Ten minutes with Aoife Doyle, Centre Coordinator with Enable Ireland
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I joined Enable Ireland Adult Service in Sandyford three years ago. I started out as a Support Worker and then moved up to Team Leader and earlier this year I was promoted to Centre Coordinator.
Before joining Enable Ireland, I worked in the health and fitness sector and have run my own personal training business. At the time I was running a gym in Sandyford and some of my clients would have been individuals with physical or intellectual disabilities. I found that work really enjoyable and rewarding. I actually worked with a client who attended Enable Ireland doing personal training. This was the highlight of my day so I knew it was a sector that I would enjoy working in.
During Covid, when the gyms were closed, I went back to college and did a qualification in social care. This put me on the path for applying for the role of support worker in Enable Ireland. I also have a family member who used to attend Enable Ireland so I had always heard really positive stories about the work they do.
I used to run my own business and being the centre coordinator is similar in that you have to be able to make decisions, use your own initiative and just get things done! There can be a lot of logistics around it, organising service owners to get to and from our centre in Sandyford. Managing group activities and 1:1 activities that people want to do. Liaising with families and building networks in the community. This last piece is really essential as we want to be out participating in our local community as much as possible. You definitely have to have good people skills in this role! At the end of the day my job is to make sure everyone is safe and happy.
Without a doubt, the best part of my job is getting to know the services owners and their families. I am part of a team that is here to help them live a more fulfilled life and achieve their goals.
I am really proud of the connection we have built with the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club. Service owners get to go to the club once a week for tennis lessons with club members. It’s been really beneficial for service owners, they have learnt new skills, get an opportunity to keep fit and have made fantastic social connections. The Tennis Club also made a generous donation of €20,000 which has been put to good use in our service!
Never ask someone to do something that you are not prepared to do yourself. I think it is really important to lead by example. As a manager, you have to be willing to dig in with your team. The second best piece of advice I’ve received is to trust your gut, it’s usually right!
Don’t take yourself too seriously! I think my younger self would get worked up about things too easily. Now I’m a bit more relaxed and know that we can usually work things out.
I think it’s really important to do your research on the organisation and the role you are interviewing for. Figure out what qualities and experience you can bring to that role and then have confidence in yourself and your abilities.
You need to have really good people skills and be a good communicator in this role. Multitasking is an absolute essential as there is always more than one thing going on on any given day! Having a sense of humour is also important.
Make sure that you have a good work/life balance. You need to be able to put boundaries in between your work life and your personal life. Emergencies are emergencies and you will always be there for those situations but you also need to know how to switch off at the end of a busy day. My experience with Enable Ireland is that management are very supportive of their staff and have a flexible approach and strong culture of supporting staff health and wellbeing. That approach is really important and is valued by staff.
I work on an amazing team with Enable Ireland. We have recruited a lot of new staff recently and are going through our comprehensive onboarding process with them at the moment. They bring loads of new skills to the table and we are really lucky to have an excellent multidisciplinary team here including nurses, occupational therapist, PCP (Person Centred Planning) co-ordinator and physiotherapist in addition to support workers. We all get huge job satisfaction from working together to support people to become more independent.