Teresa is a Healthcare Professional and is currently studying her level 3 NVQ with us at Wales England Care Ltd and we really wanted to share her fantastic story with you.

She decided to embark on a physical challenge of cycling and walking the length of the Appalachian trail which is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. She will be raising money for Mind Charity to help support people who have been impacted by the pandemic.

​We caught up with Teresa to find out more and ask her a few questions.

Tell us a bit about the challenge you’re doing for charity and why you decided to do it?
Well, I needed to lose weight (4 stone) at the start of the year, so I started seeing a weight consultant, but when lockdown struck, I couldn’t see her anymore. So, I had to think of a new way to motivate myself to lose weight.
I saw an NHS Facebook advert which was promoting for people to do what they could in a month, and you’d receive a medal. So, I began that challenge, by venturing back on to my exercise bike that I hadn’t been on in years and cycling throughout the month. I completed that and then moved on to doing the couch to 5k challenge. I completed that too!

I started to think this is ridiculous, I really should be doing something for charity. Especially when I felt my life hadn’t changed in comparison to everyone else’s. I was still able to go to work, the only difference is I had to wear PPE. I was fortunate enough to still be able to pay my mortgage and my bills when I know so many other people may not be able to.
I began searching for challenges, and me being me, I wanted to find a slightly unusual and unique one. That’s where I came across the Appalachian Trail which I decided was the perfect challenge for me. I loved that it was in mountain ranges and I love the outdoors. You usually complete the 1,968 in 18 months, but I decided to set myself the challenge to cycle and walk the length of it in just 12month!

When it came to choosing a charity, I decided to choose Mind to help support everyone who may be struggling with their mental health because of the pandemic. Mental health support right now is crucial and is why I want to support them right now.
 
What have you completed so far?
I’ve completed 300 miles so far and have 1668 miles to go! I started on 11/10/20 and my finishing target date is 10/11/21. Since the start of lockdown I’ve lost the 4 stone I intended and now I’m maintaining the weight off!

You’re planning on cycling on your exercise bike at home and walking to complete your challenge. Do you have a walking buddy?
Yes I do! It’s my 7 year old rescue dog, Riley. We rescued him 6 years ago and he’s been living with us ever since. Walking him can be quite a challenge as he is still quite frightened of unexpected sounds or sights. So, my usual walk would normally take no time at all but with Riley, it’s a challenge within itself and can take a lot longer. It’s a great additional challenge though, because I get to witness how far he’s come on from where he was when we first got him!

Do you have a JustGiving page where people can donate money and support you and Mind?
Yes I do, it’s https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/teresa-raines

Any donations will be gratefully received and any support and encouragement would be fantastic too.

We just had something we’d like to say to you Teresa before we wrap up this interview.
We think what you’re doing is outstanding and that fact you believe your life hasn’t changed much compared to others is truly incredible. From outsiders looking in, the fact that you go to work every day on the frontline, wearing your PPE and devoting your life to caring for all our families is something we will forever be grateful for.

To go one step beyond what you’re already doing and being so selfless to additionally raise money by taking up a challenge to support Mind is truly inspirational.

​From Wales England Care Ltd we wanted to wish you the best of luck with your challenge and wanted to let you know that you’re a fantastic learner and we’re so grateful you chose us to enhance your knowledge and further your career. You are an incredible lady and we are here to support you all the way!

We caught up with Chandler Martin who has studied his Level 2 Adult Care Worker Apprenticeship with us. We wanted to know how his experience has been, what he's achieved along the way and whether he would continue to study with us to further his career in the future. 

How has your experience been with Wales England Care Ltd, Chandler? 
'Well, it has been very supportive, it has helped me discipline myself and given me focus for something to aim towards. It has supported me to further my career in the care sector and has given me more confidence when providing care. I feel a great sense of achievement.

​Emma, my Assessor, has helped me to feel motivated and provided me with encouragement through my qualification. I have gained a deeper knowledge and understanding of my job role as a domiciliary support care worker. As a result of this support, within 5 months of continued support from Emma at Wales England Care Ltd, I won the award at work for employee of the year by the management. I was also voted the best newcomer of the year by colleagues and clients at Innovations Domiciliary Care.'

