The Network - Issue 13

Issue 13

Network Monthly news, views and updates from across Phoenix

The Woodland Trust’s Project Patron HRH The Princess Royal planted the 6 millionth Jubilee Phoenix Futures ‘Recognised for Excellence’! tree, reaching an ambitious target and helping transform the UK’s Between 8th and 12th April two the EFQM Excellence accreditation! landscape.

Independent Assessors conducted an assessment over Phoenix Futures plants a tree for each five days, with representatives Some unique Phoenix Futures approaches to recovery were service user who completes a from 12 services plus support highlighted in the structured treatment programme at staff. submission document: Phoenix Futures as part of their recovery from drug and alcohol Interviews were conducted with 15 1. The Voyage of Recovery problems. That is approaching over senior managers, and 48 staff and A tremendous example of 1000 recovery journeys each year managers. partnership working and which we seek to celebrate, the power of service users in immortalize and commemorate whilst It included interviews, site visits, recovery making a significant contribution to reviewing evidence from the 2. Recovery through Nature the environment.

Submission Document as well as 57% improvement in time other written and online evidence. spent in treatment when “More Trees, More Good” is the Trust’s At the end of the week, the assessors engaged with Recovery campaign to facilitate the planting awarded Phoenix Futures with the through Nature of 20 million trees a year for the next prestigious European-wide 3. New Year Honours 50 years as part of its aim to double “Recognised for Excellence” Reinforcing a culture of native woodland cover across the UK. accreditation. excellence and recognising This includes planting at Heartwood outstanding achievements.

Forest, the location of Phoenix Forest, Phoenix Futures were awarded four which will become England’s largest stars which puts us in the top 94 new native woodland with 650,000 organisations in the UK who hold trees being planted – all by volunteers.

Working with their supporters, they have created 60 large Diamond woods, hundreds of Jubilee woods and thousands of commemorative community copses. They’ve planted over 5,000 hectares creating vital new habitat for wildlife and a lasting legacy.

Jubilee Woods did more than mark this historic occasion – with just 12,000 hectare planted in the UK last year, their Jubilee trees are a huge contribution. In England, they have helped prevent woodland cover tipping into decline.

www.phoenix-futures.org.uk

Top left: Voyage of Recovery, Top right: Recovery through Nature and Bottom: New Year Honour Awards.

Continues on Page 2

Phoenix Futures have been ‘Recognised for Excellence’! (Cont) recovery.

In addition to these customer focused results, staff at Phoenix Futures are fully engaged with the • We will be sharing the news of this accreditation news services we provide: with the wider community 1. Compliments and complaints: through Facebook and Twitter • According to the annual staff This graph illustrates that Phoenix • Please make sure you share survey, Phoenix Futures staff Futures receives substantially more this great achievement too! ranked around ‘world class’ for compliments than complaints and having someone at work who that compliments are rising at a faster cared about them as a person This accreditation proves that rate as the organisation grows.

• According to the annual staff we are becoming a more solid organisation that can offer better survey, Phoenix Futures staff services to more people feel that the mission and struggling with addiction. purpose of the organisation makes them feel that their job Having the Recognised for is important.

Excellence accreditation is one • Also, Phoenix Futures was awarded ‘Best Employer’ at the way of showing all the Third Sector Excellence Awards achievements we have made in becoming a more effective and 2012.

2. Service user satisfaction: efficient organisation. It would This graph shows the average also help us in tendering – to satisfaction of service users since keep our existing services and to 2009 gain new ones.

Phoenix Futures is a customer focussed organisation, which shows through our positive results:

But this accreditation is not the end to the excellence journey. We will keep on improving; in what we provide, in our confidence in providing it, in the number of people we help and how well we help them move forward in their

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Submission Document, to every service which was visited, and to everyone who was interviewed!

