This April Skills for Care are Celebrating Social Care and recognising the dedication, compassion and hard work of the sector.
The #CelebratingSocialCare campaign is now in its fourth year, after being launched for the first time by Skills for Care in April 2022.
The workforce development charity says the annual campaign celebrates the amazing work being carried out every day by people in the sector, and they are encouraging all social care organisations and workers to join in their celebrations.
They explain that social care plays a “vital role” in people’s lives, and the campaign also provides opportunity to celebrate the achievements of people receiving social care and support, who are able to lead fulfilling lives.
On the campaign landing page, they add:
“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 vital work they do. Without our sector’s dedicated workforce many people would not be able to live fulfilling lives in the way they choose.”
Support and ideas to help you celebrate social care
Skills for Care provides a range of free downloadable resources to help people get involved in #CelebratingSocialCare.
These resources are available to social care workers, organisations and supporters and include suggested social media posts, images, selfie cards and an email signature that people can use to demonstrate their support for the campaign and for the social care sector.
Skills for Care has outlined a few ways in which supporters can get involved with the campaign on social media, making sure they use the hashtag #CelebratingSocialCare and tag @skillsforcare in all posts. Suggestions include:
- Extending a thank you to your social care team or colleagues for their hard work
- Giving a shoutout to an individual social care worker for a recent achievement
- Sharing a photo of your team or the people you support
- Sharing an update of a recent activity or event you’ve run or been involved in
- Sharing a reason why you love working in social care
- Sharing a message about why #CelebratingSocialCare is so important
- Sharing any other positive news or story from within your organisation, your experiences or development, or relating to the people you support
Employers or workers in social care can also contact Skills for Care directly with good news stories, including specific shoutouts and celebrations.
In addition, Skills for Care have also developed a list of celebratory activities which individuals or social care organisations could do as part of #CelebratingSocialCare this April. This includes holding open days or awards or running social events.
Why we’re celebrating social care this April
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 a range of training awards specially 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:
“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.