Michelle Kearney is a Care Assistant with the Northern Health and Social Care Trust (NHSCT) Recovery Team. She has worked for 23 years in home care, along with doing bank work in residential care for the past seven years.
Social Care Journey
Michelle left school at the age of 16 to work as a housekeeper in a hotel. She left school with no qualifications but later completed a GCSE Maths equivalent when she was 26. Michelle has experience supporting a family member with alcohol issues and another who had dementia. Her doctor recognised that her life experience had given her the ability to identify when someone was at risk and encouraged her to consider the social care sector, writing a reference for her.
In 2002, she successfully applied for a position as a Care Assistant with the Home from Hospital Team in Coleraine. This was a new service set up to support adults recovering from an illness, accident, or operation such as: a knee or hip replacement over a six-week period. A few years later, the service became the Reablement Team and began supporting more patients who had suffered strokes. The team also supports individuals with terminal illnesses who require end-of-life care.
Michelle works with Occupational Therapists (OTs) and Social Workers. A key aspect of her role is reporting back to her manager about any changes to service users such as; needing more or less assistance, changes in skin condition, signs of incontinence, falls, medication or mood changes, reduced appetite, or swallowing difficulties. This allows care plans to be reviewed and updated accordingly, and input from dietitians, speech and language therapists, OTs, physiotherapists, doctors, or district nurses can be arranged as needed.
Michelle loves her role, which involves working with people in the community, providing practical, hands-on support, and helping them recover and regain independence. She feels the public doesn’t always understand what the role of a social care worker/practitioner entails. In addition to offering practical and emotional support, the role includes promoting independence. She values the variety of the role and enjoys working with a wide range of adults. Michelle takes pride in building relationships with adults and families, and she believes she is a good communicator, able to connect with people with various disabilities and conditions. She finds the role exciting and rewarding, especially seeing adults recover and return to their homes and communities, which also helps reduce hospital bed blocking.
Michelle works 20 hours per week with the Reablement Team and a few shifts per month at a Residential Care Home in Ballymoney under a bank contract. She has worked night shifts in the Delirium Unit there for seven years and also supports the recovery side of the Residential Care Home.
Before joining her current care home, Michelle worked bank hours through a Social Care Agency at the Causeway Hospitals as an auxiliary.
Learning and Development Journey
Michelle has completed all the mandatory and refresher training required for both home care and residential care services.
In the home care setting, she has completed training in the following:
- Supporting Vulnerable Adults
- Medication
- Infection Prevention and Control
- Dysphagia
- Confidentiality, Recording and Reporting Concerns
- Food Safety and Hygiene
- COSHH
This training was delivered face-to-face by Trust trainers and Home Care Managers, with participants provided a training booklet.
Over the past year, Michelle has completed the following Trust eLearning courses:
- Risk Management Awareness
- Information Governance Awareness
- Infection Control Tier 1 and 2
- Food Allergens
- Equality, Good Relationships and Human Rights
- Fraud Awareness
- Openness Training – Right to Raise Concerns
- Display Screen Equipment Awareness
- Cyber Security
- Complaints Awareness
- Moving and Handling (Community Staff)
- JAM Card Awareness
- Adult Basic Life Support
- Safeguarding Awareness Level 1
- Swallow Awareness
- Infection Prevention and Control Tier 2
While Michelle benefits from all the training she completes the following provided key learning for her as follows:
- Food and Allergens Training: Taught Michelle to prepare meals safely and understand the importance of recognising food allergies.
- Dysphagia Training: Helped her support service users needing a textured diet or with swallowing difficulties, and identify choking risks.
- Back-Care Training: Enabled her to support safer handling and prevent injury using proper moving and handling techniques.
- Confidentiality Training: Reinforced the importance of protecting patient information and understanding privacy protocols.
- Infection Control Training: Educated her on preventing the spread of infections, proper handwashing, PPE usage, and disposal.
- CPR Training: Equipped her with life-saving skills as “you never know when you might need to use it”.
- Vulnerable Adults Training: Helped her understand signs and types of adult abuse.
- Medication Training: Taught her how to administer or prompt medication properly.
- Stoma and Catheter Care: Refreshed every few years, this training enables her to support adults with these needs.
- Dementia and Delirium Training: Provided annually, this helps Michelle in her residential care role. It deepens her understanding of different types of dementia and the signs of delirium.
Michelle is always keen to learn and has access to the Trust eLearning system while working in the Residential Care Home. She enjoys completing eLearning courses in her own time.
“We don’t have eLearning in home care, but with support from her children, she has developed her ability to use computers and technology.”
Encompass Training was rolled out in the Trust last autumn with a 1.5-day training session in the Residential Care Home. Michelle initially struggled but was supported by her senior, a “super user,” during night shifts. She now feels confident using the system and supports colleagues in learning how to use it.
Michelle completed her Level 2 Diploma in Health and Social Care in 2007. She enjoyed the course, appreciated her supportive tutor, and benefited from bi-weekly meetings, assignments, and observed practical tasks.
She has regular supervision every three months and an annual appraisal with her line manager, including discussions about her learning and development. Michelle feels well supported by the Trust and her managers throughout her social care career.
Career Progression
Michelle is interested in career progression but prefers to remain in a practical role, rather than moving into management or a Home Care Officer position. She is drawn to roles supporting people directly, such as working with women, young people, or the homeless. Although she enjoys her current community post, it is part-time, and she supplements her income with night shifts. This worked well while raising children, but now that they’ve left home, she is seeking a permanent daytime role and exploring new career opportunities.
Her dream job was to become an Occupational Therapy Technician (OT Technician). Michelle feels she has become skilled at risk-assessing equipment over the years. She once applied for an OT Technician post and, although unsuccessful, received excellent interview feedback—meeting 9 out of 10 criteria. Michelle also applied for a Social Work Assistant role last year and is currently on a waiting list.
Care in Practice (CiP) Framework
Michelle was not familiar with the Care in Practice Framework before her interview. However, after reviewing the information sent by the Northern Ireland Social Care Council, she finds it very useful. She sees it as a valuable resource for Social Care Practitioners, offering opportunities for continuous learning and development.