Marion Cornick, MBE – Chair of Directors

Get in touch with Marion on 01256 812663

I founded the Loddon School in 1988. It’s an internationally renowned charity for children who can no longer live at home because of their severe and complex learning difficulties. The Loddon School is the only school of its kind in the UK.

In 1995, my husband Tim and I established Liaise Loddon for similar reasons: there was little adequate provision for adults with severe autism.

I have worked in special care and education my whole life, including as head teacher of three special schools. I’ve also been director of a large facility offering special care and education.

The programmes I developed at the Loddon School are positive, delivered in a supportive and therapeutic environment. From these, I created PROACT-SCIPr-UK®, which is a proactive approach to care that focuses on the whole person, not just their behaviours. More than 700 instructors now teach this programme in schools, care settings, hospitals and community homes all over the British Isles.

On my retirement from the Loddon School in 2008, I joined the board of directors at Liaise. When Tim died in 2001 I took over as managing director. I work part-time now, but supporting people with severe learning disabilities and autism remains my priority.

I also write about care matters and lecture all over the UK and internationally. I’m an active Rotarian, and the first woman president of my Rotary Club! And I was fortunate enough to be awarded an MBE in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Deborah Cornick – Managing Director

Get in touch with Deborah on 01256 812663

Before joining Liaise Loddon in 2002, I worked in a variety of industries bringing experience in business and financial planning, marketing and sales. I hold postgraduate degrees in Mathematics, Business and Law.

I joined the organisation initially to help Marion out for three months. Fifteen years later, I am still here and get more passionate each year about ensuring that we deliver an amazing service to the people we support while also creating a great place to work.

The people Liaise Loddon supports have the same rights as everyone else. I work to make sure everyone recognises this. A big part of my role is encouraging an environment which treats everyone as an individual with personal hopes and aspirations.

I also want to focus on my colleagues: the people who do the caring. They are extraordinarily dedicated and hardworking and I want to celebrate that.

We are continuing to grow, with plans to open more new homes in the area. So, a busy time for everyone!

Cathie Wyatt – Director of Care

Get in touch with Cathie on 01256 812663

In 1989 I visited the Loddon School for the first time, travelling nearly 200 miles to see a pupil who had moved there from the school I was working at. I spent the day in this amazing building and watched staff working with children with severe learning disabilities and autism in a way I’d never experienced before.

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 nine 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.

Henrik Holgersen – Positive Support Director

Get in touch with Henrik on 01256 812663

I am the Positive Support Director for Liaise Loddon Ltd. Having come to England in 1990 to work at the Loddon School for a year in order to gain experience and improve my English, my intention was to return to Denmark to continue my education. However, I find that twenty five years later I am still happily here and my one year’s work experience has become my long term career.

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 ten 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.

Tracy Underwood – Director of People Development & Engagement

Get in touch with Tracy on 01256 812663

I am delighted to return to Liaise Loddon as Director of People Development & Engagement having worked for the company as HR Manager here between 2004 and 2007.

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.