Bethphage hosted our staff conference on the 16th of September this year, bringing staff together for the first time since 2019. We were excited for this opportunity to have staff learn from each other’s experiences and hosted a range of workshops, as well as our 2022 Colleague Awards. 

We took the opportunity to focus on a range of topics, including Equality & Diversity, Speaking Up, Mindfulness and Staff Wellbeing and Assistive Technology. We also had AT pioneers Home Farm Trust giving the opening address, followed by Service Robotics, sharing their experiences of how AT has helped transform the lives of people with learning disabilities, fostering independence and bringing potential to life. It was also a fantastic opportunity for us to highlight how we are supporting people with assistive technology already, the video below appeared at our conference and features James telling us about how assistive technology helps him: 

 The day also saw us reflecting on the last few years and the impact this has had on our staff, the people we support and Bethphage as an organisation. We reflected on quality and our commitment to maintaining this for the people we support following Covid-19, this section was led by our Quality Manager Clare Shaw & Quality Audit Assistant Richard Hallewell.

We also wanted to shine a light on the hard work of all of our staff during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially our support workers. As always, our conference included our Colleague Awards, where we heard of the fantastic work our staff have been doing across the organisation. 

We launched our new “Upstander, not Bystander” award, with the help of Karen Littleford, the Safeguarding Adults Lead in Shropshire. This award recognises teams and individuals that are Upstanders; being an Upstander is about speaking up and taking action rather than assuming someone else will or turning a blind eye. It is about being professionally curious – exploring and understanding a situation rather than making assumptions about it and then taking action – “leaving no stone unturned”.  We also marked long service awards, educational achievements and celebrated staff across the organisation for their teamwork, resilience, and their commitment to the people they support and Bethphage’s values. ​

On the conference, Stef Kay, our CEO said-

“It has been a long three years, and it was lovely to see so many staff together again. We welcomed the opportunity to learn from each other and celebrate the hard work of all our staff. We selected our focus for this staff conference with careful consideration, all of the areas representing the sort of support provider we want to continue to be.” 

We would like to thank Shrewsbury Town Football Club staff for all their help on the day, Steve Elliott for his wonderful photos, our Assistive Technology Marketplace presenters; Abilia, Service Robotics LTD, Home Farm Trust & Grandcare , and our workshop facilitators; Julie Bricknall from Inspired Mindset, Karen Littleford – Safeguarding Adults Lead, Laura Kavanagh, Jo Bayliss and Dr Priya George from Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care Services and our very own PBS team – Natalie, Jo and Lisa.