Welcome to Bluebird Care Careers in Clapham & Streatham

Working for Bluebird Care, I realised immediately that looking for Care Assistants was a much more personal experience than I had had before in my career.

While I am familiar with the reality of having someone you love looked after by less than committed strangers, I now have the opportunity to make a difference in this for other people.

Becoming a Care Assistant is not something that only training can create.  Finding the wonderful people, who have the natural warmth, empathy and initiative to provide the support, encouragement and care that makes the difference to each individual, is challenging and intense.

I am usually the first contact and so I get to know every carer who comes to us individually. Sara our Care Manager conducts the second interview and then each successful person is invited to join us to train, as if we were choosing for someone personally important to us.

I support the new carers during training and watch them become respected and vital members of our team. Training is ongoing and most visit the office often, sometimes for updates and sometimes just to chat in the warm, friendly atmosphere of the office.

It gives me an enormous boost that I have a part to play in enabling people to remain at home in familiar surroundings in a dignified way. That the ladies and gentlemen that I first chatted to by phone, email and at recruitment events are making such a difference to so many people’s lives.

Outside of work, I’m a busy wife and mum, spending much of my time supporting my two beautiful daughters with their sport, dancing and singing. My own interests include travelling, dancing, listening to music, reading and cooking!  

I love being around family and friends and I include my work colleagues in that! I feel very lucky; I have a wonderful family and a great job.

I can’t imagine doing anything else!
 
I’m from Portugal where we have a strong sense of family and a genuine respect for our elders. In Portugal I worked for the Parkinson’s & Alzheimer’s Society to develop a project within social nursing care and later on, in the Portuguese Social Services.  
I moved to the UK to both further my career and also reach more individuals with medium, high and complex needs, assessing patients in a Nursing Home and then a prestigious Live-In and Domiciliary Care setting before joining Karina and Neil at Bluebird Care. Along the way I met and married a lovely English gentleman called Paul who supports my work commitment and care goals.
 
It’s a pleasure to work alongside such like-minded people; sharing a passion for what we do and a commitment to continually grow and learn new things.  I’m not surprised we are known to be leaders in our field, rather than followers.  We share an almost ‘old fashioned’ Customer service approach – going above and beyond what is expected of us – something which is so often lacking these days.  It’s gratifying to change lives for the better.  Really listening and taking into account all aspects of the person’s life and how they want to live it and then making it happen.  Enabling them to live the life they want, no matter what their age, ability or circumstance.  This satisfies the fire in my Mediterranean heart!  I don’t think there can be a more rewarding career than this and certainly, I believe that, done in the right way, nothing is impossible!
 
I confess to being a bit of a workaholic however in my downtime, I love travelling.  I speak Spanish, Portuguese and French fluently and I’m currently working on perfecting my Italian!
 
Care is in my soul and my way to give light to life!

After many years and various different roles within Retail I decided I needed a new challenge and a job that made me feel like I was making a difference.  My career in care had started! 

Initially a Carer, I could never have predicted how much I’d love supporting others.  In time I was promoted to Field Care Supervisor and then eventually joined the team here at Bluebird Care as Care Coordinator and have never been happier!

I began my working life as a Civil Servant doing various roles, such as Child Maintenance Enforcement caseworker, HR Manager, and Complaints Investigator. As a 'people' person, these roles offered me job satisfaction, but not always a feeling of reward. After 22 years, I left the Civil Service to take care of a beloved relative with Dementia. It was a steep learning curve, as I had to adjust to life as a full time carer, whilst learning about her condition and how it would impact on both my relative's and my own day-to-day life, over the short and long term. I loved how caring for someone made me feel, and it sparked my interest in care. My interest was not only from the perspective of ensuring my relative received great care from me and my wider family; but as her care needs increased, it was my responsibility to ensure additional support from agency carers was tailored to her individual needs, which was not always easy.

As Customer Service Manager at Bluebird Care Clapham & Streatham, I can use to the fullest, my customer facing skills to absolutely make sure that our customers not only experience first-class care tailored to their individual needs, but that their families also experience the understanding, compassion, and support, of our care team.

It's my experience that being part of a close-knit family, helps to navigate the ups and downs of caring for a loved one. Thankfully, I am part of the Bluebird Care family which embodies this ethos - it certainly makes my role as Customer Service Manager the most rewarding and satisfying job I have ever had!

My career in care began when my brother in law was in hospital on life support.  We really thought we were going to lose him but amazingly he pulled through, was discharged and sent home where we started to care for him ourselves.

This was such a turning point for me and I changed career, starting out as a support worker whilst also looking after my brother in law and then a carer for around 5 years.  I was promoted to Field Care Supervisor and then Care Coordinator.  I’m fulfilled in what I do and I do it to the best of my ability.

As a child and young adult, I took care of my parents who are both disabled. This experience made me very aware and sensitive to peoples’ needs and the difficulties involved in caring for people you love from a very young age. 
 
I became a professional carer and then an Au Pair for a boy with autism and this reignited in me, the need to care for people.  I spent the next decade caring for older people and adults with special needs. 
 
I joined Bluebird Care in 2015 and I am on the next step of my journey.  I enjoy my job as I know that I am still making a difference, albeit in the background.  I love being part of the team and because I have a keen eye for detail and a patient manner for imparting knowledge, I know that I make a valuable contribution to ensuring our care services are run smoothly and professionally.