Meet Nicoleta – Community Support Worker

Hi!  I am Nicoleta, I am 30 and I started working for Wilberforce Trust in the first day of lockdown as relief staff 2 years ago.  I joined the trust at a challenging time, but somehow it fit my personality and pushed me to think out of the box.  I am also a mum and last year I was a student and I was very grateful to be able to continue to do a job I enjoy and follow my educational and parenting goals.  The trust facilitated flexible working patterns and the support workers team and the managers were always understanding if my son was poorly and during exams time.

Last year I heard about the community shifts and I put myself forwards for it, I thought it might be a good learning experience and I was right.  I continue to enjoy driving around York to support the service users and be part of their care.  It was a peep in the life of community nurses and into the standard of care the NHS workers are required to have, but what I enjoy the most is the interaction with people and how this service is one more step into enabling people to continue living in their houses.  It is rewarding to see both familiar and new faces and have a little chat and make sure the service users are receiving their medication on time.

In the last few months, I also took the opportunity to offer 1:1 support in the community one day a week.  It continues to be a wonderful experience and I always look forwards to see where are we going to travel in that day.

I was new to York when I started to work for the Wilberforce Trust, but while supporting the service users both in the supported living and community I had the chance to learn more about York and its surroundings and get to know it as well as I know my hometown.  Now lots of places I know carry the mark of a unique memory from when I was supporting others and was helping make the time pass meaningfully for them.

Nicoleta is a relief Support Worker across the houses and also relief Community Support Worker (what Kaitlin does) across both the NHS community support work we provide and also interim Community One-to-One for the Wilberforce House tenants.

Are you interested in joining the trust?  Take a look at out current job vacancies here or have a look into volunteering here.