The teamwork was amazing. The positive, proactive management so impressive and the children were so happy. Staff interaction was wonderful. On the way home, my mind raced over what I had witnessed and I knew I had to apply to work there.

It was a massive decision to leave my family (they all lived within two miles of each other in Shrewsbury) – but I had to do it. So I went to Basingstoke for an interview. They offered me a job as a support worker and within a year, promoted me to head of care.

I stayed at the Loddon School until 1995, when Marion and Tim asked me to open and manage Liaise Loddon’s first home for adults. This was a huge responsibility, but everything I’d learned from Marion and the team at the school convinced me I could do it.

The next year, we opened our second home. I became registered manager for both services. My team and I offered homes that met the needs and exceeded the expectations of the people we support. We also promoted PROACT-SCIPr-UK®.

I was never keen on putting myself forward for courses or giving training, but Marion and Tim gave me the confidence to get qualified. I hold a NVQ Level 4 in Management and an NVQ Level 3 in Training and Development.

I intended to come to Basingstoke and work at the Loddon School for a year. More than 20 years later, I continue to enjoy my challenging role – now as director of care supporting eleven homes (with more to come).

In 1989 I did have times when I thought I’d made a big mistake leaving my family and previous job. But when I sit back now and think of all the opportunities Loddon and Liaise have given me I will always be extremely grateful.

Quick fire questions

• What were you doing before Liaise Loddon?
  I was head of care at the Loddon School.
• What do you like about working at Liaise Loddon?
  I like the way we encourage staff to progress in their careers. I’m proud that everyone has all the training they need to ensure they can give the people we support an excellent quality of life.
• What is your favourite song?
  Wooden Heart by Elvis.
• What is your favourite holiday destination?
  Spain.
• What is the best advice you have been given?
  Always be available to support and advise staff. Keep smiling and the world will smile with you.

In 1998 I joined Liaise Loddon as a support worker. I continued my studying alongside my work, receiving several promotions and finally ended up as Positive Behaviour & Quality Development Director. Among my qualifications (so far) I have a BTEC Advanced Professional Management Diploma, NVQ A1/D32/D33 and RMA. I am also a PROACT-SCIPr-UK® instructor. I have attended many conferences including the IABA conference in LA in 2011.

My role at Liaise Loddon is varied and interesting. One day I might be dealing with IT issues at our Head Office and the next I may be at one of our homes helping to support one of our young people. I also accompany the Director of Care to visit prospective service users to assess our suitability to support them. It is vitally important that people with such complex needs receive the care and support that is exactly right for each one of them.

My career has been and continues to be incredibly rewarding and fulfilling. I have seen the company grow from one home to the present eleven that we have. I have seen some of our service users grow from teenagers into young adults and developed very special relationships with some of them. I believe that the quality of life offered to our service users is second to none. The co-workers that support our special young adults are caring, talented and hardworking and I am proud to be part of such a great team.

In the interim period I have worked for several other organisations in a variety of industries including hospitality, utilities, social care within local authorities and private healthcare.  I am a Chartered member of the CIPD and hold a Level 7 qualification along with a rather out of date NVQ in Customer Care.  In a previous life I worked for Thames Valley Police for many years which gave me an immense grounding on the value of working together as a team, which is a philosophy I still strongly believe in today.

I see my role as varied mixing up strategic leadership with providing tangible advice to the business to solve people problems.   I believe the quality of service provided by Liaise is second to none and we support some incredible individuals with highly complex needs. The key to the success of our people is to continue to provide a knowledge and skills framework and motivate them to be the very best they can be.  The work within our homes is challenging and we need to ensure they have the skills to do their job safely and continue to develop.  We offer a very comprehensive training and induction which is designed to equip our co-workers for their future with us.  We actively seek to promote from within the company and constantly strive to engage with and reward our co-workers.

Quick fire questions

• What is your favourite song?
  In the Air Tonight – Phil Collins
• What is your favourite holiday destination?
  The Isle of Wight.
• What is the best advice you have been given?
  Don’t look back!