Health & Social Care Programme (Community Employment Scheme)

Our Community Employment scheme, Caring in Offaly (CIO), first came into being on the 21^st April 1995 – 30 years ago.

The CIO scheme is sponsored by Family Carers Ireland (FCI), the national charity that supports family carers who care in the home for children or adults with additional needs, physical or intellectual disabilities, frail older people, those with palliative care needs, or people living with chronic illnesses, mental health challenges or addiction.

CIO has grown over the years, and participants are engaged in various capacities throughout Laois and Offaly, ranging from provision of respite in the home, to office duties in the local centres. Participants in home respite care roles gain experience through working in family carers’ homes, which enables the carer to leave the home and take a much-needed break. These short breaks are typically of three hours in duration and on a weekly basis.

This goes hand-in-hand with the required completion of the QQI Level 5 Major Award in Healthcare, training that is a standard requirement for employees in the care sector. Following successful completion of this award, many CIO participants have progressed to third level education.

A testimonial from a previous participant shows the value of this scheme, and the possibilities it can lead to:

‘While working on the CE Scheme, I was encouraged and supported throughout my completion of a range of healthcare courses. The scheme also allowed me to gain a lot of experience as well as confidence in my ability to work with people who require assistance and emotional support in their lives. This helped me greatly when I commenced my four-year honours degree in Psychiatric Nursing.’

The scheme also provides much-needed administrative support to FCI staff while affording office-based participants the opportunity to gain experience through working in a busy office environment. Administrative participants may choose to study QQI Level 5 in Office Skills, or Business Studies, or other courses that will support their future careers. Of those who have successfully gained QQI Level 5 qualifications, many have also climbed the ladder of success on completion on their scheme.

The progression rate of participants through the CIO scheme onto further education or into employment is very high. The scheme is proud to say that many of its participants have successfully progressed into management or nursing jobs, because of the excellent training and mentoring they have received.

The ethos of FCI is to provide supports and services to family carers and the people they care for – the aim is to keep people in their homes for as long as they wish to remain there, or for as long as is feasible. The CIO scheme continues to enable FCI to deliver over 1,000 hours of respite per month in the community, that would not otherwise by provided other bodies. Many family carers would not have been able to continue their provision of care in the home without this support.

CIO intends to continue to support family carers in the community into the future, as well as continuing to support and mentor participants in their training and work experience, helping them on their way to fulfilling their career goals.