Rachael found her niche in care: 'Now I can go on by myself'

Rachael Pound had many years of worry and a nine-year gap on her CV. Now she works as a care assistant at Pieter van Foreest’s Stefanna nursing home and is taking a training course. She has big dreams for the future. “Eventually I want to become a nurse, I hope at this location.”

Rachael looked after her two children full-time for almost a decade. Her son has a severe form of autism and it is difficult to communicate with him. Her daughter is in special education and Rachael, as a single mother, was mainly busy coordinating the right schools and care for the two. “It was extremely hard work and the care goes on 24 hours a day. I also had problems with my abusive ex, and there was a lot of counselling on the floor. I just didn’t have time and space to work.”

Space to discover who I was myself
In early 2024, Racheal moved from The Hague back to her native Delft. “I found good childcare for my son and finally got space again to discover who I was myself again.” When Rachael moved to Delft, she came into contact with Werkse! She was immediately enthusiastic: “I wanted to do all kinds of things, but my consultant Marissa really put the brakes on. According to her, I had to start quietly. I did that by volunteering at Neighbourhood House de Wending.”

Working in care through Zorghub
At the same time, together with Werkse! she investigated where her interests lay. “It’s so weird, but when you’ve been working so intensively with other people for years, you don’t really remember who you are yourself at all.” She soon discovered that caring was her passion. “I applied to the Care Hub, an organisation for people who want to work in care but don’t know how. I really didn’t have the guts to apply somewhere myself with a nine-year gap on my CV. Now I am employed by the Care Hub and seconded to Pieter Foreest. By now I’ve been able to prove myself there and they know what they can get out of me, but I doubt they would have hired me without the support of the Zorghub.”

More than just care
The thing she enjoys most about her job is the contact with people. “I am now starting to build a good relationship with the residents of the nursing home. We learn from each other every day.” She also agrees with the home’s vision. “They are making a switch so that caregivers not only do the bare necessities, but also have time to have a cup of coffee with residents and have a chat with them. That way, you can really be there for people and I think that’s a nice concept. I’d like to participate in that.”

Mum, how was your day?
What her job does to her, Rachael finds it hard to describe. “It does me such an awful lot of good to belong somewhere again, to participate in the world and to be able to talk about something other than raising my children. It is also very good for my son to go to a day-care centre. He is finally no longer an outsider and also feels normal among all the other children with autism. He gets special communication lessons m ZZ+.et pictograms, which I could never give him myself, and he runs every day to the van that comes to pick him up. My daughter is also doing well. At dinner in the evening, we talk about her day at school and then she asks me: ‘Mum, how was your day at work?’ I can be a good example for her too now.”

More opportunities
To other people in her situation, she wants to say, “Don’t give up and don’t let anything stop you. You can go very far. A lot is negotiable at Werkse! and there are possibilities you haven’t thought of at all. For example, I now have very flexible hours, so I can take my children to school and pick them up on time. Sometimes you just can’t manage to go back to work on your own. I was completely stuck and really needed Werkse! Now I can continue to do it myself and I wish that to everyone in a similar situation.”