A Day in the Life of a Refuge Support Worker (Neath)
Our refuge support workers play a key role in supporting women and their children who are escaping an abusive relationship by helping them to re-build their lives.
Here is a typical day in the life of Rebecca Sian Tavender, a Refuge Support Worker in our Neath Port Talbot Refuge. Says Rebecca:
My role is to support clients and their families during their time in our refuge. We aim to provide a safe place for them to live and re-build their lives and to our clients in moving forward. I also provide weekly 1-1 support sessions, facilitate support groups and hold activities to promote self-esteem and build on emotional well-being. In addition, I work as part of a team for out of hours emergency on call service.
On a typical day, I will have contact with my clients to carry out welfare checks and support updates, followed by phone calls to external agencies, work as part of a multi-disciplinary team. It’s also part of my role to manage, report and check on refuge building maintenance.
What I enjoy most about my role is supporting survivors and facilitating a safe place for them to live and re-build their lives. The main challenge we face in this role is wanting to support survivors who are not yet ready to accept our support.
I would like to add that I feel privileged to work as a refuge support worker and grateful to have a brilliant team and work family in Calan DVS. I could not do my job to such a high standard without the support to my colleagues.
