What is a bad support worker

This is a post that I really didn’t want to write about, but I am sad to say that it needs to be written about and understood. As there is a massive difference between a support worker that just needs more training and education and I bad support worker.

The support worker that needs more training is doing their best to become a good support worker and to work with a client, they know that they need more skills and to be able to work with the client not against them.

We also see that people don’t want to do the basics of support they come into the industry thinking that it’s all fun and games but it’s at times this but at times a lot of hard work both emotionally and physically. When I am talking about the basics I am talking about, making sure there living is clean and hygienic, that they have food in the fridge, that they are sticking to a basic budget, that they have community connections, weather that be a day centre or other meaningful activities, and that these activities are not just a token effort to keep the client occupied.

If you are finding that you need to keep the client always occupied, is there another way to go about it as this is a massive sign of attention seeking behaviour and this is a major red flag in support so do you know how to support the client to the best of your ability.  Some clients will have challenging behaviours and need extra support, but we need to remember that behaviour is a form of communication and that just because a person is nonverbal doesn’t mean that they don’t have anything to say. So, taking the time to work with communication boards and understanding their body langue and even adjusting sign languages are all tools that can work, but a bad support worker won’t take the time to understand them and work with them.

 From what I have actively observed we see that a bad support worker feels the need to just simply be the adult in the room and to direct clients from the couch, this I will admit has its place but is called passive support. There are two frameworks, being passive support and active support, passive support is doing things for the client or letting the client do things on their own, there is a place for this, but it is used with caution. It is much more appropriate to use active support this being the concept of doing things with the client, it’s not completely protecting the client from natural consequences but understanding how you can support the client to understand the potential risks to what could happen if they don't think what they're doing through.

In fact, my own support team if heaven forbid, they ever had to do hey Internet report they feel the first step would be to stop laughing. I see that they understand this, but this is all done in good humour and good faith as I don’t really at times think about what I am doing and this has resulted in what have been objectively funny situations like freezer-deep diving and all the could see was my legs, I did have someone holding me as well. I was looking for hot dogs and I did find them.

This brings me to my next point that a bad support worker will act in bad faith.  However  I need to take a step back and unpack what is acting in good and bad faith acting in good faith is having the commitment to do a good job and do the basics that are required if you are supporting a person at home whether this be a cell house or other forms of accommodation to keep the house hygienic and to rental standards if the clients can’t do this for themselves.

However, working in bad faith is doing the bare minimum, including simply showing up and being the adult in the room. With high-functioning client this may be all they need at times, however being engaged with the client even if it is simply watching Netflix with them is better than being on your phone and not engaging with them at all.

I see that in situations where a client is sick  this is a good call but you can monitor them at a distance and keep them comfortable and prevent them from getting worse or falling due to dizziness.

I'm not saying that all support workers that do this a bad, but we have such a technology addiction they are essentially role modelling addictive behaviour, this depending on the client's background could be quite triggering to them.

Especially if they come from a background of economic disadvantage and haven't learned to have the technical and interpersonal skills to navigate the Internet. I do realise but there are some platforms furthermore welcoming to people with disabilities and others wonder particular shout out to its discord it has servers that are actively for the disabled communities and the gaming community that I find on discord is amazing I have seen that when certain players aren't online, they will send the person all day caregiver a message to see what's up with that person.

However this behaviour is the exception not the norm so we need to be very aware about behaviours as a support worker you are role modelling behaviour, so if you were sitting on the couch on your phone when you were supposed to be cooking the client's dinner the client is going to learn but this is appropriate behaviour around meal times when it is mostly accepted in Sil households the TV is off and you sit at a table due and talk.

This is the way that you build a community, and a household as well, and I am finding that there is a massive difference between support and care as well as this is something that I have posted about before but I feel that it needs to be touched on and that it’s something that support workers get confused about and support needs to be a combination of care so caring for the person making sure their basic needs are met and then supporting them to achive there goals in a way that is appropriate to them, as some support workers are more of a hinderance than a help.

But lets start the conversation around having good trained support workers and high quality care standards.