Luigi Maggiore

My name is Luigi.  I am the Registered Manager at Three Sisters Care, a domiciliary care organisation that support elderly clients and people with mental health needs in North East London.

This part of London is unique due to the variety of cultures and personal backgrounds that you can find visiting clients or just walking the streets of the local area. I enjoy working with people from different countries and cultural backgrounds as I feel like I am travelling the world without having to move away from my local area.

I have been working and volunteering in the care sector for over ten years and despite being now office based for most of my time at work, I still enjoy going out to support our service users occasionally, as it makes me feel in touch with what we do as an organisation, and it gratifies me greatly.

I think that one of the best aspects of working in care is the feeling of satisfaction to know that we have helped someone to have a better day than they would have if we were not there.  Despite being a metropolis London can be a very lonely place, and some of our clients could go entire days or weeks without seeing anybody if we did not provide them with our services.

I particularly enjoy working with young adults who live with autism and have difficulties communicating their wishes and needs.  Although it can be challenging to work with clients with this type of learning disability, I do enjoy the satisfaction to achieve the little things with them and to enable them fill to their days with some pleasurable activity.  A smile from a client or hearing them laughing is a priceless feeling for me.

If you are considering a job in care my advice is to give yourself the time to get to know yourself and to recognise your own limits and strengths.  Only pursue a career in care if you have the patience to listen to your clients, even when they are not able to express themselves in an obvious way.  The days are long and tiring and this is not a job that you do because of the pay cheque at the end of the month.  Start your journey with volunteering if you are unsure, and if you enjoy the role, try to progress gradually within the care sector.

I started my journey into social care as a volunteer for an hour once a week, moving on to become a support worker, then a field care supervisor, a team leader, up to more senior management roles and I feel that without the experience of working “in the field” I could not have achieved what I have in the past ten years.