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Actor, writer, producer and Care Professional Lily Portman-Mason shares why care fits naturally alongside her creative life and how the people she supports continue to inspire her.
At Severn Vale Home Care, we believe that excellent care begins with people families can know and trust. In our Meet Our Care Professionals series, we introduce the individuals behind the care and discover what inspires them, what they have learnt and what makes their work so rewarding.
This time, we meet Lily Portman-Mason, whose warmth, creativity and commitment to bringing joy to others shine through in everythingshe does.
Finding work with meaning and flexibility
Lily trained as an actor. In 2020, she began writing books and then screenplays, eventually setting up her own production company.
As her creative career developed, Lily wanted to findmeaningful work that could fit around her writing and production commitments.She also knew that a conventional office role was not for her.
“One of my most important values is joy,” Lily explains. “It gives me a lot of pleasure to bring joy to other people.”
Care offered Lily something different: the flexibility tocontinue pursuing her creative ambitions, alongside the opportunity to make agenuine difference in people’s everyday lives.
Bringing light to difficult days
For Lily, being a Care Professional is about much more than completing practical tasks. It is about recognising the person, building a relationship and finding moments of happiness, even when someone is facing adifficult situation.
“I love being able to make someone smile,” she says. “Some clients say that I light up the room, and it is a privilege to be able to dothat for them.”
That instinct to care has been part of Lily for a long time.In her school yearbook, somebody wrote that she “truly cares about others”. Today, her role as a Care Professional gives that deeply held quality a clearsense of purpose.
Listening, noticing and learning
Every person Lily supports has a different story. By taking the time to listen and be present, she has learnt from an extraordinary range of people, particularly inspiring women whose lives have followed many different paths.
“In each person, I can see a different part of myself,” Lily reflects. “They have shown me how people adapt to such a wide range of situations.”
She is especially fascinated by women who built successful careers in the 1960s, when the professional world looked very different. Their stories have shown her the importance of being forthright, knowing what you want and understanding other people’s motivations while navigating challenging environments.
Some lessons have been profound; others have been delightfully practical.
“I now have boxes of tissues around my house,” Lily laughs.“It might sound like a small thing, but I noticed tissue boxes in other people’s homes and tried it myself. They are so useful because they are alwaysthere when you need them.”
It is a simple example of how care is a two-way relationship: while Lily brings companionship, support and joy, each client offers a different perspective in return.
Purpose, connection and new inspiration
Being a Care Professional allows Lily to make a visibledifference. A smile, a brighter room or a reassuring conversation can transform someone’s day and give Lily a strong sense of purpose too.
The role also feeds her natural curiosity as a storyteller. Every client reminds her that a lifetime contains countless moments ofresilience, change and reinvention.
“I learn something from every client,” she says. “Perhaps there is even a screenplay in that one day.”
For Lily, care and creativity are not separate worlds. Both begin with noticing people, listening to their stories and understanding what matters to them. Most importantly, both offer the chance to bring a little more joy into somebody else’s life.
Ask Jenny
