Caring for Carers - Minizerk

Chapter 1

Josh audibly sighs, placing his elbows on the desk and coming to rest his head in the palms of his waiting hands. Paperwork surrounds him in daunting piles, and he knows he's going to be pulling an all-nighter trying to organise this. Just as well, really, seeing as once the kids moved in, tonight would be his turn on waking night. Might as well get his body clock into sync early.

He stands, stretching, his back clicking aloud and walks over to switch on the main light in the tiny office space provided for the staff in the house. After having been promoted to House Manager at a new residential property being opened by the 'special needs' school he works for, The Yew Tree, he knows he's got his work cut out.

"Come on, Josh," he mutters into the peaceful quiet of the office, "you're already getting stressed and none of the kids have even moved in yet."

He decides he might feel more at ease sat in a slightly more comfortable environment, so he carries the case files of each child into the living room area, as well as a notepad and pen to take brief notes concerning how best to handle the child and assist them in achieving their full potential.

Dumping the files on the table and getting himself comfortable, he picks up the top file and opens it up.

Ethan Payne is the first child's name. According to the file, he is 16 years old. Details of his past lie below, Josh circling the factors he deems to be most important in the conduct of caring for him. 'Close relationship with mother', he writes, 'enjoys music, tickles and food'. Josh smiles at that, his favourite part of filing the cases back when he worked as a receptionist at the school was reading through the enjoyments each child had, and seeing they were normal, as well as the comments from doting parents.

However, as Josh knows as well as anyone in the career, every sweet thing comes with a bitter aftertaste. Underneath these positive notes, 'Prozac', 'occasional violent outbursts' and 'OCD + depression' splay harshly across the lined paper in their blotchy red biro ink. His heart sinks as he reads further, seeing Ethan's mother's plight at having to put her son in a residential home, but realising it is in the best of interests for both of them. Pictures of bruises mother had gained from son in 'mentally absent rampage' follow, and Josh has to compose himself.

After all, he knew what he was getting himself into when he started volunteering at the school in his gap year, before they offered him a working position and the opportunity to train as a professional carer. Everything seemed to fall into place, so he never did go on to university.

Once again letting his eyes return to Ethan's profile, he notes that under the use of his medication Ethan was the same, happy-go-lucky child he had always been. At present, the establishment where Ethan has been sectioned are slowly weening him off of Prozac, due to its addictive nature, so by the the time Ethan moves in, he will be on more manageable antidepressants.

It's quite interesting, to be honest. A child on the same end of the spectrum as Ethan is not usually mentally capable of having a breakdown, usually only the higher functioning individuals are capable of such, so there's a morbid sliver of hope that Ethan could potentially mentally progress further than was expected of him. Josh starts to mentally plot a rota that could be incorporated so that Ethan would be able to learn more. Apparently he's sneaky though, and knows how to get out of what he doesn't want to do, often using the toilet as an excuse. He also likes to go to the toilet if he's bored, as his notes read.

Josh feels like Ethan's got the right idea. He entertains the idea of doing that in the middle of meetings at the school, the pointless ones that don't concern the kids.

Josh's eyes continue to scan and mull over the words on the page in front of him, coming to rest on one particular sentence. 'Should a member of staff be attacked by another child, Ethan will usually step in the middle, and if felt necessary will hurt the other child'. He takes a deep breath and takes note of this.

Finally, he reaches the social worker's notes, and he's actually surprised. Usually, social workers are incompetent in his opinion, never writing enough or caring about their cases, only about the pay they receive, but he can feel that this particular one is different.

His first clue is the neat handwriting that occasionally slips up. It's obvious that the hand writing was trying to be neat and legible and prevent itself from descending into a spidery scrawl across the page, and Josh appreciates that. Legible handwriting in official notes is a fantastic start, because nothing is misinterpreted. In meetings concerning the child that most of the social workers don't bother turning up to, being able to understand what they've written is essential to helping the child get the best that they can. Josh appreciates the effort wholeheartedly, and the notes they've made are extensive and useful, which makes him like this person even more. It feels like they actually care.

He flips through the sheets of paper to the penultimate page of Ethan's file to find out the name of this social worker, seeing as he doesn't recognise their handwriting or writing technique (once again, he'll always be grateful for his brief time spent as a receptionist), so he knows it's not Jenny or Chris.

Simon Minter.

The gentle silence of the room is broken by Josh's tongue clicking. That name is familiar, and he isn't entirely sure why. He's quite sure he's not interacted with a man of that name beforehand, so he's not quite sure as to why it rings a bell.

He allows his mind to dismiss the thought, knowing it'll either come to him or he'll forget about it completely.

While he's composing an email to send to Ethan's mother, CC-ing Simon, Ethan's soon-to-be teacher Adam and the school's general email account, the former occurs.

Simon's one of the new guys coming to work at the house. He's one of the few new members of staff for the school, and the only newbie destined for Josh's house. Josh can't help but wonder why a man with a Masters in social work intends to work below a House Manager who was trained on the job, but maybe as they develop a work acquaintanceship or friendship, which they'll have to, seeing as they're on shift at the same time most of the week, he can ask.

The man seems intriguing, and he looks forward to getting to know him, alongside getting to know Ethan, the first kid to be living in House 4 of The Yew Tree Residential Homes for certain.

He tidies away Ethan's file and produces the paperwork from the next one.

Vikram Barn.

Author's Notes
Hey, so I thought I'd try my hand at something new that I've never done before - writing an actual fiction story.

Ethan in this is heavily based on my brother, whom I love very much.

I only hope I can do my brother and all those who work with him justice in portraying what they do - the care industry don't get the representation and respect they rightfully deserve.

Please let me know if you'd like this to be continued. 😊💙😊