50 Voices
DEREK 50 Voices captures the authentic voice of the people that use our services and our staff as Turning Point celebrates its 50th anniversary
50 Voices
Derek Wood
50 Voices
Derek Wood
Derek Wood is the Service Manager for Peterborough’s Supported Living Services for people with learning disabilities.
What are your main responsibilities? As the Service Manager I oversee the day to day running of the service. We support 19 individuals who live in supported living so I do a little bit of everything such as making sure that care plans are in place and that risk assessments have been carried out. All of this is part and parcel of providing the best level of care for the people we support.
What skill or quality do you have that helps you do your job to the best of your ability?
To be honest, experience comes with the job and with time but you need a natural drive and passion in this job.
You need to have the right attitude. To be honest, experience comes with the job and with time but you need a natural drive and passion in this job. Being able to think outside of the box is critical as is understanding the importance of positive risks where the potential outcome is better than not doing it at all. For example our service runs a sailing club which obviously comes with risks for everyone, not just those with learning disabilities. However if you’ve got an effective risk management in place you can move past just seeing the risks and start to see what the positives could be; principally great enjoyment for the people we support.
50 Voices
Derek Wood
What aspect of your job do you enjoy the most? Definitely hearing what people have been up to! I also love listening to how staff have supported people. I think that staff are feeling more confident now and also thinking more positively about how they can support their service users!
How is your service unique in the way that it supports its service users?
The support workers go above and beyond what their job description says. They are committed and they want to do well.
Enthusiasm! I think that the staff here are genuinely eager to help drive the service forward which is really great. The support workers go above and beyond what their job description says. They are committed and they want to do well. I think in terms of the actual service we are a learning disability service but we’re not residential; we’re supported living. In residential care, service users can be placed in someone else’s home, you are still cared for and supported but the running of the home is taken care of by the local authority. Supported Living is different because the individuals pay rent, they have tenancy agreements and others aren’t allowed to enter their homes without permission. Supported Living really offers a security and enables a greater sense of independence for the people that we support.
50 Voices
Derek Wood
What’s life like at your service?
There’s even a trip to go and see an Abba tribute concert in the pipeline!
There are always opportunities to get involved with different activities. Our service users often go swimming, trampolining, to the theatre or to concerts. There’s even a trip to go and see an Abba tribute concert in the pipeline! We also have a sailing club twice a week and a sensory service which involves sensory lights, sensory music and sensory instruments which can really help some service users to engage really well. The people we support have a fun, active social life- they’re always going out for meals! Some even enjoy going clubbing with either friends or family members. With the less able individuals, more preparation is needed for different activities but we always try to make it work. With the more able service users we ask “What do you fancy doing today?” and then off we go. The days of piling everyone onto a bus and driving them off to somewhere that they may not want to go are long gone.
What has this job taught you? The guys here have shown me that people can do better and can progress. The people that I work with really demonstrate this. I think there’s a strong risk averse culture especially when people with physical or mental disabilities are concerned. We must explore ideas, encourage thoughts and take positive risks, as long as all the relevant and necessary checks have been made. We should be helping to alleviate anxiety. We should enable people, not disable them. It doesn’t matter how small the achievement is people can still contribute to society and to improving their own quality of life. They are not here so we have a job; we are here to support them!
50 Voices
Derek Wood
What is the biggest day-to-day challenge for you? I think the biggest challenge is keeping going. We are capable of doing a great amount of work in a short period of time so we have to keep up the momentum and ask ourselves in 6 months down the line, where do we want to be?
In what way do you think your service is innovative? The way we recruit staff is definitely innovative. Up until about 4 or 5 months ago, interviews took place over the table but this style was ineffective because that process didn’t show us enough about the people we were interviewing. We had 21 vacancies and needed to fill them with the right people. Turning Point is very person centred so we have to see how potential staff interact with people! So we introduced assessment days to give candidates the chance to really show off their personalities and values, and demonstrate why they were right for the role. Service users are also involved in recruiting new staff. One of the guys we support, Phillip, even sits on the panel! He’s a real football enthusiast and has a season ticket so he’s looking for someone who will enjoy going to the football with him and have a great time. A natural match between staff and service users is so important because ultimately we’re here for them. There are even talks of involving carers and family members in the recruitment process as well. All of this helps us get the best possible care for our service users and 5 months down the line we only have 6 vacancies! The other 15 have now been filled by really excellent, motivated and competent staff.
Why are you so passionate about being a part of Turning Point? Because I want to be a part of something that’s good! When I started here Turning Point had only recently taken over the service from another service provider and we weren’t in the best place. I want that when people look at Peterborough they see us in a good light and I want to know that I’ve played a significant role in that. I can happily say that we are moving forward. I can get bored easily but working at Turning Point I do feel the challenge. I have the ability to make changes and develop ideas in my role; I’m in a good position to do so. One idea that I’m really proud of has got to be the change in the recruitment process. I felt that our old system wasn’t working and I felt well supported in making steps to change it.
50 Voices
Derek Wood
How have you grown during your time at Turning Point? My confidence! I’m a lot more confident than when I first started out. When I first joined Turning Point as a Team Leader in Watford, we had a small 6 bed service with a team of 10. Now in my current role we’re supporting 19 service users with about 80 members of staff so it’s definitely been a big leap and it’s taken me time to get used to it. If it hadn’t been for the right support, encouragement and guidance from my old line managers I don’t think I would have been able to do it.
50 Voices
Turning Point Standon House 21 Mansell Street London E1 8AA 020 7481 7600 info@turning-point.co.uk
50 Voices Learn more at www.turning-point.co.uk For press enquiries about 50 Voices please contact press@turning-point.co.uk