Celebrating our strengths - awards and good news
Giving back, Jack’s charitable endeavours
Jack is a 26-year-old young man who has autism and a mild learning disability. With the support of the dedicated staff at Real Life Options, Jack's life has taken a positive turn. He finds immense joy in various activities, including his passion for collecting car, train, and airplane models, as well as boating. Recently, Jack exhibited his compassion and generosity by raising over £50 for Myton Hospice, an organisation that provided care for his late father. While Jack acknowledges the need to go out with staff at times, he also relishes the newfound freedom he experiences. Engaging in activities like boating, karate, swimming and welly walks independently, Jack feels a sense of accomplishment. His pride is evident as he successfully navigates the waters of Stratford, steering the boat skilfully. Furthermore, Jack has taken on a volunteering job at a local Salvation Army charity shop, demonstrating his growing independence by travelling there via bus or train after receiving travel training support. Jack's remarkable progress is a testament to his resilience and the unwavering support he receives from those around him.
SW Degree Level Apprenticeship - first cohort graduates!
Over the recent years, to meet the increased demand in social care, the routes to becoming a qualified Social Worker has increased and varied. One of these is the Social Work Degree Level Apprenticeship, this is a three-year course, and the focus is on both academic and practice development. In 2019 Coventry Adults and Children enrolled their first cohort of apprentices at Coventry University and have since continued to offer and support this opportunity. In 2022 our first apprentices graduated and this included Tobias Tennant and Adam Gibson.
We also continue to be committed to supporting student placements. Aimee Madden was a 2nd year Social Work Student, who completed a final placement in one of our teams and subsequently came to work in Adult Social Care. Aimee said ‘I felt very supported by my Practice Educator and the team and my main reason for securing my first social work job was because I wanted to have the same support in completing my Assessed and Supported Year in Employment.
Support Worker in Adult Social Care wins BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire “Make a difference- Carer of the Year 2022 Award”!
Sharron Flanagan, a team member working in our Internally Provided Services for people with learning disabilities, was externally nominated for her outstanding work and commitment. Not only does Sharron work for our Promoting Independence Living Service (PILS), she also devotes her spare time to improve the lives of people in her local community. Just some examples of this are offering free haircuts to older people, supporting people with dementia, learning difficulties and visual impairments to access social activities as well as raising funds in her local Coventry community to protect wildlife.
Sharron said: “I love my job at PILS. I work in a fantastic team, who are well managed, supportive of each other and I would highly recommend PILS to anyone looking for a job. I feel very honoured to receive this award”.
Gerda Dunn, Service Manager added; “Sharron’s commitment to helping people and generally caring for the community is outstanding. I am so pleased that her contribution was externally recognised, she is a deserving winner of the award”.
Coventry’s First Partnership Dementia Hub opening
Following a wide range of engagement and planning during the last two years we are thrilled to say the first ever Coventry Partnership Dementia Hub, and one of only a very small number in the UK, has opened.
The creation of the hub has been driven by co-production and partnership working with extensive engagement involving people with dementia, their carers, health professionals and voluntary sector agencies. A formal consultation with the public was also undertaken and the resounding view was that there was a real and urgent need for a place for those people living with dementia to come together for joined-up support and information.
Celebrating the achievements of Adult Social Care Staff
In November 2023 an event was held that celebrated the efforts and hard work of staff across the service. We were overwhelmed with the number of nominations received, the panel which was made up of a variety of staff had a very difficult job selecting the winners!
As well as presenting awards to the winners nominated by peers, we also took the opportunity to celebrate those who had achieved academic awards.
We were also extremely lucky on the day to be entertained by Rob Sweet; Senior Support at Cobden Street who left more than a few of us amazed by his magical talents!
Well done everyone!
"It was really lovely to hear about all the great achievements of staff across Adult Social Care. It is great that staff have been given this recognition as they work very hard and often don’t get much recognition for what they do."
"Was great fun! Nice to be recognised at what we are doing and a really enjoyable!"
Tracey Denny, Head of Service Localities and Social Care Operations said; ‘It was clear that after the pandemic staff were tired and morale was low, so the event was a perfect way to celebrate all the hard work that everyone had done and to try and increase confidence, motivation and morale. It was great that peers could nominate each other, and we ensured that even those that did not win were sent their nomination details. A lot of time and effort goes into arranging an event like this, but the benefits were clear on the day to see and I look forward to this being an annual event in the Adult Social Care calendar!!’
Adults Services Wellbeing Week
Adult Services held a second wellbeing week in November 2022 following on from an earlier event held in March 2022, being a daily mixture of online and in person activities and events focusing on health and wellbeing for our Adult Services. The week was organised as an opportunity to reflect on our own wellbeing and perhaps learn some new ways of looking after ourselves and our health. There were a variety of sessions on offer which included virtual sessions focusing on learning new skills, boosting well-being and virtual yoga sessions and appointment-based sessions for nutrition and blood pressure/cholesterol levels.
The week was well received by our staff with over 100 people attending various sessions over the week.
Principal Social Worker Annual Report
Most areas have a Principal Social Worker for Adults and Children’s, supported by national and regional networks. The Care Act 2014 says local authorities should make arrangements to have a ‘qualified and registered social work professional practice lead’ in place.
In support of ensuring visibility for the role and celebrating achievements, our Adults Principal Social Worker, Andrew Errington, has produced a fifth annual report.