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Charity begins at work – Abigail’s story

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Abigail Dutton

Hello, my name is Abigail and I am a Customer Experience Specialist for AO.  

I started my AO journey in August 2021 but before that, I spent years working in the care industry, providing support work for adults with learning difficulties. I spent years supporting individuals with Alzheimer’s and Dementia, giving them the best care possible and even helping their families through loss.  

When you spend 12 hours of your day trying to make others have a great day, it is an overwhelming feeling, you forget about the pain in your feet or your back, you might even forget to eat! But you never forget that the people you care for will remember what you’ve done for them – just making them smile or have fun brings peace to their loved ones and you as a carer 

Covid pressures

I took the leap to support work after having a family member diagnosed with Dementia. It gave me a wider insight to adult autism, mental health and other learning difficulties, but it also gave me more opportunities to make sure that each day was as fun and memorable as possible.  

When covid hit, it was a challenge for the people I supported to understand why they couldn’t see their families or even go out and do the regular things that we did.  

So my colleagues and I pulled together and did everything we could to help; things like organising a socially distanced egg hunt for Easter but being able to reunite families made it all worth it but after a long hard decision, it was time to make a change and move on from the care industry. 

Coming to AO

AO Let’s Go is exactly what happened next! Come August 2023, I will have been with AO for 2 years and though I never thought an office job was for me, I can honestly say it was a great choice.  

I may not be face-to-face with the people I’m helping anymore, but I still get to help them every day by getting the best outcome I can for them.

In the run-up to Christmas 2022, AO gave me the opportunity to host my own charity day in the office for Alzheimer’s Society. Elf Day 2022 was a major success with a total of £388.20 raised and that wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the people at AO.

It’s not every day you get free reign of the office but to kick off December with a fun day, giving away amazing prizes and raising money for such a personal cause was a feeling I’ll never forget!  

No two days are the same at AO, and part of that is because we look after each other, keep the morale high and most importantly, we make customer’s lives easier by helping them brilliantly.  

Abigail Dutton
Customer Experience Specialist

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