“If you don’t like people, you shouldn’t do this job, it’s too hard”

Corinne Godin is a life assistant. She works at home and in a specialized home for adults with multiple disabilities and severe autism in Iteuil, near Poitiers. A job focused on helping vulnerable people. She takes care of their toilet, of their care. “We also stimulate them, so that they keep their autonomy as long as possible, that it is not us who do, because our job is we help, we do not do”, she explains. For Corinne, it is essential to gain the trust of the people she is responsible for. And for that, when she handles them, she explains every gesture she makes.

The accompaniment of people is not only physical, especially when she exercises at home, with single people, of whom she is sometimes the only visitor. ” We think we shop, clean and scrub. No, that’s not it, a social life assistant, because we do 80% of psychology”, adds Corinne.

“If you don’t like people or you don’t like what you do, you shouldn’t do this job, it’s too hard.”

Corinne Godin, life assistant

at franceinfo

And when asked about cases of abuse, she explains and deplores the lack of time and resources to be able to practice her profession in the best conditions.. “In Ehpad and at home with the elderly, we don’t have time, we are given 30 minutes, we are not given the means, we are given nothing. It’s going too fast.”

Over the years, she has learned to distance herself, not to be overwhelmed by the harshness of situations. : “We can’t be all the time in empathy, in the emotional, because otherwise we can no longer work. Because if we are too emotional, we can no longer give”. A difficult job, but one that fascinates her. “If you don’t like people or you don’t like what you do, you shouldn’t do this job, it’s too hard”, concludes Corinne.

“Essentials”, a franceinfo podcast by Salhia Brakhlia, to be found on the franceinfo website, the Radio France application and several other platforms such as Apple podcasts, Podcast Addict, Spotify, or Deezer.