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Excellence Awards
The Excellence Award scheme aims to recognise any exceptional work or achievement by any team or individual working in Support for Living. Achievements will most likely be examples of good practice within the mission and aims of the organisation. It is open to every individual / team in any department or role within the organisation, with the exception of the Senior Management Team. These awards will ensure that outstanding work is brought to the attention of senior management, and also to the entire organisation, so everyone can learn from what other teams are accomplishing.
The scheme is a means of rewarding directly those who demonstrate exceptional work - skills, ideas, or commitment which help to ensure the organisation continues to improve.
Each month, individuals or teams will be nominated for the Award and the Senior Management Team will decide upon a winner. There will be prizes for the successful individual or team and their success will be publicised on this website, in the central office and in-house newsletter.
Our February winners are the Harrow office staff
team
Russell, Catherine and Cecilia were all very involved and instrumental in the move from Brent House to 82 Craven Park being so successful. They spent the two and a half months leading up to the move, archiving and shredding years of information. Cecilia prepared a project plan, and liaised with removal companies, Russell oversaw the constant removal of information for archiving and shredding and on the day of the move the actual movements of what went where. Catherine sorted out the archiving system which has allowed us to track where the information we are looking for is stored in and she also worked alongside Cecilia and Russell to ensure that the move went as smoothly as possible. The move couldn’t of taken place without them!
Our January 2010 winner is Jacob Ajei-Frimpong
Congratulations
to Jacob Ajei-Frimpong, Deputy Manager at the19 Haymill Close Respite
Service for winning the first excellence award of the year! Jacob
receives the award in recognition of his manner and responses in a
highly stressful situation in which a service user attending the service
had a stroke. He showed flexibility and initiative in his
management of the team, and support of everyone present. His calm
approach ensured that the whole experience was as stress-free as
possible for the person who needed to be admitted to hospital.
Our December winners are the Townsend Road staff team
The team at Townsend Road as well as the
manager, were nominated for their fantastic work together to improve and
enhance the service provided to the person they support.
This individual has shown through his behaviour and communication just
how happy he is with the staff who work there, and the activities he has
been enjoying. Whereas before he may have gone out infrequently he has
recently been out on a number of trips, which have been really
successful. The team has also developed the relationship with the
person’s family.
Visitors to his home have noticed a more relaxed, happy and friendly
atmosphere. Well done to the team!
Our November winners are the ARC staff team
The
whole team at the ARC has been awarded the prize this month for their
hard work, creativity and the fabulous results of the recent BreakAway
Art exhibition. Special commendation goes to Emma for taking a
lead in the whole project. The project on the theme “therefore I
am” has given much prestige to the BreakAway service and people who use
it, as well as publicising Support for Living. People who use
BreakAway also benefited from support to develop their art by
professional artists. Not only was the exhibition supported by many
local people and celebrities, it also led to a front page cover on the
most recent Learning Disability Practice. Well done to everyone
involved!
Our October winner is Derrie Evans
Well done to Derrie Evans, House Manager, who wins the award for her long term and fantastic support of one of the people living in Frays Avenue (well all of them– but one in particular on this occasion!).
In particular she has used the person-centred review process to the advantage of this service user and his brother. The two may soon be seen whizzing down Frays Avenue on a motorbike together, and off on holiday with their whole family.
Our September winner is Kami Flora
Congratulations
to Kami Flora, our one and only Customer Finance Manager. Kami
receives the prize this month in recognition of her huge contribution to
ensuring that people who live in Hounslow now have control over their
finances.
After negotiating a successful handover of people’s finances from an organisation who used to hold these, Kami has been able to sift through and is ensuring that everyone is receiving the right benefits and paying for everything necessary too. She has enabled some people to claim large back-payments in benefits which they were not in receipt of, and because she manages and supports people with their money in a transparent way, everyone now knows how much they have, how much they need, and can also plan for some of the more fun things in life!
Our August winners are Tara Gallagher and Alina Babik
Tara
and Alina were jointly nominated for their work in setting up a series
of workshops for the people they support on health and keeping safe.
They have booked external people to run these, and the first two have
been highly successful.
The aims of the workshops are to educate, and make people aware of the
local support and resources around. Both workshops have been well
attended, enjoyed, and backed up by fabulous
accessible handouts and posters.
The communication and involvement of both the service users and people
in the community has been brilliant. Anyone wishing to get more
information, please contact Tara and Alina in the Brent Team. Well
done to both!
Our July winner is the Warwick Road staff team
Congratulations
to the team, who received 2 nominations this month!
Warwick Road staff are recognised with this award for fantastic team
work, and continuing to provide excellent support for people, during a
difficult period while they did not have a manager.
The team has also received praise both internally and externally for
their support of someone in particularly difficult circumstances.
Although she is not currently at Warwick Road, thanks and praise is
extended also to Paulette Mohammadi for her work in this area.
Our June joint winners are Laura Tully and the Brent staff team
Well
done to Laura who received not just one, but two individual nominations
and four as part of a group! It is her work mentoring and developing a
student in social work, for which she is recognised with this award.
Laura has facilitated a student on a 100 day placement to learn about supporting people with a learning disability, including person centred working and other essential aspects of work. She has also used the student’s skills to greatly benefit the people who live in Star Road, through him leading a project to better involve people in service user meetings, and offering training to the team. Laura has built an excellent working relationship with the university, elevating the reputation of the whole organisation.
This work has also benefited Star Road further through payment for the placement, which will be spent on creating a relaxation/ sensory room in the house.
The Brent team are receiving this joint award
this month for two excellent events they ran recently for current
service users and their families, and prospective service users.
The first event was to consult people who are supported and their
families about how things are run, what works for them and what doesn't.
Everyone who attended was extremely impressed with the event and the
team. A second event was an open evening to a service, for possible new
residents with their families and friends. The team thought of personal
touches to make people feel welcome, including homemade cake.
On both occasions the team showed their commitment to the people they
support and ability to involve and listen to people and involve people
really meaningfully. They have also promoted services run by Support for
Living in a very positive way.
Our May winner is Barbara McDonald
Barbara
who works at Victoria Road, has consistently supported individuals in a
way which is person-centred to enable them to have active involvement in
local and wider community and to maintain important relationships.
One example was supporting two people to use the local gym, which
required involvement of the local GP and an extensive programme with a
physiotherapist. She ensured that the rota could accommodate staff to be
matched to the individuals to make sure that their support is continued
after the Physiotherapist’s involvement.
Barbara supported four people to cook a mother’s day meal for all their
mothers, which all parties really enjoyed, and on another occasion
supported a person without family contacts, to hold a birthday meal for
all their friends.
If you wish to find out more about the process, and/or how to nominate a member of staff or staff team, please email Marianne.Selby-Boothroyd@supportforliving.org.uk.