We’re thrilled to celebrate Cynthia Zhou, Care worker, Mental Health Champion and Mental Health First Aider at Primary Homecare. She secured second place in CareLineLive’s Home Care Hero of the Year Awards 2025. With many nominations highlighting outstanding talent in home care, Cynthia’s dedication, compassion and commitment stands out. From supporting clients with selfless dedication to supporting her colleagues, she truly exemplifies the difference that can make every day.
Coming a very close 2nd place, Cynthia Zhou, was nominated by Primary Homecare’s Operations Manager, Julie Mills. Here’s what Julie said in her nomination:
I would like to nominate Cynthia Zhou for Home Care Hero of the Year Award. At the heart of our care philosophy is a deep commitment to supporting individuals with complex mental health and dementia needs. We understand that every person is unique and that’s why we pair clients with staff who have specialist training and the empathy required to make a real difference.
One of our standout examples is Cynthia, a dedicated member of our team with a degree in Sociology and Gender Development. Cynthia works closely with a client who has a range of complex mental health conditions including paranoia, obsessive compulsive disorder, autism, schizoid personality disorder, severe anxiety, suicidal inclinations, and self-neglect. This client had previously been let down by several providers, but Cynthia’s approach has been transformative. Recognising the client’s difficulty in expressing his wishes, Cynthia took the time to create mind maps with him, helping him communicate more clearly and plan ahead. When he first joined us over a year ago, he would frequently call the office in distress. Today, thanks to the consistent support from Cynthia and his small, trusted group of carers, he is in a stable routine and rarely needs to reach out in crisis.
A recent incident further highlighted Cynthia’s impact. During an unannounced visit from a GP, two social workers and a mental health team member, the client’s anxiety spiked as they began rearranging his furniture. Fortunately, Cynthia arrived just in time to de-escalate the situation and provide calm, reassuring support. She later documented the encounter in a detailed paper, identifying key areas for improvement, which has since been shared for future reference. We care for clients with a wide variety of needs and all our staff receive comprehensive, ongoing training to ensure they can support everyone appropriately.
Our carers have noticed an increase in referrals for clients with mental health challenges, a reflection of our growing reputation for excellence in this area. Cynthia is now our Mental Health Champion and Mental Health First Aider.
We chatted to Cynthia and Julie after the award ceremony and got some great insights into the various aspects of Cynthia’s role.
Why did you nominate Cynthia for the award?
I nominated Cynthia because her work has been life changing for one of her clients. A client was really struggling and was constantly phoning the office for reassurance. He really settled down when he got his care plan and had someone that he could talk to. Someone who took the time to to listen to him and to support him to work things out for himself.
In addition we had a situation when some healthcare professionals arrived and started moving the client’s furniture around, which was very distressing for the client. Fortunately, Cynthia arrived for her normal care visit and was able to diffuse what was a very stressful situation for the client.
Cynthia, what was your reaction when you were told that you had been nominated for award?
I was shocked, I didn’t expect an award, I thought I was coming into the office for staff training. It was a real surprise. I came in with my notebook ready to take notes, so it was shock and an utter delight.
What was your inspiration to have a career in health and social care?
I have close family with mental health needs, that has definitely pushed me and made me passionate about good mental health, I’m keen to know more about it. I want to find different ways of helping people and also realise that it’s not just family, this is a community issue, mental health needs are all around us. Many people are going through a lot, some are getting the help they need, but for others the system is slow. I just like to be there to listen and I signpost where I can.
What does being a Care Worker, Mental Health Champion and Mental Health First Aider mean to you?
There’s an element of training as well as supporting other carers with basic training, I like to equip them with tools that they can use to support clients with different conditions. I also do a lot of research, it’s not exhaustive so, training and learning on my part is ongoing. I’ve been mentoring a colleague with mental health problems and have been giving one-to-one support. Mental health doesn’t just effect clients it’s the carers as well, because our carers face difficult situations daily, for example, death, end of life care and people with highly complex needs, everything that life can throw at them, so they really do need support.
Seeing people getting better and teaching clients to use new skills in their day to day lives helps them to manage and cope much better. If a carer is struggling I can help them by giving them the tools that they can use day to day. This can be very positive and rewarding.
What challenges do you face within the different aspects of your role?
The fact that no two people are the same and that means that situations differ depending on the circumstances. You need to be adaptable, finding out what works for each individual client and understanding that what works for client ‘A’ may not work for Client ‘B’. It’s important to think outside the box because things can change quickly and work out differently to what I’d expect.
In the nomination, amongst the many amazing comments, it was said that:
Cynthia’s leadership now extends to serving as Mental Health Champion and Mental Health First Aider, reflecting a sustained commitment to high-quality, person-centred care.
Can you tell me about the importance of this?
Yes, every situation is different and the situations that seem to be similar to other ones often need different tools to get the best outcomes. It’s about treating people as individuals and handling situations with a person-centred approach.
When you’re not working hard at Primary Healthcare, how do you like to spend your down time?
I love reading, I read all of the time, I love horror, science fiction, fantasy and romance novels. In fact I read just about anything!
