Sian Brookes is the new face of care and support. A Cambridge University graduate with a first-class degree in English and theology, she was looking for a career where she could make a difference.
Twenty-six-year-old Brookes, from London, works as a project manager for the charity Age UK. She says: “I always wanted to work with people and for people, and to do something that feels worthwhile, rather than make money for some big company.”
Brookes’s route into the sector came through the graduate management training scheme run by the National Skills Academy for Social Care. Graduates, who are paid a tax-free £18,000 bursary, spend a year with a host organisation and complete the Institute in Leadership and Management level 4 management qualification. Applicants must have a minimum 2:2 degree, but it can be in any subject. Competition for places can by tough: when Brookes applied to join the scheme in January last year, there were almost 1,000 people chasing 22 places.
“I’d never heard of the scheme,” Brookes admits, “but thought it was a good career option. I spent a year at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, working with Chelsea pensioners. The graduates met up every two weeks, which was really good as often you find you are the younger person in the organisation. It gave us the chance to learn from each other and share experiences, and find out about the wider social care sector.”
The placement also helped Brookes make up her mind about the client group she wanted to work with in the future. “The course and placement lived up to my expectations. It made me realise that I could have a career doing something I felt passionate about and it helped me decide that I wanted to work with older people.”
Brookes’s job at Age UK involves looking at how integrated health and social care teams can work together, redesigning the service across both sectors. She says: “I was looking for a role which I felt passionate about, but also allowed me to think and use my brain. We have already piloted an integrated care pathway in Cornwall for people with long-term conditions and what I am doing is looking at how that model can be applied elsewhere.”
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