Sitting behind a desk all day was never going to be for Sue whose new post with Crossroads Care brings together a wealth of care experience gained over the course of a long career.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crossroadscarerk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/SueIrelandIMG_5316-2-300x296.jpg\")
\u2018I love my job because I like being with people \u2013 all those different personalities. I enjoy being of help and building a rapport with people. When I\u2019m at the Caring Caf\u00e9, what makes me happy is when the visitors are happy. Mission accomplished, I think, which is such a good feeling.<\/p>\n
\u2018And at Crossroads, there\u2019s such great opportunities for learning. The organisation really does invest a lot of time and effort into training staff and supporting us.\u2019<\/p>\n
As well as going out to meet Carers and their cared-for in the community to assess their needs and supporting the team of volunteers and paid care support staff, Sue also runs the Caring Caf\u00e9 which takes place on the first and third Saturday of every month in Sheen, for Carers and the people that they care for.<\/p>\n
Along with the dedicated team, Sue puts on a delicious lunch for visitors as well as thinking up and organising all the wonderful activities to occupy the cared-for while Carers attend the Crossroads Care support group for signposting and advice. It\u2019s also a place where Carers can support one another through the dementia journey.<\/p>\n
When Sue began her career, it was hairdressing that she initially went into. After studying it at the London College of Fashion, she began styling at salons for a decade until her two children came along when she then found the hours difficult. That\u2019s when caring first caught Sue\u2019s attention due to its flexible hours.<\/p>\n
\u2018Caring is all about being practical and kind, and I thought I\u2019ll give it a go,\u2019 says Sue. She worked as a Care Support Worker for a decade before specialising in footcare for two years.<\/p>\n
Cutting toenails and filing off hard skin may not be everyone\u2019s cup of tea, but Sue says: \u2018I\u2019m not squeamish about anything really \u2013 caring is all about empathy and making people feel comfortable.\u2019<\/p>\n
Having joined Crossroads in April 2022, Sue has already had many special moments with Carers and their cared-for.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ve shared lots of laughs with Carers at the caf\u00e9 and with clients during home visits,\u2019 says Sue. \u2018But one moment really stands out for me. It was when I was visiting a man with dementia at his home. We were talking about music and he recalled the name of a musician that he liked. He was so proud and the look on his face was delightful.\u2019<\/p>\n
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Kindness. It\u2019s that essential quality that all our Care Support Workers have, and the friendly and warm Sue Ireland, who recently joined the Crossroads team as Adult and Caring Caf\u00e9 Lead, has it in spades. Sitting behind a desk all day was never going to be for Sue whose new post with Crossroads Care brings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88901,"featured_media":5184,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"
Kindness. It\u2019s that essential quality that all our Care Support Workers have, and the friendly and warm Sue Ireland, who recently joined the Crossroads team as Adult and Caring Caf\u00e9 Lead, has it in spades.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n Sitting behind a desk all day was never going to be for Sue whose new post with Crossroads Care brings together a wealth of care experience gained over the course of a long career.<\/p>\r\n \u2018And at Crossroads, there\u2019s such great opportunities for learning. The organisation really does invest a lot of time and effort into training staff and supporting us.\u2019<\/p>\r\n As well as going out to meet Carers and their cared-for in the community to assess their needs and supporting the team of volunteers and paid care support staff, Sue also runs the Caring Caf\u00e9 which takes place on the first and third Saturday of every month in Sheen, for Carers and the people that they care for.<\/p>\r\n Along with the dedicated team, Sue puts on a delicious lunch for visitors as well as thinking up and organising all the wonderful activities to occupy the cared-for while Carers attend the Crossroads Care support group for signposting and advice. It\u2019s also a place where Carers can support one another through the dementia journey.<\/p>\r\n When Sue began her career, it was hairdressing that she initially went into. After studying it at the London College of Fashion, she began styling at salons for a decade until her two children came along when she then found the hours difficult. That\u2019s when caring first caught Sue\u2019s attention due to its flexible hours.<\/p>\r\n \u2018Caring is all about being practical and kind, and I thought I\u2019ll give it a go,\u2019 says Sue. She worked as a Care Support Worker for a decade before specialising in footcare for two years.<\/p>\r\n Cutting toenails and filing off hard skin may not be everyone\u2019s cup of tea, but Sue says: \u2018I\u2019m not squeamish about anything really \u2013 caring is all about empathy and making people feel comfortable.\u2019<\/p>\r\n Having joined Crossroads in April 2022, Sue has already had many special moments with Carers and their cared-for.<\/p>\r\n \u2018I\u2019ve shared lots of laughs with Carers at the caf\u00e9 and with clients during home visits,\u2019 says Sue. \u2018But one moment really stands out for me. It was when I was visiting a man with dementia at his home. We were talking about music and he recalled the name of a musician that he liked. He was so proud and the look on his face was delightful.\u2019<\/p>\r\n <\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossroadscarerk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossroadscarerk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossroadscarerk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossroadscarerk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88901"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossroadscarerk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5004"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/crossroadscarerk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1090048,"href":"https:\/\/crossroadscarerk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5004\/revisions\/1090048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossroadscarerk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossroadscarerk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossroadscarerk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossroadscarerk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/SueIrelandIMG_5316-2-300x296.jpg\")
\u2018I love my job because I like being with people \u2013 all those different personalities. I enjoy being of help and building a rapport with people. When I\u2019m at the Caring Caf\u00e9, what makes me happy is when the visitors are happy. Mission accomplished, I think, which is such a good feeling.<\/p>\r\n