This month we say a warm goodbye to Children’s Residential Care Registered Manager Sam Hodson, who is moving on to new pastures after dedicating more than a decade (half of his life!) to supporting young people at our charity’s care homes.
From coaching the charity’s football team aged 16 to ensuring Ofsted regulated care homes are fit for protecting our community’s most at-risk young people – Sam has continued to grow into an incredible professional and person during his time at Nottinghamshire YMCA.
“I’ve absolutely loved every minute of it,” said Sam in his final week. “The residential care job is about creating that sense of life normality for our young people that they perhaps haven’t had before.
“We always consider ourselves a big family, and as a movement we stay in contact with our young people to ensure they are doing okay even after leaving our charity. Even during the difficult lockdown, I made time to chat particularly to those who don’t have family around to support them.
“Many of our young people have gone through such a difficult time that it is important to help them understand it is okay to express their emotions and that it won’t be met with a negative response, but rather they will receive a loving, caring and nurturing response.
“My advice to new staff coming into this role is you have got to love this job in order to do it. Don’t pull up to work thinking you are going to have an easy shift. There are times that will be tough, but how you deal with it can have a real positive impact not just on the young people but on you personally, too.”
Sam will be very much missed but he has promised to gate-crash our charity Christmas parties for years to come!
Apply to join our YMCA Children’s Residential Care team by visiting our Careers page.