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Job description

Intelligent imaginative engaging Support Worker wanted to befriend me and also provide me with practical support. I am an intelligent male, aged 40, and have long-term clinical depression which prevents me from working. I will employ you myself, with money from an Adult Social Care Direct Payment. I live in Aylestone, Leicester. The rate of pay is £13.15 an hour, for an average of 10 hours per week.

This is NOT care work (i.e. personal care, personal hygiene, manual lifting etc). This is also NOT standard agency mental health support work.

High-class social support needed by single, intelligent, educated, skilled 40-yr-old male (who lives in Aylestone, Leicester; non-smoker) who has long-term clinical depression.

About me

• I am thoughtful, kind, and sensitive. I am interested in Community Development (which was the topic of my unfinished degree), politics (but not Party politics), philosophy (though due to my depression I haven't read much), Computing & IT & web-design (but not computer games), music (I play drum kit to a basic level, and like a variety of styles but prefer songs with creative, interesting, and clever arrangements), some comedy (e.g. Richard Herring, Dave Gorman, Eddie Izzard, Dylan Moran), food (though my depression has made this a particular difficulty), sci-fi on TV (e.g. Star Trek: TNG), lighting & sound for theatre (having done this for several amateur groups and one or two professional groups). More recently I tried and liked table-top role-playing games (such as Dungeons & Dragons) and board games. I have a background in being involved in Christian churches, but now am mostly a secular scientific-rationalist with post-modern leanings & doubts who believes that humans can experience something "other" at the edge-places of beauty and love.
• I am NOT interested in sport (playing or watching), though I can stand to play beginner-level racket sports, and I used to cycle and sail. I am NOT a "petrol-head" for cars, but have a vague interest in the future of technology including transport and renewable energy, as well as a nostalgic attraction to steam railways.
• I have had depression for over 20 years, having had to drop out of my "Community Development" university degree in a different town, and have been unable to work or study since that time. Due to my depression, I have low energy, motivation, concentration, memory, focus, and mood. I experience a lack of enjoyment almost all of the time, and I am no longer nearly as capable as I once was. I am very lonely and socially isolated, and this has been made worse by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. I struggle with the requirements of day-to-day living. In particular I struggle with food (planning, buying, preparing, cooking, and eating it). Many of the effects of my condition come and go unpredictably.

What I am looking for

Practical support – washing up, food shopping, food preparation & cooking, travel, making phone calls, dealing with government forms & housing bureaucracy, maintaining a home, dealing with the shared ownership scheme through which I have a house, and dealing with the remaining DIY jobs that need doing on my house after having had building work and redecoration completed.

• I'm looking for someone who I can trust to take initiative and get on with chores without me when my mood is low and I can't do things myself. Equally someone who can prompt, push, and encourage me to do things that need doing when my motivation is low but when doing something would be good for me. And someone who is good company when I am doing things myself, as I have the skills for virtually anything but my depression gets in the way.

Befriending support - talking about things including politics & philosophy, walks, going to interesting old buildings such as National Trust places, cinemas, cafes, meals out, music & comedy gigs, finding & joining activities, volunteering.

• I'm looking for someone with whom I can build a relationship. I like having someone to talk with, but also need to be able for them to be comfortable in silence. I'm looking for someone intelligent, imaginative, and engaging, who shares enough in common with me so that we can easily understand each other and become comfortable with each other. Someone who is good company for me when I'm not capable of doing anything or being sociable; whose presence encourages me to get up and out in to the world when my motivation is not enough; and whose ideas and initiative help me find things to do, places to go, and people to meet, when the many barriers I face to finding all this seem insurmountable.

Essential to have an active driving licence, use of a car, and be willing to drive us on our visits. (Mileage expenses will be paid.)

Sensitivity and self-awareness is essential; the worker must be able to discern when to push me and when it’s ok to do nothing.

In everything, the worker will be flexible and sensitive to know what level of input I need, given my mental state and how I am feeling. They will show initiative and give me motivation when I don’t have this for myself.

In the longer term, help me work towards being able to find, go out, travel, and participate in activities myself on my own all the time (week by week, and through long-term planning), being aware that this development won’t be easy and will involve some steps backwards as well as forwards.

Employment
Average 10 hours per week at £13.15 per hour, to include a few hours at weekends, and possibly bank holidays and occasional evenings. Flexible weekly schedule to meet my needs (with some negotiation), which include seeing the worker at least every other day. Looking for someone a cut above the PA/Support Worker industry “norm”.

My Adult Social Care Direct Payment is reassessed every year, so the hours and rate of pay may change. Payroll is handled by another organisation on my behalf. There is no ongoing support for the employer or employee.

Arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic included being a holder of a letter to prove that you are a “key worker” and a frontline Health & Social Care worker. I encourage but don't insist on vaccinations. Lateral Flow Tests are entirely optional. I also encourage hand washing and face covering inside buildings with others.

Within the limits of the Direct Payment system (which is a bad system, with many flaws), I am a principled employer who tries to do right by my employee. Even if I have not asked you whether you are happy to do something (though I often would), I would expect you to say if you are not happy so that we can change things so that you are.

What happens next

If you apply on indeed, I will ask for your email address.

I will then email you an Application Pack as five Word documents.

Please would you then complete the three forms within the Application Pack, and return them to me by attaching them to an email by 3rd March (or contact me if there are any problems with this).

You will only be contacted after this if you are successfully short-listed.

If you are short-listed, you will be invited to an interview and a separate informal chat over a drink.

As I hope you can tell from what I have written, the most crucial thing for me is that you and I are a good "match" for each other - the relationship is what will make this work (or not). Therefore please be comprehensive and honest in your responses to my questions and job description etc. so that I can work out whether you are right for me - but also so that you can work out whether I am right for you. Thank you.

High-class social support needed by single, intelligent, educated, skilled 40-yr-old male (who lives in Aylestone, Leicester; non-smoker) who has long-term clinical depression. 10 hours per week, £13.15 per hour.

Job Type: Part-time
Part-time hours: 10 per week

Salary: £13.15 per hour

Schedule:

• Holidays
• Monday to Friday
• Weekend availability

COVID-19 considerations:
Work-related PPE is not required as the job does not entail doing personal care work within 2 metres of me. I encourage but don't insist on vaccinations. LF Tests are optional. I also encourage hand washing and face covering inside buildings with others.

Language:

• British English (required)

Licence/Certification:

• Driving Licence and use of a car (required)

Work Location: One location

Application deadline: 03/03/2023