The Employer Award
Praxis

Praxis use of innovations is impressive. They use apps and technology to reduce pressures on a large and busy workforce, giving employees access to learning and information that supported their development, health and wellbeing at the touch of a button! Praxis is making a commitment to support their staff at every level from the front line to the board room.

The Newcomer Award
John Sheilds, Mainstay DRP

John has so much energy and passion to support people who have disabilities. He is a truly admirable man who works hard to ensure people with a learning disability have fantastic opportunities to lead a fulfilling life. He has made positive relationships with his service users and supported them to become part of the community. “Your Dad would be proud of you!”

The Support Worker Award (Community)
Tori McIntyre

Victoria was humble but passionate about the difference she is making every day. If all support workers were like Tori, we would not need managers or regulations! In a competitive category with high quality candidates Tor stood out and her passion and commitment were evident. Tori also understands the political social care system and echoes what her colleagues say; “Decision makers must start including autistic people and people with a learning disability so that we can all work towards better outcomes.”

The Support Worker Award (Supported Living and Residential)
Jenny Ward, Positive Futures

Jenny is someone who goes over and above in her role. She sees her colleagues and the people she supports as an extension of her family. Her dedication, passion and love for her job shone through.

The Frontline Leaders Award
Jolene Courtney Rowlands, Kilcreggan Homes

Jolene’s passion and positive approach was exceptional. We were so impressed with her commitment to ‘lead from the front’ and work alongside staff to support, encourage and positively challenge others. She demonstrated a reflective approach in terms of how to adapt and change, including times when things were not working well. Jolene outlined the support for one individual with Covid working 12 hour shifts for 10 days as part of a staff bubble and her account of ‘we did that, we got through together’ was both moving and inspiring.

The Manager Award
Rosemary Wray, Northern Health and Social Care Trust

Rose is truly inspirational and has a wealth of experience in the sector. She is a people person and was able to demonstrate great leadership skills . It is people like Rose that puts a smile on the face of others. Rose will go far in life!

The Making a Difference Award (Individual)
Philip Reain-Adair, Live Life Well-being Centre

Philip is entrepreneurial with a very creative and solution based thinking. He addressed a need within the community and innovatively created quality opportunities for service users in need. Philip has extensive knowledge in this area and has taken a very positive approach to challenging and addressing barriers in specialised provision. Philip should be extremely proud of the difference he has made to young people with disabilities and his community. Philip has been instrumental in the entire concept of this company and his commitment and dedication is driving him to develop this specialised provision. We believe he is making a huge difference to the lives of people with learning disabilities, autism and their families.

The Making a Difference Award (Team)
The Just Ask Project, Informing Choice NI

The Just Ask Project is a truly exceptional scheme that makes a real difference to the lives of people with learning disabilities. They focus on naturalising ‘taboo’ subjects (menstruation, puberty, consent, menopause, grief, loss etc) in a way that takes the sense of fear surrounding these subjects away to ultimately foster a culture of autonomy and empowerment in those they support. With a model that approaches these topics at all levels (government, policy, family, support networks, training and development and the individual themselves) the Just Ask Project is truly person centred and community based. It really does make a palpable difference every day and the project is much deserving of this award!

The Sporting Chance Award
Gerard Haughey and Grainne Connor, Stepping Stones NI

Gerard and Grainne demonstrate a clear passion for those they support through regular football sessions. Acutely aware of the connection between mind and body, as well as the holistic benefits of sport such as socialisation, self esteem and mental health they are much deserving winners of this award. Their focus on meditation within their practice makes their contribution particularly special, as players let of steam not only physically but emotionally. The bonds players make through the game provides a great space for exploring difficult emotions such as grief and loss, but also an upbeat and encouraging space for them to succeed. Great work!

The Breaking Down Barriers Award
Greg’s Team, Potens

This team blew us away. They go above and beyond to ensure the health and wellbeing of the individual they support. Their approach is truly person centred and innovative and as such the person they support has been able to live life to the full in the community instead of a hospital.

