Two people working on a till at a cafe

Meet Lucy, an enabler in the Reaching for Independence team within Devon County Council. Read more about Lucy’s story below.

Lucy left school after her GCSE’s and went straight to work in a solicitor’s office, which has given her a very good grounding in confidentiality and data protection. Lucy then fell into social care, initially working in a residential care home, then moved to Social Care Reablement, and then progressed to the Reaching for Independence team and has not looked back.

Learn something new every day

As an enabler in the Reaching for Independence team, Lucy supports a wide range of individuals from the age of 17 to older adults, supporting individuals who may have learning disabilities, mental health conditions, and or physical disabilities. The impact of the role aims to improve individuals lives and their ability to manage daily life more independently. It’s about fulfilling their life; Lucy uses her skills, knowledge and interest in helping people to find what would make their lives better. Lucy says she learns something new every day.

Being an enabler, you can support people to improve their independence in a number of different ways. You may support with travel, training, using technology, employment, accessing the local community, budgeting, nutrition, and maintaining a home. Each referral is unique. The role involves utilising the support that is out there and supporting and empowering the individual to do things for themselves. This means reducing the need for long-term support.

You feel a real sense of achievement

Lucy wanted to make people’s lives better, to help them to be as independent and as happy as possible. “The impact of seeing someone you have supported out and about and seeing how well they are doing a year later provides a real sense of achievement.”

“The best part of the job is seeing the outcome and the difference the my involvement has made to that person”. It’s exciting to make a difference; just because someone has a disability it doesn’t mean they don’t have an ability to do things. It is also great to manage own timetable and coordinate visits with service users.

You have to be problem solver, if there is a challenge, you try and problem solve it, there is always a solution.

To be an enabler you need to be proactive, enthusiastic, willing to learn, flexible, a team player and a good listener. You have to be problem solver, if there is a challenge, you try and problem solve it, there is always a solution. It is about thinking outside the box and developing individuals strengths.

If, like Lucy, you’d like the challenge and reward of becoming an enabler, you can find more information on our careers pages.