What did you do before?
Before becoming an Advocate I was a Community Team Member (meals delivery driver) at Hemel Hempstead. Pre-HILS. I was a chartered civil engineer with a 20-year career in construction. .
When did you start working for HILS?
I started in May 2016. I started the advocacy role in July 2017.
What does your job entail?
Advocacy is primarily about supporting people to get their views heard or their voices listened to. Some people are vulnerable because of their age and may have difficulty understanding or navigating processes that are in place to support them with their health and wellbeing. Advocates can assist vulnerable people to fully understand and access services that may improve their health and wellbeing. On a practical level, advocates can attend meetings with service users or help them make phone calls, write letters or help service users communicate with other professionals (such as social workers or occupational therapists for example).
Why do you enjoy working for HILS?
By the very nature of our work, HILS attracts employees who are implicitly kind and happy. Our client’s happiness and wellbeing really is at the heart of everything we do. This creates a really happy and rewarding working environment – which in turn makes me feel happy and fulfilled in my job.
What is your favourite thing about HILS?
The fact that despite working in a role that is not a part of the HILS core business (which is meals on wheels) and working remotely a lot of the time, all of the Senior Leadership Team know my name, what I do, and always find the time to stop and chat (even if it is just for a few minutes) whenever I meet them. I feel really valued – despite all the things I just mentioned that would make it easy to feel overlooked.