Reclaiming care: supporting people to achieve their aspirations

Should we apologise for caring? Well of course not, that would be just plain silly. After all, we are the caring profession and the clue is in the name.

Why then has the word ‘care’ become such an uncomfortable term, shunned and criticised by care professionals across the UK? We all feel warmly approving of the term ‘support’ because it implies self-determination and a direct user lead. We support people because caring for them suggests paternalism overlaid by a rather patronising attitude.

It doesn’t have to be like that. At CareTech we support people to achieve their aspirations and live how they choose for themselves. We care deeply about this and we care about the people we support. We care about doing a good job and feel rather proud that we do.

So perhaps we should use the word care more frequently and just make sure that we are using it in the right way.

We support a very wide range of people across the whole care spectrum. This includes children with complex needs and living in residential homes as well as children who are fostered through our specialist agencies. One of our fostering agencies specialises in the support of disabled children and has proved that fostering remains the best solution for most children regardless of need. Our residential homes for children include support and therapeutic work with young people who have sexualised offending behaviours and many children who have a forensic history. We also have several services that specialise in the transition to adulthood, offering real challenge in a true caring environment.

We care about adults who are supported in a very wide range of service types including independent and group supported living projects, small outward looking residential homes and a few registered nursing services for people with complex physical impairments.

Although we started as a dedicated learning disability provider and still have a nationally recognised expertise in this field, we support people who are on the recovery pathway following mental illness and we specialise in relapse prevention. Our pioneering work to support people with early onset dementia has helped us become a truly multi-specialist provider.

We are geared up for a rapid response to need and we work in partnership with service users, their families, commissioners and social workers to create and deliver the right solution quickly, effectively and at a cost that represents outstanding value.

To find out more visit caretech.com