Interview: my career in social care and the fight for diversity

Carol Burt, Director of the Paul Clarke (Staffordshire) Community Interest Company and board member of the Sickle Cell Society spoke with Skills for Care about her experience as a Black person climbing the ladder in social care, and the challenges she’s experienced and witnessed around diversity in the sector.

I was born and bred in Stoke-on-Trent, and my parents’ backgrounds are from Jamaica. I’m a director, board member, a patient and public voice, mother, and grandmother.

I started my career as a nurse – my parents always wanted me to be a nurse. I did have the opportunity to be a model, but this wasn’t considered appropriate. I was brought up to be a nurse and I can’t lie, I never thought about being anything else.

My parents thought that was a good solid profession and having a Jamaican background my mother didn’t have the same opportunities that I had.

My career journey

At 17 I started my pre-nursing college course, and part of the requirement for the course was to have relevant experience, so I got a part-time job at a local residential home, which was my first experience of working in social care.

There was a 92-year old woman who I’d been providing care to for some time. One day I was helping her get washed and she grabbed my hand and asked me, “Are you Black?”. I said, “Yes” and she said “Oh, you can’t look after me.”

I told her I’d already been looking after her for weeks. She was fine in the end, but it was my first ‘oh my gosh’ moment.

After college I completed my registered general nurse training. I’ve always been one of those people that was determined to climb the ladder, and I was a G-grade sister (equivalent to a band 6/7 now) by the time I was 23, which is really, really good – especially for a Black person.

I was also one of the first people in Wolverhampton to be working as a practice nurse, which was again very positive.

When I was coming up to 30, I started thinking about what I wanted to do next. I was visiting the university with my son, and I got talking to the woman who was the head of services for the social work course, and she asked me if I would consider a degree in social work. The next week I’d started the course.

I wanted to work in social care because I felt I had a lot of skills, experience, and knowledge that I gained through nursing which were transferable, and I wanted to do more for the local community in a different way than I’d been doing with nursing.

After graduating I got a job as drug support worker. It was a rewarding role and I was involved in a lot of important projects supporting young people with substance abuse issues, and collaborating with the Stoke-on-Trent youth offending team.

When they began the drug intervention programmes – something which I was quite instrumental with locally – a job post came up as team leader at the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. I applied for the role, and I then worked my way up through the Trust, eventually becoming project director.

Again, that was a very positive experience as a Black person climbing the ladder. I stayed there for around seven years and then I did some pro-bono work advocating for people with mental health problems.

I also got involved with Healthwatch and became one of their board directors.

I then moved back to Stoke where I worked as CEO for a mental health organisation.

Alongside that, I was also doing a lot of work for the community. Alongside two co-founders I created SCIPE CIC which was focused on engaging the community in meaningful activities.

Now I’m the director of a learning disability home and I also sit across numerous boards, including the Sickle Cell Society, which is something I am passionate about and affects my son.

The struggle for diversity in social care

On the ground level, doing the day-to-day hands-on work there’s a lot of diversity, but when we look at senior manager and board level where decisions are made, there isn’t the same reflection.

The latest Skills for Care data also shows that while 21% of people working in social care are from diverse backgrounds, only 15% of those are in managerial roles.

It’s crucial to have more diversity at all levels. You can’t understand the people that you’re working with and supporting if no-one at the top level can relate to the issues specific to different diverse groups.

As far as people may see that I’ve had a very successful career, it hasn’t been easy – there have been many battles that I’ve had to fight. You have to pick your battles, because you can’t fight all of them.

I think from the start of my career I was fighting. When I first applied to do my general nurse training the interview panel advised I may not be able to handle the three-year course, despite having all the relevant qualifications.

When I applied for another job role, which I did eventually get, I initially wasn’t offered the post because I’d written my answers on the wrong sheet of paper, despite being the highest scorer through the application process.

One of the panel members told me to re-apply and I really had to consider whether to do so. There have been many of these types of examples.

What can be done

We’ve come a long way, but we’ve still got some way to go.

Appoint people of colour at every level of an organisation; that reflection of the community should be there.

Take issues of racism seriously, don’t just brush it under the carpet.

When conducting research into diversity have people from diverse backgrounds conduct the research, as people are more likely to open up to other people from a diverse background, meaning we can get more accurate, honest and balanced responses.

I’d advise anyone working in health and social care, especially individuals of colour, to invest in finding a suitable mentor; I’ve found this extremely beneficial throughout my professional career

Social care employers really need to reflect on their own personal attitudes and behaviours first and foremost. The policies and procedures will never really be applied if you don’t address your own fears, phobias, and prejudices - so it has to start with individuals first and foremost.

After that, listen to the voices of diverse groups, address the issues, and make the changes.

Find information and resources to support equality, diversity, and inclusion on our #BlackHistoryMonth page.

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