Today we share the inspirational story of Jake Banbury, our Office Administrator at Leaf Complex Care in Exeter. Jake shares his thoughts on his aspirations, job responsibilities and experience working with his colleagues at Leaf Complex Care. Some of the uplifting stories Jake shares with us include the road of learning he has autism, embracing differences, and accepting how beautiful people are when they are unique.
Enjoy our pleasant talk, and get ready to be inspired!
1. Hello Jake 😊, could you please introduce yourself in a few sentences?
I’m Jake William Banbury, and I’m 25 years old. I live in Crediton in the southwest with my parents, Mum and Dad and my pet dog Finley.
2. Can you tell us more about your personal story?
Ever since school and college, my life has been quite all over the place. I wasn’t like the brightest person at school or college because I got taken out of lessons and had additional one-to-one support with my Maths and English. As I’ve got dyslexia, I got to the sixth year and was pushed up the high year group because I was last in my Maths and English and I found it that year. I did my exams in a quiet room and not in the sports hall because I couldn’t concentrate in the sports hall with all my classmates there.
Since school, I’ve been bullied, and people picked on me, kept asking for money and never gave back to me. When I was at college, it was the same, although that was what I was going on and had some tests done in college and found out that I have autism, and that wasn’t easy, to begin with, but I am dealing with it ok now.
Recently I haven’t been myself either, and I booked this appointment and was diagnosed with depression. Until telling my family about it I found it wasn’t easy at all. Since my diagnosis, I have talked to my managers at my football and Leaf Complex Care. They are all really supportive of me and always there for me if I need to speak to them about anything.
3. Can you share an inspirational story about how your compassion and skills impacted other people's lives?
Whilst in college, one time, my friends asked me if I wanted to be a part of Exeter City Football Club, and I said yes. Now I’ve been there for seven years, and I’ve never looked back at all. It wasn’t just about watching the fans; there’s more to it than that.
A couple of seasons ago, a supporter had a heart attack, and my bosses were doing something else at the time. So, I ran down the stand where it was happening and asked the referee to stop the match. I went to the person, called for the medic, and did CPR on him while waiting for the medic to arrive, and a few weeks after that, he made a full recovery and sent me a letter to say ‘thank you for saving my life’. In itself, that shows that If I didn’t do my first-aid training, I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did and shows how important it is to have any sort of training because anything like that could happen, and you may need to be prepared for it.
4. How long have you worked with Leaf Complex Care, and how would you describe your first day at work?
So, I have worked at Leaf Complex Care for six months now, and it’s been good. On my first day at work, I was nervous as it was all new for me. A lot for me to take in and a learning curve for me in many ways. The Leaf Complex Care team were really welcoming that day and they helped me feel at home.
5. What are your job responsibilities?
So, at the moment, I do the payrolls for our clinicians that we support, training booking, welcoming and matrix’s to ensure our teams stay compliant. I am now our office’s process champion too.
6. How would you describe your work in 3 words?
I would say to describe my work in 3 words would be challenging, adaptable and a learning curve.
7. Please share some moments with us that made an impact on your everyday work.
I gained an NCFE level two diploma in business administration since joining. I think that when I do something wrong at work, I learn from it – for example, when I put up the dates for our clinician training on the board, I used blue tac instead of pins and got upset about it and learnt that everyone could make mistakes and not just myself.
8. Considering Autism has its strengths but also challenges, and every individual overcomes challenges in their own unique way, could you tell us more about your personal experience on this topic?
So, my opinion on autism and how it affects me is that I stutter with my words in how I say things. When I’m working at Exeter City Football Club, I help out with people with disabilities and difficulties that have autism too. By helping them with it I understanding how brilliant it is to learn from them and how they deal with it too.
When I feel overwhelmed, I find a quiet spot to process and think about why I feel that way. Then I draw learnings or think about my next actions to take and proceed to take those actions.
9. How would you describe your experience working at Leaf Complex Care?
In my experience working with Leaf Complex Care, I think that I am learning as I grow within the company, learning each day as I’m in the office, and it’s been great getting to know the people who I have been working with and learning from.
Working at my job has been an incredible journey for me, and I really enjoy every minute of it. What I want to get out of all of this is to be on the other side of depression and feel happy again. I know it’s a long process, and it will take time, but I feel I’m on the right track. And I hope I stay on the right track, by myself and be happy again.
10. What are your next career steps?
For my next career steps, I would like my documentary/Journey to go on social media and appear on TV and talk to show hosts who host their shows like ITV or BBC and tell them in person about my journey/documentary. I would also like to be an entrepreneur as that’s something I would like to do, and also possibly be an actor.
11. Which advice would you give to everyone reading this interview?
My advice would be that I hope everyone finds it inspiring and how important it is because everyone is not the same. Everyone is different, but it doesn’t let get us down at all. I would like to encourage everyone to embrace your differences and rise to your own challenge.
Thank you, Jake, for being part of our team and inspiring us daily!
We hope you enjoyed our interview! Learn more about our work and services at Leaf Complex Care, and if you have any questions, please contact us; we would be more than pleased to provide the right answers.
And if you feel like creating impact is your calling, join our team today!
