Award-winning FitzRoy training

We are delighted to announce that FitzRoy’s training won a silver award for ˜Best Not-For-Profit Training Programme’ at the prestigious Training Journal Awards.

Heidi Waight, FitzRoy’s Organisation Development Manager, told us a bit more about the award winning programme.

I’ve had the privilege of working for FitzRoy for six years, during which time there have been a great deal of changes and challenges in the care sector. The latest was the introduction of the Care Certificate. This made us think about what we train, how we train, and how effective our training is.

To make the necessary changes we went back to basics our values to make the right decisions and deliver a values-based, sustainable training programme. We are delighted with the response from our staff. This year, 92% of staff surveyed said they agree strongly that they have received the training they need to do their job well.

One of the key changes we made was increasing the amount of classroom based face-to-face training. One of the judges on the panel for the award commented that it was lovely, in the face of austerity, to see an organisation bucking the trend of purely online training courses.

We have also set up the Care Academy, an e-learning resource which has given Service Managers control and ownership of their team’s training and development programmes which has been a huge success.

Training never stands still. We are always growing at FitzRoy, so support needs along with training needs continue to change and develop. Receiving this award has been wonderful and so heartening because the team have put in a lot of hard work for the right reasons and the right people.

When asked about his training, Jim Chapman, FitzRoy Support Worker, said:

I’ve been in the Care Sector for 30 years and can honestly say I’d put my training with FitzRoy above anything I’ve had before. There’s no pressure, I’m treated as an individual, I’m valued, and can say what I feel in the classroom sessions.

My training improved my outlook on everything FitzRoy do it differently and much better. They make you really think about what you’re doing. In one-to-one support, I’ve learned how to stop behaviour from escalating, how to deal with situations in a safe way and to support people well.

I’m in the best place I could possibly be, and I feel really supported to do my job.

A huge well done to the whole training team. If you would like to be part of one of our staff teams, click here to see our current vacancies.