Our Liverpool Service

I looked after my Dad when he was very poorly.  We had a few weeks with him at home before he passed away, with carers coming and going.  They were specialist Macmillan carers and were absolutely lovely.  They really took pressure off the family. And I thought ‘I’d like to do that’.

I joined when Be Caring was known as CASA, and have been here since March 2018. Before that I’d had a 13-year career in banking in a variety of customer facing roles.

It’s great because I’ve always wanted to do something a bit more on my feet (I didn’t want an office bottom!)  I absolutely love my job now. People’s skills are transferable, you don’t necessarily have to have been a carer for 15 years to know what good practice is.  It’s having the right values and way with people that counts.

I appreciate the skills that I’ve learned.  Sadly, I lost my Mum over Christmas. It was very sudden, we only found out she had cancer a few months before she passed away, but I count myself lucky in being able to look after my Mum at home with my sisters.

I taught them how to move someone safely, how to change them and wash them while they’re in bed.  All these skills came in very useful for our family.  It meant we could look after Mum ourselves without any help from outside.

I count that as a privilege really that we were able to do that.  We offered to get her carers and she was like ‘nope, our Jackie can do that!’ My sisters were so glad that I was there to show them how to do it the right way.

In future, I’d like to complete my latest qualifications (which have been put on hold because of Covid). I’m not the world’s best writer, but I can put things into words, so my tutor would record our discussions as part of the assessment.  I like that there’s always something new to learn in this job.

I don’t want to be sitting in an office. My skills are people based – talking to people, caring for people – that’s what I’ve done all my life. It’s clear I love chatting to people!