Staff Matters - January 2025

Hello team, 

January has well and truly arrived, alas we are almost at the end of it! We hope that you had a good break towards the end of last year and were able to come back to work feeling refreshed. There are a few things to let you know about in Staff Matters this month so, let's jump in...

 

Who's who?

This month's team focus is on our Therapeutic Parenting Team. This team is overseen by Fiona Eve, Head of Therapeutic and Trauma-Informed Support and also consists of two Therapeutic Parenting Coaches -Grace Winterschladen and Louise MacDiarmid. The team are peer mentors with lived experience of parenting children who have experienced trauma and high anxiety, and they will all be qualified as Non Violent Resistance Practitioners by July 2025.

 

  

     Fiona              Grace            Louise

 

As a team they are responsible for Therapeutic and Trauma-Informed support inside and outside the organisation and this includes:

• Supporting families referred by Family Support Manager's with bespoke one to one sessions on the impact of trauma and anxiety on the brain, and therapeutic strategies to manage behaviour. This support is especially helpful for families whose children have experienced trauma, or who are neurodivergent/have additional needs or have high anxiety for any reason.
• New online therapeutic parenting course for groups of referred parents and carers
• Training staff, volunteers and outside agencies in using a trauma-informed approach
• Training staff in an awareness of Secondary Trauma
• Training schools in using a therapeutic approach in education
• Training churches in welcoming vulnerable families and using a trauma-informed approach
• Creating resources to support our work
• Occasional face to face or online training for outside organisations

If you would like to know more about what this team does or want to chat about training or anything else please do reach out to any of the team via Slack.

 

Staff updates - new starters

This month we would like we have had quite a few new starters. Here's a warm welcome to...

 

        

     Amy              Emily           Laura           Elise          Joanne         Michaela        Wendy

• Amy Walker, Family Support Manager (North West) started 6 January.
• Emily Brewer, Family Support Manager (South East and London) started 7 January
• Laura Lanza, Family Support Manager (SW and W) started 13 January
• Elise Thomas, Student Family Support Manager (Central) started 13 January
• Joanne Triffitt, Family Support Manager (South West and Wales) started 14 January
• Michaela Mouquet, Family Support Manager (South East and London) started 14 January
• Wendy Brett, Business Development Manager (North East) started 20 January

Staff updates - leavers

In January we sadly are saying goodbye to Rachel Kirkby, Family Support Team Leader, Joey Robinson, Family Support Manager, Chris Whitwell, Community Volunteer Manager, Ellie Brunskill, Family Support Manager (currently on maternity leave), Lucy Giles, Family Support Manager and Andy Murray, Director of Family Support. We will be praying for them all in their next steps.

 

All staff meeting

Last week we held our first All Staff Meeting of 2025. There was some really valuable things shared including a chance to dig deeper into the Homecoming Project which is a piece of work that we are involved in and a prayer time. If you missed the call you can catch up on it here and here is some more information about the Homecoming Project. 

 

How to check electrical equipment

As an organisation, we want to ensure that the electrical equipment we are using to aid us in our jobs is safe and fit for purpose. It is really important therefore, that all staff take responsibility for looking after their equipment. In order for you to check your equipment please read this article and get in touch if there is anything that concerns you. 

 

Annual leave

You may have seen that the 2025/2026 annual leave allowance is now available to book! Hooray! If you are not sure how to book leave, you can refer to this article. A few staff have been asking about carrying forward annual leave into the next year, this will happen automatically as we cross into April. We do encourage staff to take their leave allowance in the year that it relates to in order to make sure that you are taking a break from work to rest or focus on other things. You can however, carry forward a working week's worth of annual leave (so of you work five days, this will be five days, if you work four days, this would be four days and so on.) If you have more than a working week of annual leave left, unfortunately those days will be lost so make sure you check your balance in the coming weeks and book in any remaining time. 

 

Complaints policy

We have recently updated our complaints policy in regard to those who have received a service from us. You can take a look at the updated policy here which directs people to an online complaints form. 

 

BUPA cash plan

In the summer we committed to looking into offering BUPA health plan for all staff members. Historically this is something that Home for Good team members could opt into. Due to the cost of the cover, and the limitations on our budget we have made the decision that this will not be offered as a benefit. We have instead chosen to prioritize other things including Group Income Protection and staff salaries. For those who are currently opting into the scheme, this will finish at the end of March 2025. Whilst not as comprehensive as the cover, a reminder that all team members have access to YuDoctor by Smart Health through YuLife.

Vacancies

At the moment there are two vacancies in the organisation which are being advertised. They are - Nottingham and Derby Family Support Manager closing 2 February and Trusts and Key Relationship Manager for the Fundraising Team closing 16 February. If you know anyone who might be interested please direct them to our website. 

Staff survey

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to complete our first staff survey as a joint organisation. We really appreciate your honesty and openness as we continue to work towards how we can grow and improve together. Over the next couple weeks, we will be reviewing the survey results and how this is analysed and shared across the organisation so will have more information on this soon. Watch this space!

Events for you

As a reminder, on 4 March, we will be part of hosting a global prayer meeting. This is a really exciting opportunity so if you are interested and want to find out more check out this message on Slack from Jemma Collins in our Communications Team.  

There is also a CAP Money Course taking place on 2 April which is open to staff. Here is a link from Martin Dickson in Slack for you to find out more.