Belong at Home Wigan and Southport

Qualifications: Level 5 in Leadership Management

Experience: Sophie has worked for the organisation for over 11 years, starting her career as a support worker in village households. Two years later, Sophie was appointed to the role of senior support worker and quickly progressed to the role of lead senior support worker, before joining Belong's home care team. Sophie has completed a level 5 in leadership Management and in 2013 Sophie won the Excellence in Resident Handling Award at the Regional Care Awards and went on to the National Care Awards and won the National award. Particular outstanding features included her ability to empathise with residents in their own care planning for moving.

Andy is a highly motivated and caring member of the Belong at Home team and its longest-standing colleague, having been appointed as its first community support worker when the service was launched in 2009.

Andy embodies Belong values and has worked across the various Belong at Home regions to support local teams through various challenging periods. He has been instrumental in developing the service to its current level and is committed to taking it to the next level, both in terms of business growth and closer integration with the villages to ensure our services operate in a complementary manner. He is loved and admired by customers and colleagues alike, working closely with his care team and also with other managers, providing support to all who need it. As Head of Operations (Belong at Home), Andrew maintains his focus on the customer, leading by example and showing his usual determination to ensure that clients receive person-centred support from a team in which he is personally invested. Andrew is a great example of someone who lives and breathes the organisation’s ethos, values and culture, and instils these into both his team and other managers. He is a truly inspirational individual.

Rachael is an outstanding trainer who has worked in the Health and Social Care sector for 29 years.

She started with Cheshire County Council in domiciliary care in 1996 and then joined CLS in 1997, where she worked as a Care Assistant and Care Team Leader before progressing to a Care Manager.

Recognising her passion for mentoring and developing others, she made the move to training company, Total People, where she worked for 15 years as a Training Advisor/Assessor/IQA supporting learners through various Health and Social Care qualifications at L2/3/5.

In 2017, she was appointed Practice Development Facilitator for Belong at Home, with responsibility for the professional development of our community support workers across all regions.

An invaluable member of our team, Rachael enjoys empowering others to be able to support customers in a person-centred way to ensure they receive continuity of high-quality care.

Elaine brings a wealth of care sector experience to her role as Senior Enquiry Manager for Belong at Home and, above all, carries it out with enormous empathy and compassion.

She has supported the expansion of Belong’s home care service since 2016, providing advice, information and guidance to people seeking support in their own homes.

Prior to that she worked as Enquiry Manager for CLS Care Services for a number of years, applying her previous extensive experience as a frontline carer to bear in her ability to support enquirers through the process of finding the right care setting, as well as supporting managers to promote their care services effectively.

Elaine’s caring qualities have been honed over a long career in the care sector, which she first joined in 1988, holding a variety of roles, including Care Assistant, Activity Co-ordinator and Team Leader, before working as a highly effective Registered Home Manager for 15 years.