Update to the IT Strategy: Flexible integrated systems? still be ‘cloud’ based (believe it With a hotly anticipated update CA: When will the strategy be to the IT strategy in the pipeline, initiated and how long will it take or not our Current systems are a very early version of cloud we talk to Richard Wilson, Head of to implement? computing, known as a private Information Technology to find out RW: Work on the new IT Strategy cloud). The new system will also more about the future of our IT see the introduction of a will come in two stages, the first systems and learn exactly what a completely different approach to will be an upgrade of current more flexible and integrated systems and hardware which will how we utilise IT as a business, approach to IT will mean for us. begin on the 22nd of April 2013 with an aim to make it much more of a strategic tool than it Courtney Allen: Hi Richard, thanks for and will be implemented by the taking the time to talk to us. What will middle of June. The second phase currently is. the new IT Strategy mean to staff in our will be the development of our CA: Just how flexible will our services? new system based on Microsoft systems be once the new strategy SharePoint; this will start at the Richard Wilson: Thanks Courtney the end of May and will take between has been implemented?

New IT Strategy will mean our systems 6 and 9 months. Long enough to RW: The new system will will have much better performance and as ensure that we get it right first provide vastly increased a result a better experience for users, we time. flexibility. Limited access from will have new hardware and the any device or operating system latest software which will allow us to CA: What differences will the share information and data more new system make to current Citrix (no longer limited to Microsoft) will be possible from anywhere easily, work more reliably and unlock the users? in the world, though devices will capabilities to adopt new technologies.

As part of the strategy we will also be RW: The new IT Strategy will see have to be sanctioned by IT department for full access. The replacing all of our current computers a move away from the current that are more than 3 years old. This will Citrix platform towards Microsoft new system will also be more receptive to industrial and ensure that all of our computers are fully SharePoint (a leading Content capable of making the best use of the Management System used by busi- technological developments as new systems. nesses worldwide). This will see a and when the organisation needs them. slightly less centralised focus to our IT systems, though they will

www.phoenix-futures.org.uk

“At Phoenix we believe in giving people a voice. To mark National Apprenticeship week I have asked our youngest apprentice Jahmane Daniels to take over my blog.”

- Karen Biggs When my Director of Resources came to the Executive Team with a plan to set up a number of apprenticeships across different departments we saw it as an excellent opportunity to deliver our mission through our workforce. We loved the idea of providing support to people through the workplace, not just providing someone with a job and work experience but a part of Phoenix Futures. supporting them in their first There are different views about experience of working life. apprenticeships. Some think it as a way for companies to get employees We now have 6 apprentices across ‘on the cheap’. My view is that it is a the organisation in a variety of chance to get on the working ladder functions. and build your own personal and working skills in order to make We have learnt that our most positive and progressive important role is to support someone improvements not just in the work to learn how to be part of a place but also in life. workplace. Its sometimes easy to forget that learning how to work is To be honest I came into Phoenix one of the most important life with no idea of what to expect, but lessons.

I have come to see that regardless of whether you are an Apprentice or And whilst apprentices may need permanent staff you are treated the more support in some areas it has same. I can’t lie and say it has been been an absolute joy to have them easy, there have been challenges as part of our organisation and very and testing times. Working under rewarding to watch them grow and pressure has been a real learning develop. curve. For many of us who have taken on an Apprenticeship course we are either fresh out of College or University and have no idea of how to operate in a demanding office environment. I have been lucky in regards to knowing the help and support was always there and that for me gave me encouragement and helped me perservere and for me I feel this was essential.

I feel I have learnt so much whilst being here; I have liked the general

Over to Jahmane....

It is nearly a year since I joined Phoenix Futures, and in that time I have had the pleasure of being a part of a family, and a part of company which is constantly changing lives and that for me was what enticed me to join and become

www.phoenix-futures.org.uk

feel of Phoenix in regards to the general decorum which comes with working within Phoenix. Also the workload, although sometimes it felt like you were up to your eyeballs, it gives you a sense of achievement once you have completed what you had to do, and it really makes you feel part of a team.

