A career in care: Rocky's story

Rocky first joined Break in 2005, beginning his journey as a support worker before progressing through senior roles to eventually lead services. His career has been shaped by strong relationships, belief from others, and a commitment to giving young people the chances he once felt he didn’t have. 

What motivated you to start a career in care? 

At school, I wasn’t really given much of a chance. I played the clown because that’s what people seemed to expect of me. I didn't ever really want to go into a specific trade, but after leaving school, I got involved in football coaching and found that I loved working with young people – building relationships, helping them and being part of their world.

I started thinking about having more of a career and when I saw an advert for Break in the newspaper, something clicked. I’ve always felt like I wanted to help people, doing something where I could be myself and make a difference, so I decided to give it a go. 

What helped you progress from a support worker to a managerial role at Break? 

When I first started as a support worker, I didn’t really know much about residential homes. But I had a great manager who was really supportive and encouraged me to build relationships, try new things out and support the team, so that helped me from the very beginning. My progression wasn’t something I pushed for at first. I never said, “I want to be more senior” or “I want to be a manager.” Instead, people tapped me on the shoulder and said, “You’d be good at that.”

Looking back now, I probably lacked some self-belief because of my experiences at school and not being given much opportunity. But some key people at Break saw something in me and supported me. From support worker to head of services, Break has given me opportunities, training, and wrap‑around support every step of the way. 

How do you cope with the emotional challenges of the role? 

When I first started, I worked closely with a young person who’d been through a lot. I didn’t understand why I felt so emotional until Break’s training helped me learn about secondary trauma and attachment and transference of emotions, and that really helped with understanding the emotional challenges of the role and learning ways to cope with them.

I think I also had to come to terms with the fact I couldn’t take away the difficult experiences that the young people had, but what I could do is try and give them a better life and the positive experiences and opportunities that they deserve.

There are difficult times when working with young people and every goodbye hurts, but the support is there at Break to help you through these times. And when you step into a management role, you still get that same support, and you also see how every young person is thought of and cared for all the way through the organisation. 

How has working your way through Break helped you? 

I think Break has always been ahead of its time with training and new approaches, which have really helped in better understanding the young people and my own emotional responses. That training alongside the experience of moving through different roles has definitely shaped the way I support and develop staff now as a head of service.

Working my way through Break has helped me get to a point where I can now use my own experiences to help staff understand what’s going on for young people and for themselves. It’s helped me grow in ways I never expected. 

What advice would you give to someone thinking about a career in care? 

In this work, you get the opportunity to be part of someone’s life in such a meaningful way, guiding them as they move into whatever the next part of their journey is. To me it’s felt like more than a job, it’s more like a second life where I can still be myself but do amazing things with the young people we support.

So my advice would be to give it a go – I’ve never looked back and the reward you get from it is unbelievable.