Personal Choice Carers at Home

After looking after my mum who has Multiple Sclerosis and after many talks and discussions with Caroline (who at the time had cared for my mum), I decided to work forward to setting up our own care company. I felt that this way, mum could get the care she needed and deserved and had been unable to receive elsewhere. With Caroline by my side, Personal Choice Carers at Home was born in 2013.
At present we have a team of 13 lovely carers, which is growing, and we look after some wonderful people.
We have also met and worked with some lovely people over the years, and each one individually has a special place in our hearts. Some of the carers that joined us have moved on to further their careers and others due to life changes, but we never forget the support they gave us and the joy they brought to the people they helped care for. Each one of them has bought their special qualities to help make the company what it is today.
Every day is a different day, the passion and love that we have for our work has grown and we are very proud of our little company. I don’t think we ever expected it to grow as it has, but the good thing is, that we keep our ethics and morals to what they were at the beginning.
Each Service User has their care plan tailored to suit their needs and requirements. We always want to ensure that we keep the personal touch.
I feel that the families we have met, the service users we visit and of course all of the Carers who have worked alongside us, have all become a part of an extended family.

“I have been working in care now for 18 years and love the work I do. It isn’t an easy profession at times and can be very hard, but it is extremely rewarding.
I met Liz whilst looking after her mum at a time in my life when I felt that I wanted a little more. After many talks and long discussions, in 2013, Personal Choice Carers at Home was established.

We started, just Liz and I, visiting a couple of service users, but then it seemed that word got around and we were getting more work, we soon found ourselves employing our own members of staff.

The rest is history really. All these years later, we have an amazing team of 13 and we all work together to keep everything consistent in all of our calls.

We pride ourselves on our work and make every effort to ensure that all our Service Users are comfortable and happy with our Service. We chose the name Personal Choice because we really make every effort to tailor our services to our service users’ needs.”

After many years of working full-time and managing in retail, I had two beautiful boys. I changed from full-time to part-time to try and fit my working life around them.

After listening to a radio show one day, I started to think more and more about changing my Career and going into care. I’d heard on this show that some Carers used to “step over the post” on their way into their Service User's houses because they “didn’t have time” to pick it up and hand it to the lovely people they were looking after!
There were other things mentioned on the show and I couldn’t believe how a service that was meant to be looking after people, and caring, really wasn’t meeting the mark. It played on my mind!!!

One day, in the school playground, I was talking to one of the other mums. She was telling me about her sister-in-law who had recently started her own care company because the care her mother had been receiving was not as attentive as she felt it could be.

She gave me her sister-in-law's phone number and I gave her a call!!

The sister-in-law was Liz and that’s how I met up with her and Caroline!

After talking for a while and explaining I’d never done professional caring, we all decided that we would give each other a go!!

That was NINE YEARS ago!

I love my job. I love the people I help care for and I get on well with the rest of the team.

Not only am I fully trained now, but I also obtained my NVQ 2 certificate and just recently passed my NVQ 3.

One of the main things I love about my job is knowing that I am making a difference in people's lives at really difficult times in their lives. We are all one big happy family and treat our Service Users in the way that we would all want our parents to be treated. With respect and dignity.

I’ve always been in a job and loved working. I’ve tried everything over the years, but never really knew what I wanted to do.

In 2016 I saw a job vacancy for Personal Choice Carers at Home. I applied and was invited along for an interview. I got the job. Soon, all my training was completed, and I was out and about in the community.

It’s great that we care for people in their own homes and as all of us carers are based in and around Wickford it’s lovely as there is always someone about if we need any assistance.

I love the fact that we give our service users their independence wherever possible. All their care packages are different so that they suit the individuals’ needs.

I’m always keeping up to date with my training which helps because it’s always good to have extra knowledge about everyone’s conditions.

I’ve never looked for another job since I’ve worked here.

I have met some lovely people over the years, and it’s been a pleasure getting to know them and their families.

I love hearing their stories about their history and lives.
I’m so happy in my work and it’s so lovely knowing I help make such a difference in our Service Users’ lives.

