Marking National Storytelling Week on 2 February, Mario Ambrosi, Director of Communications and Marketing at Anchor, sets out why he hopes his children’s novel will help tackle the recruitment crisis.
Care homes and retirement villages aren’t the most obvious setting for a big budget TV show. But Netflix hits like The Thursday Murder Club and A Man on the Inside demonstrate there’s an appetite for stories that touch on themes around dementia and ageing.
What doesn’t get enough attention, though, are the people working in those environments. Having spent more than 20 years in communications and marketing roles at Anchor, England’s largest not-for-profit provider of older people’s care and housing, I’ve never ceased to be amazed by social care professionals – and how key facts about someone’s life can be clues that help provide the best care possible.
That was the inspiration for my children’s novel. Published by Tiny Tree, Scarlett Buckling and the Case of the Missing Pictures is the story of 12-year-old Scarlett turning detective to learn about her gran’s life history and solve a mystery.
It’s an exciting adventure with some cheesy jokes. Underlying it is a serious message though, that truly understanding a person’s life history is at the heart of great dementia care. While that’s not news to anyone working in the sector, it’s a lesson that too many people only learn when dementia is already affecting a loved one.
With nearly a million people in the UK living with dementia, few children will not know of someone affected by it. And while organisations like Dementia UK have some fantastic materials to help, it’s not a subject that gets enough attention in the wider world.
There are 131,000 vacancies in social care on any given day – and more than half a million extra posts are likely to be needed by 2040 to keep up with our ageing society. If we’re really to address the recruitment crisis in our sector, we need to think differently.
Stories have power. They can shape aspirations. Change how we see the world, and how young people imagine their place in it.
TV crime shows have reportedly helped fuel a rise in applications for forensic science and related courses. And Scotland Yard’s fast-track detective scheme reported a surge in women applying, which was linked to the popularity of police dramas with strong female leads.
If fiction can spark career choices elsewhere, there’s no reason why stories can’t do the same for care. Of course, we still need structural change: proper funding, improved recognition and all the issues that I hope the Casey Commission will address. But alongside those essentials, we also need a cultural change in wider society – and more recognition for the important role played by people working in social care.
I hope my little book plays a small part too, helping show how being curious, compassionate and determined to make a difference can have such an impact in social care. If a single child reads Scarlett Buckling and thinks, “Maybe I could work in care one day,” then it’s a start.
Stories won’t fix everything. But they can inspire the people who might.