Working at Phoenix has given me confidence. With their ever helpful staff there is never a feeling of being an outsider. I hope once my apprenticeship is complete to continue working with Phoenix whether that is in the Finance department or hopefully in the New Business & Development department, where I hope to take the skills I have learnt whilst here but also my own personal attributes and contribute them to Phoenix over a long term period.

So in regards to being an Apprentice, if there ever was a company which is a shining light then Phoenix is the one. They embrace your skills and enhance them, and the support and encouragement you receive whether that be from a colleague or from the C.E.O it is never far away, and for that I would like to say thank you, because without the support from Phoenix I really don’t think I would be where I am today.

So thank you for all of your support.

Jahmane Daniels

National Apprenticeship Week

“This month some of our apprentices have been writing blogs and making videos to explain what their apprenticeship means to them.

We’ve noticed that our Digital Marketing Apprentice Courtney Allen (who has been organising our contribution for National Apprenticeship week) has managed to avoid the limelight himself, however… the month isn’t over yet!

Courtney started as an apprentice just over twelve months ago. Since then he’s achieved a huge amount for himself and for the charity. When he was first offered our apprenticeship role after an interview at our modest offices in London, he might have expected he’d be spending his time updating content on our website, maybe doing some amends to the staff newsletter and helping put the chairs out at our annual staff awards. That’s what apprentices do isn’t it? Bit of this, bit of that?

newsletter, and managed the entire audio and visual content for our annual awards, no mean feat when you have to edit 60 individual video clips together and present them in front of over 100 staff members with only a week to do it. He definitely wouldn’t have thought that he would be planting trees in a forest on the Scottish Borders, or battling sea-sickness to live tweet at 3am from a boat off the coast of Plymouth on our Voyage of Recovery. That’s how we do our apprenticeships.

A year on (including one week living on a boat at sea with no access to donuts) Courtney has successfully completed his apprenticeship and is now a Marketing and Communications Officer and a permanent member of the Phoenix Futures team. He may never go sailing again, but there are plenty more adventures ahead.”

James Armstrong Head of Marketing and He might not have realised that just a year later he’d have launched Communications three websites and a brand new staff

Health and Safety Corner

Get involved in our new Health and Safety Structure for England; register your interest now!

You can be a Gold Hat – of your premises only.

Or a White Hat– of all the premises in a locality, namely Barnsley, Trafford, London, Derby, and Phoenix+NORCAS .

Whether you are already a White or

Gold hat, or simply interested in Health and Safety, we would love to hear from you!

Register your interest by emailing ruby.newton@phoenix-futures. org.uk or phoning 0207 234 9779. If more than one person applies for the same role, we will ask for some additional information and will commence a selection process.

www.phoenix-futures.org.uk

Ron Turrell on Gambling

A Norwich man has told how he lost £12,000 and racked up £5,000 in debt on gambling machines. Norfolk gamblers lost almost £15m on high-speed gambling machines in a year, according to latest figures on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), which allow players to bet on games like roulette.

Frank (not his real name), who is in his forties and from Heartsease, started gambling in arcades four years ago. What began as simply something to do soon became an addiction.

“They really grab you in,” he said.

“They’re designed to make you spend more.”

Unemployed due to hip and knee problems, Frank would spend most of his benefits on the machines. He would make £1 or £2 bets at a time and keep playing till he lost everything.

After a gambling session he would feel “horrendously” depressed.

“You hate yourself and feel ashamed,” he said. “You question whether you want to kill yourself, it’s that bad. You’re numb at what you’ve done, but you know you’re going to do it again and that’s the horrible thing.”

Ron Turrell is a GamCare counsellor from our Norfolk Phoenix + Norcas gambling service highlights some important points The article can be found in its entirety here http://www. phoenix-futures.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2013/04/ gambling-ron-turrell-article. pdf