The Great Autism Practice Award
Kilcreggan Homes

The team at Kilcreggan are clearly passionate about delivering person-centred support and promoting inclusion within their local community. Their love for what they do shines through. It is fantastic to hear about innovative projects that ensure people with autism are accessing their community on an equal basis with others. Well done to everyone in Kilcreggan.

The Positive Behaviour Support Award
Mark Connolly, Mencap

Mark was very knowledgeable about PBS and had a clear passion of this work and his role at Mencap. He spoke very warmly about how it has supported individuals to make positive changes. The support and time that Mark gives to his colleagues in their roles was very impressive and valuable.

The People’s Award
Tell it Like It Is (TILII)

Led by and for people with a learning disability, the TILII Project is an impressive group advocating on a range of issues from health rights to safeguarding. TILII is making the world a better place for everyone, especially people with a learning disability. Well done TILII!

The Outstanding Contribution Award
Paula Jennings, Stepping Stones

We were impressed by Paula’s lifetime achievements in the leadership and development of Stepping Stones and particularly by her focus on people. In her words, “It is a privilege to give people opportunities to excel and it is important to treat people as people and leave all the other baggage at the door”. She is clearly an inspiring and passionate leader and fully deserves this award.

The Housing Manager Award (Not for Profit)

Winner: Jane Prior, Sanctuary Supported Living

Jane demonstrated not only her skills and commitment to a service that has significant challenges but her passion for making a difference to those young people who cannot speak for themselves really shone through. She should be really proud of the difference she is making to children’s lives.

Highly Commended: Alex Mepham, Sanctuary Supported Living

Alex was passionate about advocating for those she supports and who have challenging behaviour but cannot speak for themselves. She manages a first-class service and she be applauded.

The Team Leader Award (Independent)

Winner : James Pitt, Horizon Care & Education

James demonstrated real passion and commitment to the children and young people his team support. He is a first class leader and a real credit to his organisation.

Highly Commended: Gemma Hobin, Stedychefs

The service and support delivered by Stedychefs is quite unique and it is led by a remarkable manager, Gemma Hobin. She is passionate and highly motivated to drive the service even further to develop more diverse support so that they can achieve even greater things.

The Team Leader Award (Not for Profit)

Winner: Jacqueline Cuthbert, Housing 21

Open and transparent, Jacqueline is a team leader that gets things done. She keeps a person-centred approach at the heart of her work and is an exceptional leader. Well done Jacqueline!

Highly Commended: Lydia Woodall, Making Space

Lydia is adaptable and compassionate: two qualities that make her a first-class team leader. Keeping those she supports and the team at the centre of her practice, she excels in this role and should be proud of the work she does.

The Care Team Award (Independent)

Winner: Hylton House Team, Keswick Care

Sam and Jade were extremely passionate about their service and clearly work with incredibly complex individuals. Sam and Jade were humble, kind, compassionate, honest, genuine and extremely committed to ensuring the individuals being supported have the best quality of life. The team at Hylton House have clearly had to respond to challenging behaviour quickly and effectively to ensure the safety of the individuals and staff are a priority. Sam and Jade have devoted so much time and patience to the individuals living at the service, supporting them through times of distress, even when the staff are at breaking point themselves. I was overwhelmed with the caring nature of Sam and Jade, how they involve the individuals in everything they do, even this nomination regarding feedback on the staff as a whole. The team at Hylton House clearly demonstrate an incredible commitment to person centred care.

Highly Commended: M&D Care

M&D Care are an incredible team who are extremely passionate about the care they deliver. The company use innovative technology to provide the best possible care and the most effective support for the staff. The M&D team are clearly progressive and forthcoming with their approach to supporting individuals. Rachel and Lauren are extremely passionate, kind, compassionate and full of infectious personalities. They are warm, considerate and clearly approachable. It was an absolute pleasure meeting the team and I look forward to seeing them again the future.

The Care Team Award (Not for Profit)

Winner: Sussex Avenue, Sanctuary Supported Living

The Sussex Avenue Team demonstrated a real passion and dedication to care that was palpable. The work around the principles of a truly person-centred practice and are outstanding at what they do.

