Angela Harding from Walfinch home care Southampton has achieved a Level 7 Diploma with Distinction in Strategic Management and Leadership Practice, equivalent to a post graduate degree, and she’s using it to attract more people into care careers.

“I am living proof that care is not a dead-end job. I didn’t like school and left with only a few basic qualifications, but as soon as I got a job as a carer I knew it was the career for me, and I was keen to climb the ladder,” says Angela, now Director and Registered Manager at Walfinch Southampton.

She progressed to senior carer and then care manager, working in both care homes and home care, but then she and former colleague Laura Woollard launched Walfinch home care Southampton as franchisee owners, with Laura as Managing Director.

“We were inspired by Amrit Dhaliwal, the founder and CEO of Walfinch, which has over 35 branches run by franchisees across the country.  He is a former home care franchisee himself, and his vision of what care could be chimed with ours,” says Angela.

They now have a team of ten carers and 19 clients.  “Within the next five years we want to be the leading care provider in the Southampton area, and my leadership qualification will help propel this,” says Angela, who completed her course while working, and is the first in her family to get a degree-level qualification.

Inspiring new carers

Angela and Laura will also use Angela’s qualification to inspire students on the government-backed Skills Bootcamp courses at Itchen College. “We do presentations there about care careers.  The qualification will prove to the students that even though you don’t need qualifications to get into care, you can go as far as I have, a business owner with a post graduate degree, all done alongside working.”

The team have already recruited six carers from previous Bootcamps.  “Once they hear from us what care can be like, and how care experience and qualifications can lead to careers in home care, healthcare and nursing, they are keen to join,” says Angela.  “It helps that Walfinch’s approach to care aims to enhance clients’ lives with activities.”

Free Tai Chi and memory cafes

The Southampton team recently started a Walfinch Thrive Club, offering free Tai Chi classes (seated or standing) led by a professional instructor at Woolston Community Centre, Southampton SO19 9FU every Friday at 1pm-3pm.

“At least 25 people come weekly and more are joining,” says Angela. “Activity is good for both physical and mental health.  We offer refreshments afterwards, with Laura’s home-made cakes, so it’s also a social event.  People tell us it improves their lives.”

The team also run memory cafes at Potters Court in Maybush alongside community organisation Caraway, and at the Mountbatten hospice, West End Southampton.  “We have now added mobility exercises to these sessions and they are very popular,” says Angela. “We are opening another memory cafe soon.”