
Kindness Is Infectious :)
Yesterday we had a chat with Megan, a support worker for Discovery.
Megan did something lovely, and not just for the people we support, but for someone on her team.
Yup.
Megan nominated Sophie (her teammate) for an Inspiring People Award!
Inspiring People is Discovery’s very own appreciation scheme to reward colleagues that inspire others by going that extra mile.
I LOVE that this award exists!
When you are a support worker, so much attention goes on the person you support (rightly so) – and for that person to have great support, there needs to be a great team.
What makes a great team? Great people! Like Megan and Sophie!
It’s all too easy to see something and not act –but it’s the little things, like the time Megan has taken to nominate Sophie, that will make a significant impact on Sophie.
I’ll bet she’ll remember it forever, and the ripples will spill over through the team and the people we support – who so often give us a vast source of good morale too!
In fact, I messaged Sophie before this came out to see if she would send a photo, and this is what she said:
This has made my day!

So, we caught up with Megan to find out what motivated her to:
- Make a move into support work.
- Take the time to nominate Sophie – rather than let it slide into the (never to be) later box. Yup! Hands up, who’s guilty of that one? Me too.
So Megan, thank you for your time today; let’s start with the life event that motivated you to work for Discovery?
“When the pandemic happened, I re-evaluated and decided I wanted a career that made a difference rather than making corporations richer by selling things. I love this work. Don’t get me wrong, it’s exhausting sometimes. But it’s the most fulfilling career that I’ve ever had. Every day I wake up to making a difference. Supporting someone to live the best life they can is way more fulfilling than working for a big company making rich people richer. I like the managing behaviour side of things and I’m learning so much”
Absolutely Megan! I put something up on Facebook yesterday asking about “THE BIG WHY?” behind support work –what’s the reason why people become support workers? And the two top reasons are both those things you mention:
- You want to give something back.
- You don’t want to work in retail or for a corporation that makes rich people richer; you want to make a difference.
So tell me why you decided to nominate your teammate Sophie for an Inspiring People Award?
“Sophie and I started the same month, about a year ago now, but with the amount of knowledge and confidence she has, you would think she’s been working in care for years and years!
She always takes on new training; she’s the go-to person for new staff members to shadow. She even comes in on her days off, just to check on the wellbeing of the people we support, particularly if we’re waiting for a call back from a doctor.
She’s an inspiration and needs some recognition, even if it’s just simply saying, “Hey, you’re doing a good job.”
I know I would not feel anywhere near as confident in my role without her. On a tough day, she’s there. No complaints, no issues, even if it’s her day off.
I want to make sure that people know how fantastic she is. She’s an asset to the company, an asset in general, and just a gal more people should know about.”
How beautiful is that? We welled up listening to Megan gush about Sophie. If we all did this, what ripple effect would it have on ourselves, our teams and the people we support?
Well, why not find out? You can make a difference now, not just to the people you support, but to the people who support you.
Here’s the form: https://discovery-uk.org/inspiring-people/
Please don’t put it in the (never to be) later category!
Recognising colleagues? It needs to happen.