Natasha has been working for Personal Choice Carers at Home since 2017.

After working as a hairdresser for 16 years, I left to have my two beautiful children. I spent many happy times with them growing up and when they had both started at school full-time, I decided, being a very active person, that I needed to do more with myself.

I started to look at jobs and came across an advert on Facebook from a company called Personal Choice Carers at Home, they were looking for Carers in the Community and were based locally in Wickford.

I had a little chat with myself and thought, "Yes, I could do that", it sounded like something I would enjoy. I'm a happy, caring and fun-loving person and I love to make people happy. I have always been a natural when it comes to helping and understanding someone who may be unhappy or have difficulties and has always been told that one of my qualities is, that I am able to lift people up when they are down. So... I applied for the job.

On the day of the interview, I was so nervous. Everyone thinks I'm full of confidence because I am often found in the middle of crowds, but deep down that isn't always the truth.

I went to meet Liz and Caroline and immediately they made me feel at ease.

I came out of the interview with a big smile on my face. I had been offered the job. Shortly after, I started my training and then, once qualified, I was out doing a job that I've grown to love.

5 years on and I'm still here. Every day is different and sometimes can be a challenge. But to this day, I'm still happy with my decision. My hours fit perfectly around my kids and my family and I feel so fulfilled in my work.

Apparently, I’m the baby of the team. I left school in 2020 when Covid was at its peak and I had no idea what I was going to do with myself when it came to working.

I love being around people and found myself working in childcare, I did enjoy it, but it didn’t give me the satisfaction I was looking for. So, I started to look around for something else.

I looked into Caring and thought that this could be the perfect career path for me.

Eventually, I found Personal Choice Carers at Home on social media. It looked like a good company to work for and as luck would have it, they were advertising for new team members.

I’ve now been working for Personal Choice Carers at home since the beginning of the year and have recently completed all my training and been awarded by Care Certificate. Everyone here has made me feel so welcome and every day, I go home so happy knowing that I have helped people and have also had a part in making them happy.

Each day my confidence is growing and I’m looking forward to progressing.

I’ve been working at Personal Choice Care at Home since earlier this year.

After leaving school I went into hairdressing and enjoyed 28 years working in the same salon. Unfortunately, they ceased trading and at the same time, my personal circumstances changed. This made me rethink my career options.

My daughter had recently started caring for Personal Choice Care at Home and was coming home from work excited and telling me all about it. It sounded like something I could do. I’m so comfortable working with people and love to help if I can.

I contacted Liz and Caroline and soon I began my training. Having recently qualified, I am now out working full-time and haven’t looked back.

I love my job and find it so rewarding.

We would like to introduce formally our lovely Freya Thomas who started working with us a few months ago. She is doing really well and is liked by all who meet her.

Here's what Freya had to say......
#MeetTheTeam

"I have worked at personal choice carers for coming up to three months now.

After finishing the sixth form I had no idea of the direction I wanted to go in. I gave it some serious thought and I knew I wanted to give care a go.

I applied to Personal Choice Carers At Home and the very next day I went for an interview.

From the moment I met Liz and Caroline, they made me feel so welcome and at ease. When they told me I had got the job I was just so excited to get started.

After my training, I started going out shadowing calls and from the first day, I have enjoyed every minute of it and couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

Everyone has been so welcoming and helped me so much through the last few months.

I feel so happy with the job I am doing and come home every day from work feeling so satisfied that I am able to make a difference. It is the most rewarding job and I am grateful I have been given this opportunity to meet so many amazing people. I treat every service user like I would wish my family to be treated because everyone deserves the respect, care and patience.

I’m now really looking forward to my future within the care sector and will soon be embarking on my NVQ qualification all thanks to Liz and Caroline.

We'd like to welcome one of our newest members to the team, the lovely Amy. She comes from a background where she trained and qualified as a Makeup Artist and Beautician but has now joined us in helping our lovely Service Users.

Welcome to Emily.

Emily has been caring for some time now and has recently joined our amazing team.