Jayla Finds There’s Never a Bad Day Working as a Caregiving
Jayla was working in retail when she started thinking about a career change. She was frustrated with the limited number of hours she was getting at the store, and she also wanted work that she would find more satisfying.
When she noticed a Help at Home job listing, she was immediately interested. She knew that working with customers was the best part of her retail job – and she had informal caregiving experience from her teenage years, helping to care for her grandmother after a stroke.
That experience had been hard, she said. No one was prepared for it, and she and other family members had to quickly learn how to care for someone who had experienced a stroke. But now she realizes it also helped her learn things about herself. “It made me realize that this is where I wanted to be,” she said.
Caring means listening to clients
Jayla, who works for the Columbus, GA branch office, has three regular clients and occasionally fills in for other caregivers so she is often working with different clients.
“The number one key is listening to your clients and understanding what they are saying,” she said. It’s important because often you find out that what they want or need help with is not the thing you would have guessed. One of her clients will often tell her she wants to get her hair done – or that she wants to take a bath. Sometimes she even says she wants to sleep an extra half hour while Jayla gets started mopping and sweeping.
She said talking to clients also helps build their relationship. By listening to them, she learns about the things that are most important to them. (She hears lots of stories about grandchildren!) Her clients also enjoy hearing about her day and adventures as well – even it’s something simple like a trip to Target where she ended up buying more than she intended to. “We’re always laughing,” she says.
“We have amazing conversations almost every single day. There is always something new to talk about,” she said.
“It’s always something new. It’s always something different. Every day it’s always just something good. There is never a bad day working here.”
