What It's Like to Be a Care Assistant

Being a carer can be very mentally, physically, and emotionally draining. Some individuals believe that it takes a certain "person" or a certain "personality" to become a carer.

I've been a carer for just over 2 years, and I've experienced more in the period of 2 years than I ever thought I would. If you are not a carer or know an individual who is, it can be a difficult situation to understand. What I mean by this statement is that, being a carer can be a difficult job. Some people don't understand the concept of caring for individuals.

Experiencing a carer's job can involve assisting with personal care, clothing, bathing, shaving, feeding, drinking, and challenging behaviour. There are many other concepts that are involved with being a carer. However, some people can be obstructed or "put off" of the job by performing personal care or cleaning up after something has happened.

I have some experiences that you may be interested to read so here goes...

1. I never really understood how hard it would be to be with someone and stay by their side whilst they were passing away. I had only been a carer for just over a year, she was a feisty little lady, but she could act like butter wouldn't melt. She was very ill for a few weeks, me and 3 of my colleagues were left with the responsibility to keep her comfortable and out of pain throughout our shift. So, I felt it was my responsibility to keep going to talk to her and to keep her company as she was bedbound and on her own. I'm pretty sure no one really wants to die alone, whether they have the capacity to understand or not. Around halfway through my shift I noticed her breathing changed which led to the misfortune of her passing away at the end of my shift. I had spent the last hour of my shift with her, talking to her, making sure she knew someone was with her and holding her hand. Although she didn't open her eyes I'm sure she knew I or someone was with her during this time.

It was my first time experiencing someone passing away, so it hit me very hard. I had people around me to support me during the minutes after she had passed but it just didn't feel enough. I was continuously shaking and crying, I was trying to keep my hands busy to make sure everything was the way she would have wanted them to be. However, I couldn't stop playing that last few moments over and over again in my head.

I spent the next 4-5 hours crying, being sent supportive texts and trying to remember the good times, however nearly everyone will understand it's hard to remember the good times when you only have the bad times/time going around in your head. This has affected me to this day.

2. You may not realise that carers will experience challenging behaviour but most of us do. However, this doesn't always involve what you think. It can involve anything from hurling verbal abuse at you, throwing objects at you, refusing any personal care, or personal help. I had many experiences with challenging behaviour some from refusing personal care to punching, kicking, and biting. This happened on many different occasions on many different days so instead of writing about them all, I will just put them into one.

On a daily basis I would go through be slapped, punched, kicked, and trying to be bitten. The reason why I would go through this would be to help the individual, to either get dressing in the morning, getting dressed after a bath, or getting ready for bed. The individual would get agitated with whoever would try and help her. Although it would usually take 2 of us to help her we would both be subjected to challenging behaviour.