It’s time to celebrate talent at the Care and Support West Care Awards. This year, we are excited to share that we have finalists in three categories. Rewarding exceptional healthcare professionals is crucial, and recognising their impact goes a long way towards achieving excellence in care and providing life-changing support for all.

Growth can only flourish when people feel fully supported. At Catalyst Care Group, our goal is to ensure that everybody receives the same opportunity to grow to the best of their ability. Fundamentally, we want to ensure people are fully empowered and looked after in a way that is beneficial to themselves and others. When it comes to our sector, it is important to seek and appreciate the qualities people bring to their work. Everybody is different, and by recognising individual strengths, we have the opportunity to foster progress for all.

The Care and Support West Care Awards impact nearly 20,000 professionals annually, raising the bar for all to follow. Catalyst Care Group congratulates the finalists on their superb achievements. You have made us immensely proud.

Team Leader of the Year

We are more than happy to share that Leaf Complex Care Somerset Registered Manager, Chantelle Lawton, has been nominated as Team Leader of the Year.

Since joining the CCG family, Chantelle has inspired the Leaf Complex Care teams with her knowledge, enthusiasm and passion for providing humanised and individualised care. Leaf Complex Care is a service that assists individuals with learning disabilities, complex care needs, challenging behaviours, and transitions from long-term inpatient care.

In light of this, Chantelle has gone above and beyond in becoming a Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) trainer alongside her Registered Manager duties and championing trauma-informed support approaches while always being available to support our clinicians when needed. Chantelle works in a manner that shows people the meaning of dedicated care and respect.

While working as a Registered Manager in Exeter, Leaf Complex Care Exeter received an OUTSTANDING rating from CQC, and the feedback from our team, the people we support, and their family members demonstrated how much impact Chantelle has made with her leadership. Chantelle has led the development of our culture within Leaf Complex Care, and our Outstanding stars were awarded in Responsive and Well-Led sections of the KLOEs.

Chantelle is incredibly humble, nevertheless a beacon of light when it comes to our values of Family, Impact and Teaming. We believe that without Chantelle’s courage and conviction, we wouldn’t have been able to make the impact we have as an organisation. Chantelle truly is using her own light to lead the way for others. We are incredibly fortunate to have Chantelle as part of our Catalyst Care Group family, and we are excited to see how her practice leads others to achieve the best outcomes for the families we support.

This nomination is a testament to Chantelle’s hard work and dedication to the health and social sector. We want to extend a huge congratulations to Chantelle.

Nurse Frontline Worker of the Year

We are also happy to share that Catalyst Care Group Head of Clinical Governance and Designated Safeguarding Officer, Jenny Abrahams, has been nominated as Nurse Frontline Worker of the Year.

Jenny is an outstanding mental health nurse who has been part of our CCG family for over ten years. She consistently provides us with guidance on best practices whilst bringing such a humanised edge to everything she says and does – making the care we deliver tangible and effective.

Jenny is supportive of everyone joining the organisation and works hard to take people under her wing. Over the past two years, Jenny has led the CCG Safeguarding team and developed a proactive and supportive ethos around Safeguarding, always explaining the importance of looking at the full picture and making everything practical.

She consistently brings new ideas and ways of working into our teams whilst nurturing the development of new care workers and nurses, ensuring they feel supported, heard, and valued. Jenny empowers us to take positive risks, enabling us to deliver compassionate care and support for people who have been institutionalised for many years.

Jenny has made a massive difference to everyone in our organisation, and we want to congratulate Jenny on her nomination.

“Jenny’s continual commitment and dedication to Catalyst Care Group to share her expertise and clinical knowledge, to upskill others in the offices and provide clinical support to our much loved and valued clinicians is incredible. Her dedication to safeguarding those in our care is amazing, and she goes above and beyond on a daily basis to champion people’s rights. Jenny is a true example of what a nurse should be!” says Louise Bray, CCG Continuous Improvement Lead.

Personal Assistant of The Year

Furthermore, another nominee that we are immensely proud of is Leaf Complex Care’s Support Worker, Samuel Sey, who is nominated in the category of Personal Assistant of the Year.

Samuel Sey has been an integral part of the CCG emergency support team. He is known for bringing fresh ideas, expertise and knowledge to teams and makes a huge difference in the lives of others. This nomination is a recognition of his recent work to help bring a young person home from the hospital and turn his life around. Samuel is always smiling and committed to providing person-centred support, bringing positivity into every situation.

Samuel’s commitment to his work has shone through, especially when it comes to supporting families and his colleagues. In his recent role, he has provided hope and peace for a family who faced complex challenges. Everything Samuel does is underpinned by a deep respect for humanity and a humanised approach in his work. His input constantly inspires the team – and this rubs off on our office-based teams of coordinators who consistently learn from his personalised approach out in the field.

A huge congratulation to Samuel, we are proud of your dedication to providing proactive support and are honoured that you are a part of the Catalyst family.

Personal Assistant of the Year

We could not be happier to have another nominee in the same category. Leaf Complex Care Support Worker, Emmanuel Akpan-Isie, is nominated as Personal Assistant of the Year.

Emmanuel’s journey to becoming a support worker with CCG is truly inspiring. At one point during his life, Emmanuel experienced a stroke and required the support of a wheelchair. Emmanuel is fully rehabilitated and has worked with CCG since May 2021 as a support worker. Emmanuel became a support worker to make a difference in the lives of other individuals and help them increase their independence.

He has such a positive outlook on life, which is clearly mirrored in the individuals and families he supports. Emmanuel has fought through hard times and ensures that he gives 110% to everything he does, forever grateful he chose to work in care, dedicating his life to supporting others.

More recently, Emmanuel has supported a family who have really been through a difficult time. Their son has moved accommodations many times in the last two years due to the local authority’s inability to meet his needs. Emmanuel has been at the forefront, moving all around the country with this young man, ensuring he has stability, continuity, and consistency whilst we’ve waited for suitable housing. Emmanuel is always there to provide proactive support, companionship and to improve the well-being of the individuals he serves.

Emmanuel is a role model, always showing what great care and support should look like.

We could not think or speak more highly of Emmanuel, and we are blessed to have him in the Catalyst family.