Home > News > Uncategorized > Southdown Support Worker and Client shine in national ‘Made with Care’ campaign
A man with long dark hair, wearing a black heavy metal-themed vest with patches, is pushing a wheelchair along a pavement. The wheelchair user, a client, a man with glasses and a bright red shirt, is smiling. The wheelchair has decorations, including stickers with political messages. They are outdoors on a tree-lined street with brick houses and parked cars in the background. They are featured in government's 'Made with Care' campaign.

Southdown Support Worker and Client shine in national ‘Made with Care’ campaign

Posted on 4 February 2025

We are incredibly proud to share that Nick, a Support Worker from our Sackville Gardens learning disability service in Brighton, alongside Kevin, a client of the service, are featured in the government’s national Made with Care (adult social care) recruitment campaign.

Running throughout February, this high-profile initiative is backed by an extensive promotional push, including prime-time TV and cinema ads. The campaign aims to inspire more people to explore rewarding careers in care and highlights the many opportunities available in the sector across the UK.

Nick and Kevin were filmed as they went about their day, demonstrating what great support work looks like and its impact. Their involvement helped bring the campaign’s powerful ad to life – you can see it for yourself on the Department of Health and Social Care’s adult social care recruitment website: Adult Social Care.

You can check out the ad during The Masked Singer at 7.30pm this Saturday (8th Feb) on ITV, or on Sunday (9th Feb), during Sunday Brunch on channel 4 at 10.50am. For those who watch Love Island All Stars, catch the ad on ITV 2 on Thursday, 6th Feb at 9.45pm.

Nick and Kevin as featured on the Department of Health & Social Care adult social care recruitment website

Vaska Trajkovska, our Communications Content Lead caught up with Nick about the campaign….

Why did you want to get involved with the Made with Care campaign?

The main reason for wanting to get involved in the campaign was to hopefully entice others in to looking at working within care. Since I didn’t have any previous experience within care/support work, I wanted to convey to others that it’s possible to make that first step to not only improve the community, but better yourself. It was an added bonus I got to do the campaign with Kevin as I know he’s passionate about looking out for others and making a positive impact as well.

How long have you been supporting Kevin for?

I’ve been supporting Kevin for about three and a half years now, the total time I’ve been a support worker.

Can you tell us a little about how you have developed your way of communicating with one another?

Since Kevin is non-verbal, our manager worked with Kevin to develop a communication folder – essentially, the folder contains topics with various subsections that are pertinent to Kevin. Kevin can reply to ‘yes’ and ‘no’ questions through body movements, so through a process of elimination we can figure out what he’s trying to say. The more I’ve worked with Kevin though, the less reliant I (and other support workers here) have become on the communication book through learning to read his body language. Kevin is a very sociable person who loves to keep up to date with current affairs, so we usually have some good chats when out and about.

What’s the key to a good support relationship?

As everyone is different in general, each supporting relationship is equally as varied; the more you get to know someone, the more natural it becomes to read them and know how to best support and care for them while supporting them to lead as independent lives as possible. Of course, learning the health requirements is vital, but the more human elements (such as communication and empathy) help to create an environment that is safe and comfortable for the client.

Kevin added:  

“I believe that everyone should have access to housing, food, education, and healthcare. Being disabled, I’ve encountered many hardships and accessibility issues throughout my life. I’m passionate about the notion that no-one’s quality of life should be reduced due to the fact they’re disabled.

I enjoy being part of the community. Staff help me to get to Labour events and meetings. When there, the staff will use my communication book to effectively be my voice to translate over my opinions and concerns. Staff have helped me post Labour letters and taken me to protests.

Taking part in local events and being part of the community enables me to feel more involved with issues I’m passionate about. It’s great to get out and meet new people and network. I’m a very sociable and outgoing person. I think it’s important to all work together to try and better our world.”