Throughout April, Skills for Care will be Celebrating Social Care as part of an annual campaign.
Since 2022, the workforce development charity has used the month of April to celebrate the adult social care workforce “a little bit louder” and highlight the “vital impact” they have on people using care services.
Skills for Care are urging as many people as possible to join in the ‘Celebrating Social Care’ conversation with them this year as they share good news stories and shoutouts for hard-working care staff.
They explain:
“Social care is such an important part of society and the highly skilled, passionate and hard-working people who work in social care make a vital contribution to our communities.
“That’s why we’re setting aside a full month dedicated to recognising the vital impact they have on people who draw on care and support, helping them to live their lives how they choose.”
How you can get involved this year
Individuals within the adult social care workforce are invited to join them in Celebrating Social Care, and share stories and messages to celebrate themselves, their colleagues and the people they support throughout April, using the hashtag #CelebratingSocialCare and tagging @SkillsForCare.
Skills for Care suggests some ways in which care workers can get involved:
- Shout out your colleague, team or manager for their great work or a recent achievement
- Share a successful initiative that your organisation has been working on
- Share some of the exciting activities that you’ve been doing lately as a team or wit the people you support
- Share some feedback from the people who you support or their relatives about the impact your care and support has had in supporting them to do the things they love
- Share what you love most about working in social care
- Shout out the people you support
- Shout out yourself for all of your hard work
- Say thank you to everyone working in social care for everything they do
In addition to sharing positive messages celebrating social care across social media platforms, individuals or organisations who want to get involved can also post shout outs or good news stories in a blog on their website or in an e-mail or newsletter. Skills for Care also suggests that social care teams may want to run an in-person event or activity with their colleagues or the people they support. This could include a coffee morning, awards event or memory board.
Skills for Care also provides a range of free assets to help people participate in Celebrating Social Care this month. This includes suggested social media posts, images and templates.
Why we’re celebrating social care
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading, national training provider. They deliver over 7,000 courses each year in the fields of health and safety, first aid, fire safety, food safety, mental health, health and social care and other special focus topics.
Their diverse portfolio includes training awards designed for care workers, such as Infection Control and Prevention, Safeguarding Adults, Duty of Care, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Person Centred Care and Support and many others.
Their course portfolio spans Care Certificate standards, mandatory training awards, clinical skills, special focus courses and training for supervisors and managers.
FRT are joining Skills for Care in #CelebratingSocialCare this April.
Leon Williams, Lead Director at FRT, says:
“People who work in social care are highly-skilled, passionate and hard-working and it’s important that we all take time to recognise the work they do and the impact this has in supporting people who draw on care to live their lives how they choose.
“That’s why at FRT we’re joining in on #CelebratingSocialCare this month.
“We work with a large number of social care providers, employers and their staff on both a regional and national level. This includes major national learning disability care providers, Dimensions (UK) Ltd, Affinity Trust and Potens, as well as Vibrance in London and the South East, Inshore Support in the West Midlands, Enham Trust in Hampshire, and the POBL Group in Wales, to name just a few.
“These organisations and others we work with provide a wide range of specialist care, support, safe accommodation and a varied programme of activities and life skills for people with learning disabilities, autism, dementia, Acquired Brain Injuries, mental health problems and complex needs and they do it with compassion, respect and an unwavering commitment to quality and safety.
“We are proud to work with them and to provide their staff with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to provide these incredible services for the people who need them.
“It’s a privilege to see the work they do and to play a supporting role in this.
“Throughout April, we will be Celebrating Social Care by sharing social media posts. We also want to continue to support, celebrate and shout out the incredible work of the vital organisations we work with.”
You can get involved in Celebrating Social Care too by sharing your support, good news stories and shoutouts for your colleagues on social media tagging @SkillsForCare and using #CelebratingSocialCare.