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A week in the life of… a supported housing operations manager
Spiros Georgiou of Hightown Housing Association dealt with a case involving a missing person, an incident related to substance abuse and sorted out a new rug for a resident
Monday
My role as an operations manager during the pandemic has been different to say the least – more challenging, absolutely, but equally more rewarding than ever before. I’m responsible for six different housing schemes and supporting a variety of different people, from young mothers and their babies, young people (aged 16 to 24) and homeless people with complex needs.
Every Monday we catch up as a group, and debrief on the weekend. Today I’ve caught up with all of my scheme managers and dealt with the follow-up of an incident where one of our residents went missing. He has since been found safe and well, so we’ve spent the morning putting into place a plan for his ongoing safety and a list of places for the scheme manager to contact locally to get involved with his personal development and rehabilitation.
I spent the afternoon completing administration tasks and reviewing our workflows – a system Hightown has set up to improve processes.
Tuesday
Today is all about our fortnightly ‘service users of concern’ meeting. Following on from yesterday’s debrief, we discuss other service users that are at risk for a variety of reasons. For example, how we can best support those service users, what immediate interventions are needed and what we can do to improve individual outcomes. Each service user has their own support plan and personal ‘growth tree’. The growth tree shows where residents started on their journey and what areas they need to focus on. It really helps us provide truly personalised care.
Our mother and baby service is also on my list to visit today. During the pandemic, we have been restricted to only visiting if there is a serious incident, but we can now visit to assess requests and get feedback from residents. I put my full PPE on so that we are all as safe as can be and head over to catch up. The residents request a new rug for the living room so we discuss budget and will give them some options next week to choose from. Encouraging residents to get involved in the service design helps hugely with their engagement and well-being.
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Wednesday
This morning I had webinar training with the organisation Homeless Link. They’ve been running digital training and conferences throughout the entire COVID-19 crisis and they aim to allow those who work in tackling homelessness to share best practice. I spend the afternoon updating some of our processes to reflect the new ideas and discussing these with our scheme managers. I also work through our health and safety risk assessments to ensure each of them is up to date and accessible.
Thursday
Today’s main task is to speak to our local commissioner. Creating a strong relationship is vital as they fill our bed spaces when a resident moves on to independent living or another service. They are also involved in tenders for new businesses we hope to take on, so we speak regularly. I also get a call from a scheme manager about an incident with a resident and what steps to take next. The issue is related to substance abuse so we spend some time discussing local signposting options and extra support we can provide so that they can continue to sustain their tenancy.
Friday
We have a new service coming into my area as one of my colleagues has decided to go part time. It is always a good time to review and progress a scheme when the management changes, so I put my PPE back on and head down to meet the residents. The residents are keen to get involved with developing the scheme so I’m looking forward to developing a co-production plan.
One of the reasons I love working in care is that you get to really see how your input can improve someone’s future. Working with individuals who have experienced complex trauma is challenging but people deserve as many opportunities and chances as life can give them, despite what they’ve been through, and my job allows me to provide some.
Do you know an outstanding professional who deserves to be featured? Email jess.mccabe@insidehousing.co.uk with your suggestions
A week in the life series
Our ‘A week in the life’ series features housing professionals talking through what they do in their job on a day-to-day basis.
Find out about the different challenges housing workers in a variety of roles face in a given week.
We aim to feature staff from housing associations, ALMOs, local authorities and more.
Click here to nominate yourself or a colleague for inclusion
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