Highly Commended: Darlington Extra Care Team, Making Space

The Darlington Extra Care Team are real professionals through and through. They help those they support achieve the best outcomes and keep a smile on their face as they do it. They are much deserving of high commendation.

The Housing Team Award (Independent)

Winner: Thomas Culshaw, Bedspace

In a time where the rental market is extremely competitive, Thomas and the team are advocates for supporting landlords/investors and demonstrate positive examples of making it work. Congratulations – Bedspace are worthy winners of this award!

Highly Commended: Michelle Bennet, Change Housing

Michelle and her team have completely turned around the business: working extremely hard to build positive community relationships whilst also breaking down stigmas. They should be proud of the work they have done, and continue to do.

The Housing Team Award (Not for Profit)

Winner: Bolton Bridges Team, Adullam Homes

The judges were really struck with the innovation and the teamwork that came strongly across during the interview panel.  The way in which services and provision are co-produced was inspiring and the judges felt that this team really did have the service users at the heart of everything they did.

Highly Commended: Julia Tompson and the Team, Wolverhampton City Council

Julia’s team conveyed a cohesive, inclusive ethos in everything they spoke about, putting the young people at the centre of everything. They should be highly commended for the work they do.

The Activities Co-ordinator Award:

Winner: Bill Hopley, Seckford Care

Bill’s transferable people skills from his days as a police officer have given him a real insight into understanding what people need and want.  His compassion shone through during the judges’ session with him, and his work on inter-generational activities was particularly impressive. There was a real understanding of the anxieties that people go through when moving into residential care, and an insight into the different ways in which people may want or need to access activities.

Highly Commended: Alice Williams, One Housing

Alice has supported some amazing work with residents who remember the arrival of the HMT Windrush and has supported them to bring alive their memories on its 75th anniversary.  She supports a very diverse group of residents and makes it possible for people with sensory impairments to enjoy activities alongside their peers.

The Care Handyman / Person Award

Winner: Chris Jones, Belong

Chris spoke with passion about his role & the difference he makes to the lives of individuals whilst undertaking his duties. He told stories of supporting people to live independent lives through his interventions of adapting everyday items to meet needs, going above & beyond his role.

Highly Commended: Mike Wilson, Seckford Care

Mike explained that everyday is different & that residents always come first. He’s approachable by everyone & his role is more than a job to him.

The Chef Award

Winner: Lisa Smith, Knaves Court, Housing 21

Lisa really focuses on the needs of the residents to ensure that they have balanced, nutritional meals with lots of options and choices because, after all, it is their home!  It’s really apparent that she cares for the people living within the home, as she regularly organises various events to add fun to meal time and create a fantastic atmosphere!

The Garden Landscaper Award

Winner: Chris Liversidge, Rangeford Villages

Chris has shown how much they care for the residents in Rangeford Villages. He has created sporting activities areas, an outdoor fitness studio, allotments, dog walking area and much more! He makes sure he does all the dirty work and leaves the residents have all the fun. He has created wild areas, helping the residents reconnect with nature and the local wildlife. Through his hard work, wild flowers are coming back to the area and is now at the stage where the plants are self-sustaining. A truly exceptional garden landscaper that is much deserving of this award!

The Housekeeper Award

Winner: Caren Fowler, Abbeyfield Holloway House

The judges loved the way Caren thinks outside the box and goes above and beyond in her role. She is always thinking of new creative ideas and implements this into her work from themed events to being creative at meal times, she seems like she plays a key role at Holloway House and they are lucky to have her!

Highly Commended: Catherine Jenner, Cross Keys Care

Catherine really cares about doing a great job and goes above and beyond in her role to ensure she spends time with the residents alongside her normal duties. This is really admirable and she obviously makes a fantastic impression and is well thought of by the people her service supports!

The Care Commissioner Award

Winner: Hampshire & Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board, NHS

The Lookout is a multi-agency partnership which has broken down traditional organisational boundaries to achieve truly holistic support for people in mental health crisis. The judge was particularly impressed by how the commissioner has facilitated a strong partnership between the voluntary sector provider and the NHS.