Would continue to further your career by choosing to study with Wales England Care Ltd again?
'Yes, certainly. My experience has been nothing short of fantastic.'

​Thanks and a big congratulations, Chandler, for all your hard work from all of us here at Wales England Care Ltd. 

​We caught up with our learner Beth who just passed her Level 2 Adult Care Worker Apprenticeship and her End-Point Assessment with an amazing DISTINCTION!

We wanted to know how she felt about her achievements and how she found studying with us!

Beth: “My experience of Wales England Care Ltd has been amazing. I have received a lot of support from Emma my assessor and my qualification has helped me grow my confidence and gain a better understanding of the job I do. I would highly recommend Wales & England Care Ltd! I’m so pleased with my DISTINCTION and I have reached my aspiration of completing this qualification at the highest level!”

Ready to start your Level 2 Adult Care Worker Apprenticeship? Click the button below to find out more information on how we can help you.
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We interviewed Emma who has just passed her 6 month' probation with us with flying colours. We wanted to know about how she started her career in care and how she felt about becoming our Cardiff Area Manager!

What's your career journey so far?
I started at Marks and Spencer’s working part-time while I was still studying at school. When I finished school, I wasn’t certain what I wanted to do. I knew I needed to find a job because money was tight. I started looking for jobs and came across an advertisement for a care assistant role at a care home. I had an interview and they offered me the job. That’s were my journey into care began!

I then first joined Wales England Care Ltd as a Trainee Assessor, but soon realised that care was truly where my heart was. I quickly moved back into the Dom Care side of the business and became a deputy manager and then progressed to a manager covering the Cardiff area.

I’m so pleased I started and continued my career journey in care, because I love the care industry and can’t imagine myself doing anything else.

How do you feel now you have successfully completed your 6 months’ probation as a Care Manager?
I feel extremely proud that I’ve passed. It was my ultimate goal to progress into a managerial position and I can’t believe I’ve achieved it! I’m also now a registered Care Manager with Social Care Wales too.

How have you impacted positive change within the Cardiff area?
Since I’ve joined, I’ve noticed a great deal of continuity in staff, which is important for service users, as it ensures they are comfortable with the service they receive. It also ensures that staff can build a rapport with service users and concerns can be highlighted efficiently.
 
I believe the continuity of staff is because my team know I’m always there if they ever need my support. I make sure to do supervision every 3 months to support my team’s development too. I’m also in regular contact with them congratulating them on any great feedback we receive from our service users and their families. Positive feedback from our Service Users always shows the team how greatly appreciated they are.

We have also increased our care hours from 181 to 330 hours, which is massive growth of which I’ve helped organise.

What’s your most rewarding achievement to date?
My most rewarding achievement to date is completing my Level 5 Apprenticeship. I found it really challenging, but mainly because I changed jobs during the time, I was studying for it. I feel so pleased I’ve managed to complete and pass it. Something I thought I would never be able to do.

What would you like to achieve next?
My main goal is to expand our Cardiff Domiciliary Care even further. I’d love to grow my lovely Cardiff team and help new Health Care Professionals embark on a fantastic new career with us.  

If you're interested in starting your career in care like Emma, drop us an email: [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you. 

On National Entrepreneurs Day, we wanted you to meet the faces behind Wales England Care Ltd. We asked Kim and Chris a few questions, including where they saw the future of their company and why they started it! See our interviews below. 

Meet Kim: 

How did you feel when you started your company?
'I started by giving up my senior job role in one of the largest training companies in Wales. I was extremely nervous and excited at the same time as I had previously started my own business at the age of 28, where I owned a share of a care home with two others. I understood what it was like to go alone as such, without having the security of a company and people to fall back on.

Chris supported me with this decision, which made the decision easier.'

Why you did you start Wales England Care ltd?
'I wanted to start the business because I had set up Health and Social Care departments involving training in two other companies (the second company being the one I left to go alone). When I joined them, they had a contract of £500,000 and when I left, they had grown to £3.2 million!

