To mark International Women's Day, our brilliant staff member Jennifer Brain spoke to us about her role as a Support Worker within our supported accommodation.
Tell us a bit about yourself – your likes, dislikes, hobbies etc!
I’m Jen I love to craft mainly crochet, personalised things like photos with quotes on and I love to read in my spare time. I don’t like heights!
Why do you choose to do your job/work in the sector?
When my son was born, I was diagnosed with bipolar and my dad was addicted to alcohol. I always wanted to help people, so after my children grew up I decided to find a job that I would love and decided Changing Lives was the right place for me.
I started volunteering for Changing Lives in a woman’s hostel teaching crafts. I then started doing sessional work, but when Covid hit I was unable to volunteer so I started to pick up shifts in the Newcastle area where I've worked ever since!
What is it like working at Virginia House?
No one day is the same one day - we're chatting with the lads, or supporting them to attend other services, or cleaning a room and completing paperwork...
Working at Virginia house is very fast paced and can be very busy and chaotic at times.