The Housing Developer Award

Winner: Project Home

Project Home is a very unique service with a vision shared by Peter, Brian and Amanda that delivers quality housing, care and support to young people who are struggling in education or residential care. Although they have only been operating for just over a year they have significant aspirations that will create life changing opportunities for children across the country.

The Outreach Community Service Award

Winner: Hayley Timmins, Radis Community Care

Baron’s Place provides community-based care and support for fourteen people. The team at Barons place showed consistent commitment and examples of how they support their people to integrate with others, not only with those within their immediate living space, but the wider community. Successful integration is graded in a way so all can get involved with flexibility depending on how people are feeling on each particular day. This graded approach enables people to progress and pause their goals at their own pace.

Highly Commended: Cambridge Mental Health Service Team, Sanctuary Supported Living

The Team have supported housing in Cambridge, across 8 projects. They have a clearly defined pathway for people who need higher intensity support, to low level intervention. Their offering includes community-based activities from gardening projects to voluntary roles. They have a strong ethos of ‘not giving up’, believing that everyone has the right to be included.

The Supported Housing Innovation Award

Winner: ASC Sidlaw View

The support team at Sidlaw have been able to take the service and change it to meet the needs of the ‘guys.’ They have created an open environment, based on trust and respect. During covid, as they were spending all their time together, they wanted to build happy relaxed relationships with the staff and we can confirm they succeeded!

Highly Commended: Active Prospects

As a service which supports around 200 individuals they have truly cracked the code of making everyone within their services maintain their individuality and independence. Their dedication to upskilling their staff and their residents is evident in everything they do and have been a great contributor to research projects.

The Workforce Development Award

Winner: Neil McCarthy, Octavia Care

Neil and the team have developed a toolkit which enables staff to better approach and understand end of life care. This training has empowered staff with the skills to necessary to deal with this tough subject, and recognise if a service user wants talk, and if so, how that conversation might go. Such training takes the stigma away from a topic that is incredibly difficult, and Neil and the team are therefore worthy winners of the Workforce Development Award.

Highly Commended: Vicky Marshall, Active Prospects

Vicky takes a person-centred approach to both care and workforce development. Focusing on a feel-good, confidence boosting practice she ensures the best for both staff and service users and empowers both to succeed. Well done Vicky!

The Tenant Co-production Award

Winner: Sophie Bicknell, Atlas Supported Living

Sophie is a true star and shining example of the importance of Tenant Co-production. Having spent a decade now in the supported living service, Sophie has been empowered by those who support her and armed with the skills to give back to her community. Sophie now occupies 3 voluntary positions a week in a charity shop, café, and assisting the local Brownie group. She has been supported in her journey and is not only thriving, but able to share her positivity with those around her.

Highly Commended: The Support Team, ASC Sidlaw View

With an ethos that puts service users at the centre of their practice, ASC Sidlaw view are truly leading the way in Tenant Co-production. Their person-centred and innovative approach ensures everyone they support can achieve their best outcomes, and have a great time doing so. This team is much deserving of high commendation, and is an asset to the social care sector.

The Lifetime Achievement Award

Winner: Sam Perry, Head of Children’s Services, Jubilee House Care Trust

Having been at Jubilee House Care Trust for nearly 3 decades, Sam has spent the greater part of her life going above and beyond to provide an outstanding service to support young people and families.  Sam adopts an innovative approach to achieving positive outcomes; one of which is offering short breaks to prevent families reaching crisis point – a truly vital service. Further, she is a knowledgeable and kind leader that empowers others to excel and achieve Outstanding ratings during inspections. For these reasons, and many more, Sam is a worthy winner of this most important award in recognition of her life’s service.

Highly Commended: Kris Peach, Executive Director of Extra Care, Housing 21

Kris originally started at Housing 21 around a decade ago and has, since then, worked his way to becoming Executive Director of Extra Care. Growing into an exceptional leader, Kris is still approachable, remembers where he came from, and puts the staff first. He is much deserving of high commendation for his efforts and long-term commitment to the social care sector.