Supporting The Vulnerable Adult

If you have been following my blog you will know that I now have a new job after a year and a half of looking.  Oh boy what a relief, now I feel able to make clear decision and take control of my life. This past year has given me a feel of what it is like to have my mental health comprised and feel vulnerable. But unlike the majority of the clients I have supported I have been fortunate in having very good family and friends who have been there supporting and helping me through this difficult period.

I feel I have been fortunate over the past decade in my choice of work. This has involved working with adults who are considered vulnerable due to their disability or age. My past roles have  involved supporting  people experiencing mental health difficulty, people who have difficulty in communicating their needs.This has included providing emotional support, and advocacy, helping people to express their needs and wishes, helping people to access services obtain information.

This is my first month in my new job and although I love the job, more so than my other roles it has highlighted the inequalities of society and the challenges of growing old. Most of the clients I meet are elderly, some appear to have had a comfortable lifestyle, that's not to say their life has been stress free, some well what can I say. How does a pensioner cope in society when they can't read or write, when the person who supported and cared for them are no longer around, when they are plagued by physical disability.  What I have seen is scary, because I know the work that people like me do is like  picking away at an ice berg.

When we speak of tolerance, non judgemental, empathy. I now know what it takes, when I walk into a home that makes me gag from smells accumulated through years of human waste seeped into the carpets, I sit, I listen, I take notes, I begin to formulate a plan of how I am going to support this vulnerable person, Because of their sense of humour, their tenacity in the face of adversity, I see past the exterior surrounding I see the real person the vulnerable person.