Brenda Coutts has worked at Lisden, our lovely care home in Kirriemuir, for seven years. She was a carer until, last year, she decided to move into activities. But, this isn’t the first time Brenda has worked at Lisden.
“I actually came here to work as a carer in 1996,” remembers Brenda. “I was only here for about six months. I’d never done care in my life and, at the time, it wasn’t really for me.”
Brenda went on to work in some different roles, including 20 years at the Tesco in Kirriemuir. “I was only supposed to do that job until my son went to school. He’d left school and was practically finished university when I decided I wanted to do something else.”
This led Brenda back to Lisden who saw a job advertisement for carers. “I remember thinking this feels more like the right time in my life to do this. Coming in as a youngster wasn’t right for me, but now I’m a bit older, it felt right.”
Since returning to Lisden, Brenda’s experience has been very different, beginning on night shift to look after the family dog during the day before moving onto working day shifts for five years.
Then, last year, Brenda took the opportunity to become an Activities Coordinator. “I initially was only supposed to it for three months, but I’ve been doing it ever since! Many people think running the activities is quite a relaxed, easy job, but there’s a lot more to it than that. There’s a lot of organising and planning. Things like summer fairs, Christmas fairs, parties – it can be challenging to plan it all.”
Being a carer before has definitely helped Brenda develop in her Activities role. “Even though I knew the residents on a care level, I actually think I know them a lot better now. As a carer, you aren’t able to spend as much time with the residents as you can as an Activities Coordinator, so I get to chat to them, find out what they enjoy a lot more now.”
Now, Brenda loves nothing more than seeing the residents enjoying an activity. “Seeing the residents happy after you have organised something for them like music entertainment is what it’s all about.”
