Jeremy’s story
Adult Social Services
Meet Jeremy. He’s gone from a Community Support Worker, to manager to co-ordinator within Adult Social Services. He talks about how he helped to set up a charity as part of the Learning Disabilities team, and how rewarding it is to work with adults who use their services. Having lived in Barnsley all his life, he also knows a thing or two about the town itself, from nightlife to wildlife.
I started back in 1993, but made a complete career change. I used to deliver lorries for a local garage, before some opportunities came up in Barnsley Social Services working as a Support Worker for people with learning disabilities. I was successful in getting one of those positions, and I’ve never really looked back.
The selection process when I was successful, was very informal. A group of 20 people met together. We chatted about what sort of background we’d come from and then went on to do more formal interviews.
I started as a Community Support Worker with Barnsley Council in 1993,. I was promoted to Community Support Manager, and here I am today managing our team.
I work in Social Services Learning Disability Team, and it’s a brilliant place to work. I work with ten other colleagues in my particular team - a really good set of people, very supportive. There are different characters, and you know you can rely on them. A good set of people to work with.
The most enjoyable things I’ve done as part of my work, nearly always involve working with the service users. I was fortunate enough to be involved in supporting some people to set up a charity - these were learning disabled adults, and this charity is still going strong today.
I’ve lived in Barnsley all my life - I don’t think I could ever see myself living anywhere else. It’s a fantastic place to live and work.
As a younger man, nightlife in Barnsley was absolutely fantastic. As a family man now, the places to go and visit with my kids are brilliant. On our doorstep we’ve got the Dark Peak District, we’ve got hundreds of different places of interest, Elsecar Heritage Centre, Cannon Hall and a number of stately homes throughout Barnsley. We’ve got three theatres in Barnsley centre. We’ve got a football team and they’re not doing too bad. Barnsley’s a wonderful place to live and work, and I’d highly recommend anybody to come to Barnsley.
A typical day for me doesn’t exist. It’s constantly changing, and I do like it because of that. There’s a lot of office work involved in my job, but I also still have a lot of work to do with service users in their own home, supporting them to live independently - and I love that part of my job as well.
If I were to recommend working for Barnsley Council to a friend, it would be because it’s a supportive employer that offers great training. It’s a fantastic place to work, and my job is wonderful work, I love it.
