felt phenomenal.
Since then I’ve been learning and sharing more ways of forming a creative team around a supported person with fellow Ambassadors and colleagues. Personally I love supporting other Autistic people in this way because we can share our “alternative” ways of approaching situations in surprising and enlightening ways. That aside, I’ve seen and heard of amazing things used for all sorts of vulnerable people in our society; achieving things many believe aren’t typical of vulnerable adults, from sustainable employment to independent living for married couples.
What makes me proud most in my role is the flexibility it gives me to apply what I learn straight away, in a way which benefits the supported person and myself, and be truly inventive. Unlike the droning notion of every day being a payday, I’ll never be certain what each day could hold, which keeps my mind sharp and my heart beating.
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We have created
Ambassador role descriptors which we hope you’ll find useful, to support you in
your role as an Ambassador and to ensure you know what is expected of you. The
role descriptors have now been published on the PEN website in Proud to Care
Ambassadors section under Workforce Development, or can be viewed here.
Devon STP
Resourcing Group took part in this pilot last year with Skills for Care.
A short film clip of our involvement
was filmed in London for national rollout. Thanks to Proud to Care
Ambassadors, Leanne Ashmead (RD&E), Gill Smith (Age Concern, Exmouth) and
Stephanie Johnson (Primrose House) for sharing their experience as Ambassadors
in the film clip. This is now on the Skills
for Care website and will be published in Skills for Care’s E-news and
bulletin this week.
Don't forget that we have a FREE jobs board for all your health and care vacancies.
The site is user friendly and time effective and results are good to date.
We are launching our next advertising campaign at the end of September/beginning of October so now is a great time to upload your adverts to benefit from this. There are also multiple jobs fairs across the region which myself and a team of Ambassadors will be attending to point people to our Jobs Board and sign them up for job alerts so the sooner your jobs are live the quicker you will gain from this.
If you need any support uploading your adverts please get in touch with me tracy.grant@devon.gov.uk or 01392 380499 and I will happily assist.
As always, your feedback is important to us. Please follow the relevant links to a short two minute survey if you attended any of these events:
- Charter Hall, Okehampton, 6 June https://skillsfor.care/xrlrY
- Health & Care Fair, Guildhall, 13 June https://skillsfor.care/7urUr
- West Exe School, 14 June https://skillsfor.care/1koKdM
- Princesshay, 16 June https://skillsfor.care/13F0Ug
- Torquay Girls Grammar School, https://skillsfor.care/1dZCwB
- RD&E Observation Week, https://skillsfor.care/SOnqU
- South Dartmoor Community College, https://skillsfor.care/7FOKP
- Notre Dame School, https://skillsfor.care/AfqjJ
- All Saints, Plymouth, https://skillsfor.care/14GM50
- Work Preparation Day, Exeter, https://skillsfor.care/1XbLO3
- Corn Exchange, Jobs Fair, 6 Sept https://skillsfor.care/1XAKz3
Ambassador resources are available from:
- Your local Proud to Care Champion. Find your local Champion here.
- Health Education England have 16 A4 books covering individual health career areas and an A5 overview booklet. Order on 0345 6060 655 or advice@healthcareers.nhs.uk Allow two weeks for delivery.
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Skills for Care have a range of care careers and apprenticeship information and booklets. Contact your local Champion.
  
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