Natalie’s story: From 75% on admin to 75% more time with families

Natalie is sitting on the floor, playing jenga with a young person who’s been struggling. 

A year ago, Natalie would have been half-watching the tower, half-typing notes, trying to capture everything and worried she might miss something important.

Today, the laptop is closed, and she is fully present.  

The young person feels comfortable and listened to, and that’s when they begin to open up.

Natalie is a family support worker in the early help team at Warrington Borough Council. She’s always wanted to work with children and families. But like many practitioners, she found that paperwork often pulled her away from the very people she was there to support. 

This is her story of how that balance began to shift, and what changed when she was able to spend more time with families.

Can you tell me about your role and how you got into this line of work?

Natalie: I'm a family support worker in the Early Help team at the council. I've been in family support for about three years, but I've been with the council for quite a bit longer. I've always wanted to work with families and children.

What exactly does Early Help entail?

Natalie: It's about understanding the child's voice and working from there to see what the problems are and how the child is feeling. 

We work with the full family, parents/guardians and children. For example, we might give guidance around boundaries and how to implement routines, or support around healthy eating. We also work with a lot of children that have school avoidance or behavioural problems. 

It's quite holistic. We identify the needs of the family with an early health assessment, and then we work off that.

Has Notes been useful in your role?

Natalie: It's been incredible. It used to take me about an hour to write up meeting notes, but now it's about 45 minutes because I’m not having to sit there writing constantly.

I’m neurodivergent, so it was something that I used to absolutely dread doing. My manager used to pull her hair out because my task minutes would be significantly late, but since using Notes, I've been on time with everything. This means the schools are getting the documents quicker, and the families are getting them quicker.

How do families react to you using Notes during your meetings?

Natalie: I've never had a problem with a family agreeing. I generally tend to say, 'I'll sit behind for a minute if you want and show you how it works'. 

Recently, I met with a young person, and they made quite a big disclosure to me. I feel like they were more comfortable doing this because I'm able to sit and play jenga with them and not worry about typing up notes. 

Most communication isn't verbal, and before, I wasn't able to observe a person as much as I can now. I’m now more able to recognise their facial expressions and when they are getting emotional. We can have those proper conversations, similar to how you would with a friend.

You’re on the pathway to a diagnosis for ADHD. How has Notes helped you with this?

Natalie: Before, I'd become very overwhelmed very quickly. I'd think, 'oh my God, I'm behind with that document', and I'd stress so much that I would then fall behind with other documents. It was extremely stressful, whereas now there's no stress at all. 

I can't just sit there and do a full document in one go, my brain gets bored of doing the same thing. I'd probably get about three sentences done, and then I'd need to go and do another part of my job and come back to it later. 

It used to take me over ten sittings to complete a single document. Now, with Notes, I can do it in two. It's that change. You're not just sitting there typing, so it's a lot more engaging for my brain.

Has your job satisfaction improved since using this tool?

Natalie: My wellbeing at work has improved a lot. Before, I used to spend 75% of my time doing admin and only 25% with families. Now, that's flipped around. 

I don't find any stress with my job, and I'm enjoying my job more. If a family contacts me saying 'I really need something now', and it warrants going out straight away, I'm not thinking, 'oh my God, but I've got those two tasks to do'. It's improved my experience of work a lot, and my wellbeing at work.

Want to give your support workers more time with families?

Stories like Natalie’s show what can change when practitioners have more time to focus on people, not paperwork.

If you’re thinking about how to create more space for this in your own service, book a demo of Notes and explore what this could look like.