Five Minutes with Jasmine Stanhope, Director Specialist Services Dementia & Resources

Jasmine has worked in the social care sector for over 20 years. Her career journey began when she did bank shifts for Rushcliffe Care Group whilst studying towards her A Levels. This experience inspired Jasmine to pursue a career in care. 20 years later, Jasmine is now an Assistant Director and dementia lead within Rushcliffe Care Group.

Honestly, I didn’t feel as if I did choose to work in social care. I was studying my AS levels and didn’t know which pathway I wanted to take. My mum suggested social care, so it started with doing some bank work. This work experience inspired me to look at cadet nursing programmes ran by a local university. By this time and I know it sounds like a cliché, but I feel like care had chosen me. I liked that I could make a positive impact on an individual’s life on a daily basis.

I didn’t, my AS levels were in English language, sociology and German. So social care was a really different pathway to where my qualifications geared me. Social care is a sector that is more centred on having the right values and personality traits opposed to having the ‘right’ qualifications.

I remember vividly my first bank shift, I was working with a gentleman who had recently had a stroke and was paralysed down one side of his body. I remember helping to support him to put on a top, I was worried that people would think I couldn’t do it or was doing it wrong. From day one until now I am constantly learning and one of the most important things is never giving in and seeing things that arise as challenges, not problems. Every day I feel like I have done something positive to impact on someone’s life, multiple times a day to multiple individuals.

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I started with doing bank work alongside my AS levels, from there I applied for a nursing cadet programme ran by a local university. In the first stages of that programme I completed my level 2 and level 3 in health and social care, after the first two years I took a year break from the course to focus on work. By the end of this year out I had progressed to a team leader as a bank member of staff. Without even being full time employed, I had progressed. That’s the thing with Rushcliffe Care it is more about what you can offer the company and outcomes for individuals opposed to having the right qualifications. Since then, I have completed my nursing qualification, health and social care management qualification, dementia degree, PTLLs training and assessors award. People with potential are identified and encouraged to progress, I didn’t go into care thinking I would be a nurse, a manager or complete a dementia degree, there are things people within our organisation have seen in me and those opportunities to progress become available to those who are passionate about the work they do.

You always remember the characters. I remember one gentleman in particular, for other staff he was difficult to manage, would refuse personal care, eat or drink. I took time to learn about how he viewed the world and by understanding his views I was better placed to approach things in a different way. We had a real connection and I was able to build the trust that enabled me to facilitate the things that had previously been challenging. This was a really special relationship and so rewarding to know I could make such an impact on someone’s life and they had that trust in me.

I am in a career which has job satisfaction, progression and has the flexibility to allow me to have built a family and become a homeowner at an early age, this is owed to the progression I was able to achieve at a young age. I am now an assistant director, dementia lead and have a host of other qualifications that have been either subsidised or funded by my Rushcliffe Care or RCN sponsorship awards. I have a job that makes a difference and I truly enjoy, I feel valued here.