A FORMER labourer who built himself a career in caring has struck gold in major national awards.

Andrew Papirnyk decided on a career in caring after visiting a residential home to do some building work before eventually rising to become its manager less than a decade later.

Andrew, who lives in Tywyn, went along to Cerrig Camu in Dolgellau in the winter of 2004 to do some labouring work for the firm he was with at the time.

He quickly built up a rapport with some of its residents and immediately opted to make caring his profession.

Nine years later he was appointed as the home’s registered manager and has been commended for the way he runs it and credited for helping to integrate clients with learning disabilities and mental health needs into the community.

It is this dedicated approach to his caring role that saw Andrew take gold in the Excellence in Learning Disability and Mental Health category of the 2016 Wales Care Awards at a glittering presentation ceremony held at City Hall in Cardiff.

Andrew, 30, is originally from Barmouth and after finishing his school days at Ysgol Ardudwy in Harlech went straight into the building trade.

He said: “I’d been working as a labourer for a couple of years when I went to Cerrig Camu to do some building work there.

“At that stage I didn’t know what I wanted to do in life, so when I started to talk with some of the service users and managed to build up a rapport with them I felt that caring was a career I could go into.

“Not long afterwards I started at Cerrig Camu as a support worker and then gradually worked my way up through the ranks, going from team leader and support manager until I became service manager in June 2013.”

To help him ensure the smooth running of the 24-bed facility, Andrew has a team of more than 60 staff, a high staff-to-client ratio, which he says is essential to adequately meet the needs of service users.

Read the full story in this week’s Meirionnydd edition of the Cambrian News