“If my mother needed care, I would much rather she were visited by someone who’s there because they want to be, and not because it’s their only option. This is sadly the case for many of the carers sent by agencies that I’ve observed over the past six years. I would want her visited by someone who’s local to her, not having just spent two hours commuting in from an eight-hour shift elsewhere. I would want her to be visited by someone who smiles, and ask her how her day is going. I’d want her carer to listen to what she had to say, and respond in kind. I’d like them to have some shared passions and areas of interest. My mother liked to paint for example, so I’d like someone who arrives with an easel, and paintbrushes, or plants some seeds in the local park with her.

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Like myself, many of our carers are aspiring artists. We have an opera singer, a ballerina, playwrights, and actors, all of whom are highly emotionally intelligent individuals who have taken to this work vocationally. I began care work when I finished my BA Honours in Theatre Studies, and I have no plans to stop. I love this work and I simply want to encourage and support others to experience the same, and for loved ones to receive the personal service they deserve, at a more affordable price. I've worked for and alongside some of the biggest agencies in the country for years and I understand the current format, and it's failing us all. Let's try something different.”