Susan Betts
After returning to work in 1987 following a career break caring for my two children and my mother-in-law following her stroke in 1980, I secured a role with Slough Social Services. From 1987 to - date my roles have all been working with vulnerable adults and children within Community Social Care and NHS settings providing direct services, managing, and commissioning services and in addition developing and piloting new services. My roles have included Home Care Assistant, Senior Home Care Assistant, Social Work Assistant, qualified Social Worker, Manager of Service Children with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities. (A component of this role required me to be the Registered Manager of the services Respite Care unit) I had a short career break March 2012 to look after my mother after she suffered several
Strokes. After the loss of my mother in July 2012 I joined the Stroke Association initially as a Stroke Coordinator progressing to Stroke Support Manager. My most recent role is Stroke Service Manager within a stroke pilot project.
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My work has furnished me with a vast range of expertise and skills proving me with a solid knowledge base to deliver the roles I have been privileged to work in to improve the lives of vulnerable adults and children. The roles I have worked in have involved safeguarding vulnerable adults and children required me to attending Best Interest Safeguarding and Child Protection meetings. Other
components of my work have required me to write court reports and attend court, securing safe placements for vulnerable adults and children / young people including foster care and adoption placements. I have also made applications and identified appropriate residential or nursing care placements for both adults and children. I have been a member of Foster Care,SEND, Continuing Care and Special Needs Housing panels. My role has required me to write and present panel papers to Local Authority Cabinet Members to secure much needed
funding and services. I have worked with a wide range of partner agencies including Police, Health, Legal Teams and Court Services, Ofsted and CQC Voluntary agencies, Charities and Local Community Leads. My professional experience of providing both direct care
services together with my personal experience of caring has furnished me with an in- depth insight and understanding of the challenges faced by those going through crisis / life changing events in their lives. These roles have also equipped me with a solid knowledge
base of both the medical and social models of disability. Having a wide knowledge and skill base has proved valuable within my management and supervisory roles in developing staff / team to ensure they met the requirement knowledge and skills to deliver high quality needs-led services. I have been committed to my ongoing continued personal development, I completed a Train the Trainer course, qualified as a Social Work Practice Teacher, NVQ Assessor and gained a Post Graduate Diploma in Strategic Leadership and more recently
successfully completed a further Leadership Programme at Lancaster University. The knowledge gained from these qualifications coupled with the ongoing CPD requirements including reflective practice linked to my annual social work registration have also been vital
components in developing and educating staff an area of my career, which is a rea of my career I have gained a high level of job satisfaction. Supervising and assessing social work students and staff has required me to keep abreast of current legislation and the required standards as does my annual social work registration. I have a commitment to staff induction, 1.1 and group supervision, training, and reflective practice. Attending and delivering training have been integral components throughout my 36 years working within
the caring sector, one I have benefited from and provided to others as part of their ongoing continued professional development.
My partner Lucia Garratt and I are excited about our new venture, we both enjoy and are committed to developing others to achieve positive outcomes for those living the experience. We are looking forward to delivering the training courses we have devised drawing on our knowledge skills and experience to skill both organisations and individuals through our company.
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Lucia Garratt
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My aim when leaving school was to work in Accounts / Finance and I worked in hospitality, to subsidise my college attendance for Accounting, after just 6 months of working in accounts, I realised that this role was not for me and I continued to work in hospitality, I enjoyed interacting with others and developed excellent people skills.
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Through “in work” training I gained informal experience and took catering qualifications to enable me to work as a chef. Working as a Directors Chef in the private sector in the city while my family grew was a role I enjoyed for over 24 years, a shoulder injury meant I had to retire from this career and retrain.
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While my children were younger, I volunteered as a school governor and a volunteer manager at a local adventure playground. I also volunteered with the Youth Offending team and sat on the first Restorative Justice Panel held in Islington. Through my volunteering roles I had gained training and developed management skills and experience in the Education sector. As a Learning Mentor in both Primary and Secondary schools working with NEET (not in Education Employment or Training) young people I gained the Specialist Leader in Behaviour and Attendance qualification and participated in attending Best Interest, Safeguarding and Child Protection meetings
to support families and children and supported young people to maintain their school attendance and gain qualifications. I held the post of Chair of Governors for 10 years and gained level 6 Management training. I was safeguarding lead for governors during this time gaining wider experience working with both Children and Family services and local Authorities Education Services. I participated in OFSTED
inspections.I tendered for and managed a 2-year project supporting young offenders as part of a business
project that I set up and this was successfully then integrated into the Youth Offending Team although this meant funding for our independent project was stopped. While looking for roles for the young people ending their term with us, I saw a role working with
Stroke Survivors advertised and decided this was something I would like to try as had personal experience of the struggles families face when stroke strikes. I had an excellent background knowledge of the Social Care Model and I worked for 5 years ensuring that the survivors and families I supported got the best outcomes possible, developing my knowledge of the medical model of disability.
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I continued to develop my personal knowledge and training and in 1994 took on the role of Stroke Support Manager working on contracts across London. My previous training and understanding of finance meant I was able to participate in tendering for services, raising outcomes and meeting targets enabling all contracts that I managed to be recommissioned over 5 years. I managed a team of coordinators working alongside two other managers to ensure London services were outstanding and our teams were supported to develop skills and knowledge through induction, 1:1 support, training and reflective practice. I modelled this practice by continuing to develop my own skills,
experience, knowledge and sharing good practice. While training staff and volunteers I was able to Incorporate my Learning Mentor skills to ensure we identified and met needs for different learning styles and disability needs especially in our Stroke Survivor volunteers who came with a wide range of skills and abilities and were able to share their own skills and experiences.
I trained in Coaching Skills and attended a 2-year Leadership course along with Train the Trainer to further develop my own practice.
My partner Susan Betts and I are excited about our new venture, we both enjoy and are committed to developing others to achieve positive outcomes for those living the experience. We are looking forward to delivering the training courses we have devised drawing on our
knowledge skills and experience to skill both organisations
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