I am extremely passionate about the care industry and love helping others achieve things that they never thought possible. In the early days, we were mainly supporting unemployed people through our provision. I absolutely loved supporting them and they were truly an inspiration to me. Especially, seeing people overcome so many barriers to go on and gain employment or go to college or university. I am so proud of every one of them and I really miss this provision.
However, my background is Apprenticeships, and people within this industry know me for that. This is why they wanted to support me with gaining contracts to be able to offer the apprenticeship provision. As they say, the rest is history. We now cover all of Wales and we are a prime contract holder in our own right within the ESFA (England and UK government).'

How do you feel about what you’ve achieved so far?
'I always struggle with this question because I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for the learners and the team of people that are around me. I see it as a joint effort really.'

Where would you like your business to be in the future and what drives you to be bigger and better?
'Firstly, we want to be a global business. Secondly, the drive I have is the satisfaction that I get when I see people develop and achieve, and when I go and visit a service user who truly appreciates the care that they've received. To sit and have a conversation with them fills me with so much pride and pushes me, even more, to be able to offer the best possible service. That is what makes me tick and what drives me to want to grow both our training and domiciliary care services.'

Is there anything else you would like to add?
'I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support from Chris and my family. They have always been there to support me.
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When you run a business, it can be exhilarating, exhausting, and sometimes scary. However, I always remember that making a difference in someone else’s life fills you with so much satisfaction there is nothing in the world that I love more than that. That is why I do what I do and will continue to for as long as I can.'

Meet Chris:
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How did you feel when you started your company?
'It was Kim who started the Company back in 2009. I was working full time as an Engineer and helped around my shifts and on my days off. The first few years were tough but exhilarating at the same time, watching Kim excel in everything she did yet being concerned about her health as she worked up to twenty hours a day. I was spending more and more time supporting Kim with all of the background work from installing phone lines, creating IT suites and managing admin processes and a year later, I gave up my twenty plus year career in Engineering and joined Kim full time in the business. It has been the biggest rollercoaster EVER! but knowing the difference we make in people’s lives makes it all worthwhile.'

Why you did you start Wales England Care ltd?
'When Kim and I first met, almost twenty years ago now, Kim was working as a Care Assistant and she was deliberating on whether or not to take up a position as a Health & Social Care Assessor. I asked her what she had to lose and a few weeks later she had taken her first step into the training world. Kim loved it and quickly rose through the ranks to Senior Manager having overseen enormous growth in her sector by taking over four competitor companies. Kim had started suggesting to me that she could do it on her own and make a difference in the Health & Social Care sector. We talked about it and the risks involved and decided that Kim should let herself loose into the business world.'

How do you feel about what you’ve achieved so far?
'There are so many amazing stories I could tell you about the people who have come through our doors with no qualifications, no confidence and , in their minds, no future who have left us having achieved things they thought were impossible for them. Some have left having achieved numerous qualifications in their time with us and others have left being able to read and write for the first time in their lives. We have had generations of families come to us and almost everyone who has come through our doors has left with a confidence in themselves that they had never had before and gone on to achieve their goals however big or small.

Having also been a Domiciliary Care provider since 2017, the incredible satisfaction you get knowing that, as a company, we are helping vulnerable people live independently in their own homes in their twilight years is second to none. Kim and I have both been out on runs with the carers, and still do occasionally, and to see the difference we make to people’s lives is amazing.'

Where would you like your business to be in the future and what drives you to be bigger and better?
'In the future, I want us to be able to change people’s lives by supporting them through all aspects of our business. I want us to continue to be leaders in Health & Social Care training, improving our standards year on year and become one of the best providers in the UK. I want the Domiciliary Care to continue to expand throughout Wales and England providing the best possible service to those who rely on us. We have other projects in mind that we want to explore as well, one of those is Kim’s desire to have a nursing home within the next two years and I would like to provide respite care holidays for families. Also, we are not limiting ourselves to the UK and have already had discussions with holiday proprietors in Malta and will be meeting the Health Minister for Malta next week to discuss Health & Social Care on the islands. Dubai could be next on our list as we have our eyes set on becoming a Global Company.'

Is there anything else you would like to add?
'Our business is nothing without the teams of people we have around us, from the Care staff to the Delivery team, the Admin team, the Quality team, IT and Marketing, the SMT and our fellow Directors. Equally so, our business is nothing without our learners and our care citizens. But most of all, our business would be nothing without the drive, enthusiasm, passion and determination of our Managing Director, my wife, Kim Churcher.'

