For Lynette, being a recovery worker isn't a job, it's a privilege

Ask Lynette Little what she enjoys most about her job and she doesn't hesitate.

I love working with the people we support. I hear their stories and I'm right there with them," she says.

After leaving school, Lynette started out with youth charity Rathbone, where she gained a YTS placement working with adults with learning disabilities. It set the pattern for everything that followed.

Over more than 20 years, she has worked with adults with learning disabilities, in elderly care, and in a secure mental health unit, each role adding something she still draws on today.

"I really enjoyed that," she recalls of her time in mental health services. "I remember my old manager telling me I could work anywhere, because I'd learned to stay calm in a crisis, de-escalate things, and just have patience and understanding for people who are struggling."

She went on to work with care-experienced young people at Blue Triangle, a social care organisation providing 24/7 homelessness support, then at residential rehab provider Abbeycare. 

By the time she joined WithYou, she'd spent two decades learning how to sit with people at their hardest moments. She says she's found something different here.

"The management's great here," Lynette says, smiling. "There's real support in place, whether it's personal or professional."

As part of her role as a recovery worker, Lynette facilitates a service user involvement group, gathering feedback from people using WithYou's services so their voices shape how the service runs. 

She also runs group sessions covering everything from assertiveness and coping strategies to arts and crafts, and leads the team's reflective practice sessions.

"It's a wee bit of hope," she says of the involvement group. "People like getting a say."

Lynette's connection to the work goes beyond the professional. She has family experience of the impact drug and alcohol harm can have. 

It's not something she goes into detail about, but it means that when she's sitting across from someone, she's not guessing at what they're carrying.

"There are probably a lot of people in Scotland with experience like that in their family," she says.

Ask her to sum up why she does this job, and it comes back to something she said right at the start.

Can you actually call it a job when you're meeting inspirational people and being allowed to be part of their recovery journey?" she says. "I'd call it a privilege.

If you're based in South Ayrshire and would like to find out more about our free, confidential support, visit wearewithyou.org.uk/local-hubs/south-ayrshire