Becoming a Young Leader: Kelsie’s Story
Kelsie, a Team Leader in our Denton services, has had a remarkable journey at Creative Support. In five short years, Kelsie went from starting her career as a Support Worker to becoming a Senior and advancing to her current position as Team Leader. This impressive achievement is a testament to Kelsie’s determination, initiative, and compassion for the work she does. In her own words, Kelsie describes her journey so far, what it’s taken to become a young leader, and how rewarding a career in adult social care can be.
“Prior to becoming a Support Worker, I worked as a Retail Supervisor for a couple of years after finishing my A Levels. I wanted to go to university but I never did; instead I pursued the career path. Looking back now, there were signs that I was gravitating towards a career in adult social care.
When I was working in retail, we would have one particular gentleman visit the store with his Support Worker every Saturday and he’d come to my till to check the prices of various items. He’d do this every single weekend. In the end, I used to turn my till off and walk around the store with this gentleman so I could scan things for him whenever he asked how much they were. It meant I could have a bit of a conversation with him and make sure his experience in the store was just as positive as the next person’s. That was the lightbulb moment for me that had me realising I was in the wrong job. I wanted to be in a role where I got some enjoyment from it but also helped someone else to get enjoyment from us working together. That was when I took the leap to completely change my career path to health and social care at age 20. It was the best thing I ever did.
Caring has always come second nature to me. I’d already had experience as a young carer, advocating for my mum and on behalf of my younger siblings, one of whom is autistic. So although I didn’t have the knowledge that I have now, I had the experience of challenging behaviours and advocacy. I interviewed for my Support Worker role in 2021 and the company TUPEd over to Creative Support only a few months after I started. When I became a Support Worker, I better understood the depth of autism and learning disability and how they affect people differently.
I became as a Senior Support Worker at age 23, at a service where there were four women with a learning disability living in their own flats. I got really stuck in – I was a driver for the service so I was out with the people we support all the time. I was also encouraged to help with completing support plans, assisting with admin, and supporting with audits. I applied for the Team Leader role twice. The first time I withdrew my application because I thought ‘I’m not quite ready yet,’ and didn’t have all of the knowledge I wanted to have. When I applied for the second time at a later date, I got the role and was assigned to two services within Tameside. My Team Leader couldn’t have been more supportive during all of this. She really encouraged me to apply and made her support clear, telling me ‘I think you’re great for this role, you’ve got a lot of potential’. If it wasn’t for her giving me that little push, I don’t think I would have taken the chance and applied for the Team Leader role.
I knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to progress. I like to give myself a bit of a challenge. When I got the senior position and started my Level 3 qualification, it was absolutely fantastic. My Team Leader really supported me and guided me on everything that I needed to do. She’d ask me to complete tasks, give me duties and responsibilities, and trusted that I would learn to do them without her having to prompt me. So that in itself was quite empowering.
One day, I was pulled into a meeting with my Registered Manager and Deputy Manager and told that a new service was opening in Tameside. They told me that they thought I’d be the best person to open the service and gave me that opportunity and responsibility. By taking on that role I was also responsible for a second Tameside service. With opening the new service, it really felt like I helped to build it from the ground up – I literally built some of the furniture! I also travelled down to Derbyshire regularly to meet a supported person during their transition period to our service. I feel that I have gone above and beyond in my role to ensure that the service was ready for this person to live here.
As time has gone on, our staff team has had so many compliments and so much positive feedback. The team are absolutely fantastic and I recognise that and tell my manager, but my manager also points out that: ‘you have also done a fantastic job’. Sometimes I forget to give myself that recognition, but it’s because I like to ensure that everyone in my team feels recognised and that they’re a key part of the success of our service. By receiving the positive feedback I’ve had in my appraisals, I‘ve started to recognise that I must be doing a good job for people to have this faith in me.
When I first began my role as a Senior, time management was something I was really proud of because everything was well documented. If I had to do an audit, it would be in my diary, along with other small things that I needed to remember. If I don’t write it down, I’ll forget, so I really like to ensure that tasks are done before their deadline. I try to prioritise urgent documentation and adapt as more urgent things come in.
Sometimes you have to take a step back and remind yourself that you are just one person. If a deadline isn’t met, I’m honest with my line manager and explain why that is, because there are so many unexpected factors that can affect things – whether a person we support had to go to hospital, or if I had to cover someone’s support because we were short staffed. As long as I’m open and honest with my manager and it’s not an imperative deadline that will affect the rest of the organisation, it puts both of our minds at ease.
The step up from Senior Support Worker to Team Leader has been totally different to the transition from a Support Worker to a Senior. Sometimes the responsibilities can feel overwhelming, particularly in September time when there are audit actions and supervisions due around the same time, on top of all the usual responsibilities like meetings and paperwork. For example, I’ve booked out the next two weeks to complete supervisions as they need to be my priority, then I can move onto the next priority. Time management is so important in this role, but I’ve also had to learn the importance of taking time for myself and my own wellbeing. As a Team Leader, I make sure that I am taking time away from work and switching off, whereas before I would take the work home with me. It’s so easy to do that, but you need to learn the importance of switching off outside of work. It’s not easy to switch off in this line of work, but there are on-calls and other contacts for staff to contact for a reason.
I think it’s important to pass personal learnings onto my team. At this new service I’ve opened, I’ve been able to set the expectations and tell them what we need to be doing from the get-go, showing them how important transparency and accountability are. If the staff team feel like they’ve not got something right, they should contact me or the on-call. At the end of the day, we’re humans and we make errors. It’s about following through with things in the right way so we don’t have to raise safeguarding concerns if things go wrong or are missed. Accountability and honesty are huge.
I’m also encouraging my team to complete their NVQ Level 3 qualification, so that they gain more knowledge in their role as Support Workers. It helped me out massively –I thought that I might not learn much doing the qualification because I’d been working as a Support Worker for three years at that point. I was so wrong. I’ve learned so much information around policies, legislation and alignment with the CQC. Two of my team members have been enrolled on the NVQ programme. I’ve told them ‘If you need anything from me, I can show you how one of our audits work, our support plans, or our risk assessments’. I want them to have that understanding of expectations and responsibilities at Creative Support, because I did that when I was a Support Worker and found it so helpful down the line.
Being a young leader, and a young woman who is a senior team member, proves that women are able to do more than what’s expected. It’s important to recognise that we do have the potential to become these leaders. At Creative Support, every one of my managers above me are all women. That’s really empowering to see. From my perspective, Tameside Personalised Services is women-led. The honesty and approachability I receive is so valuable. I know I can always approach my manager, but I also know my manager’s manager, and their manager, and so on. I’ve had interactions with every one of them.
I see myself in my direct line manager, who’s a Registered Manager, and I want to keep progressing so I can continue to work alongside her as she also progresses. I think it’s very important to recognise women in leadership and the value it brings. These past five years wouldn’t have been possible without the backing from Creative Support, especially with funding my NVQ Level 3 and starting my Level 5 in the near future. I’ll just keep seeing what comes my way and saying yes.”
“Unless we put ourselves out there and prove that we’re an exceptional service and we provide the best quality of care for our supported people, we’re not going to get recognised. You have to put yourself on show. It’s time to shine.”
Watch our ‘What Makes a Great Support Worker?’ interview with Kelsie and Sharon here.