We interviewed our apprentice Mike Evans who has Dyslexia and is currently studying our Level 5 Management in Childcare. We wanted to know more about his journey and how he was getting on training with us. 

When where you diagnosed with Dyslexia?
'I wasn’t diagnosed until very late when I went to university. When I was assessed they said I was one of the worst cases to have gone undiagnosed for so long.

When I was assessed and diagnosed I was given computer software to support me and a tutor to help with spelling, which was great.'

What are your strengths because of dyslexia?
'It’s just part of who I am and I’m easily able to adapt to manage quickly! It also doesn’t faze me at all.'

How do you find working with dyslexia?
'Working within the care sector is great, because they’re more empathetic and understanding. My employer has been really supportive and bought the same software I used during my university years called ‘Texthelp: Read&Write’. It turns text into speech and tints the screen yellow. The yellow tinting helps keep the words in place on the screen for me, and I can listen rather than having to read everything.

I currently work with children who have learning disabilities. I think my experience of having learning difficulties myself, has made it easier for me to help them. I’ve made strategies and methods over the years that have worked for me so these may help them too.'  

How do you find studying with Wales England Care ltd?
'Great! I’m having no issues at all and Sarah, my Development Coach, is a great support to me. There are several times I call her out of hours and she’s always there to support me or answer any questions I may have.'

What would you say to anyone looking to start an apprenticeship that may have dyslexia?
'Yeah, go for it! I’m currently studying my Level 5 Management Diploma and I’m given support and guidance whenever I need it. Even out of hours too!'

​We caught up with a former Wales England Care Dyslexic student, Kirsty Thomas, who recently passed her Apprenticeship in Level 5 Management in Childcare.

On Dyslexia Awareness Week, we wanted to ask her a few questions about her experiences with Dyslexia. Particularly her  experience doing an apprenticeship, and her advice to anyone thinking of starting an apprenticeship with Wales England Care Ltd who may have Dyslexia. 
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When were you get diagnosed with Dyslexia? 
'I was 8 when I was diagnosed with dyslexia at school, and I struggled with writing and reading the most. My teachers didn’t think I was going to pass any of my GCSEs exams, which is why I started to believe I would never achieve anything in school. However, I proved them wrong. I passed 90% of them, including my English and Maths.'

What are your strengths because of dyslexia?
'I think dyslexia gives you an inner drive to never give up. When you’re told you may not be able to do something, it makes you think, well why not? So, then you want to prove them wrong. It makes you more resilient to succeed. That’s a big strength for me.'

How did you find studying with Wales England Care ltd?
'I worked whilst studying for my apprenticeship, so I would do my coursework out of hours at home. There were times where I would read a question and not understand it, so would need to contact my accessor for additional support. Even when it was out of hours, they would contact me, providing me with support and guidance on what the question was asking and offer me writing direction.  I really can’t fault the support I had from Wales England Care ltd.'

How do you find working with dyslexia?
'Everyone at the Childcare Nursery I work with knows that I have dyslexia and I get support from my employer with writing reports if needed.

I don’t worry about my dyslexia at all now and I’ve achieved what I wanted to become, a manager.'

What would you say to anyone looking to start an apprenticeship that may have dyslexia?
'Go for it! I have an employee who’s looking to do an apprenticeship and has dyslexia. She came to me and said she thought she couldn’t do it. I told her I am proof that she can, that I have done it and passed it and she could do the same.

​You can do anything you put your mind to!'

Thanks Kirsty, for letting us interview you. 

​Our dedicated team member Diane Morgan is the Manager of Wales England Care (Domiciliary Care) and is registered with Social Care Wales. 

Diane has a wealth of experience in the Health and Social Care sector spanning 27 years, starting as a Care Assistant and progressing to Deputy Manager, as well as being a Registered Manager in a Residential Home. She has also managed a nursing agency in Bridgewater and her qualifications include NVQ Level 4, Level 5 Diploma in Management and Leadership. Most recently, Diane has completed her Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Health and Social Care Services.

Her priority is our service users receiving the very best services and that our policies and procedures, together with our staff and staff training, are of the highest of standards.

Diane is committed to improving the quality of life for those we serve and has a wealth of experience of dealing with the vulnerable members of society and is committed to safeguarding people.