Our Staff
A team of 11 staff work at The Haven Day Centre, their combined service with us being over 65 years.
The Centre provides a safe environment to support our Members in their work, recreational and spiritual life. All staff members are trained and supported by the manager through staff meetings, internal updates, supervisions, reviews and appraisals.
The Haven Day Centre has been recognised by the Employment Service ‘Positive about Disabled People’ symbol and are registered for the Social Care Commitment. We are also members of NASHICS, Care and Support West, the Evangelical Alliance, AFVS and others.
Meet our Management Team
Our Centre Manager, Simon David, whose office is on-site, is responsible for all aspects of The Haven Day Centre. This includes Day Services, Staffing, Governance, Policy, Safeguarding and support to the Trustees, who meet six times a year. Simon reports to the chair of trustees.
Simon joined Haven Day Centre in 2012 and has overseen the expansion of service offerings, upgrade of facilities, the increase in policy and procedures, staff training and development and increased connections.
The Christian ethos is at the heart of the ministry, both in the caring and in formal settings of the Centre and Simon is passionate that should continue and that we look to extend our offerings to benefit more people with learning disabilities across our region by providing Christian Care to all those that attend our service.
Prior to 2012, Simon held a variety of positions in finance, pensions and learning and development for UK and global companies for over 30 years. He has also served as Trustee for three charities and been the treasurer for one, for over 20 years. His background has been useful in developing the delivery of care and support to our Members and the staff. He has also undertaken considerable voluntary work with children and youth within his church and has spent time volunteering at a Romanian Orphanage.
His interests are photography, hill walking and riding his motorbike. He belongs to Gordano Valley Church (GVC) and until last year was a trustee. Today he in on the GVC sub-finance group and is lead advocate for ACTS435 which he has just introduced to the church.
Our Coordinators
Alex Porwal, Juliet Wynne & Lisa Perkins are our coordinators and in the manager’s absence they deal with certain additional tasks.
Alex joined the charity in 2002. He is responsible for our contract work and taking the lead with tendering for new members. His background includes being a Care Home Manager. He is passionate about all things made of wood, especially those items he makes himself.
Juliet joined in 2007. She is our Care Coordinator, responsible for all aspects of care, care plans, Safeguarding referrals, DBS etc. She also undertakes the weekly scheduling of our minibus transport and maintains staff training records.
Lisa joined in 2010 and is our Coordinator of Volunteers and Students and organises our trips and outings. Each year we receive over one hundred students who spend a day or more with us as part of their Health and Social Care studies. We also have volunteers who she supports and keeps records for, who include admin, finance and those that spend time with our Members. Lisa also assists the manager with several administrative tasks.
The above Coordinators have many other responsibilities and tasks including those that our other Support Workers undertake. They and the staff below know the importance of training for all and the difference this can make in people’s lives.
Other employees
Facilities
Paul Jackson is our facilities manager, appointed in 2018, to take on most of the facilities tasks that the Centre Manager used to try and fit in. He is also our first aider, having been on a recent 3-day course.
Philbert has been looking after many of our daily cleaning and recycling tasks for years, initially as a volunteer, then he was taken on in 2013.
Support Workers
All our support workers carry out similar functions but with some variations. They all drive the minibuses (MiDAS trained) or are passenger assistants most days and undertake lunchtime supervision every day. Some of their additional specific responsibilities or talents are stated below.
Jackie, who has been with us since 2014 is involved daily with the administration of meds and is still occasionally involved in catering.
Denise joined us in 2015 and makes sure we do not miss any birthdays, members, staff or regular volunteers.
Angela who joined us in 2017 is up for anything that involves music and movement and has a special way with those members who might become distraught. She is to be another First Aider.
Paul M joined us last year and has been a big hit with all things musical. He has significant musical talents and most days can be heard with different instruments and vocals around the building with an audience or people joining in. He is also undertaking frequent Fellowship meetings. Paul is also to become another first aider.
Jonathan joined us in 2019. He is well liked by our members, especially when it is time for football! He is very much involved in all aspects of the Centre, especially Safeguarding and the Fellowship meetings.
All our staff ensure that our Members are supported in a Person-Centred way, giving all the opportunity to realise their potential and achieve goals. Most of our staff regularly attend church and are committed to aspects of church life by serving in different ways.
Learning and Development
All our staff have attended considerable training in recent years, to include Safeguarding; MCA & DOLS, Moving and Handling; Managing Behaviour that can be Challenging, Administration of medication, first aid, including use of our defibrillator, MiDAS (Minibus driver training) and much more.
Trustees
We are blessed to have a great Trustee board which has been augmented in recent years with Trustees with social services, safeguarding, education, business and other skills and experiences, such that we have a well-rounded board. The secretary to the trustees has also undertake our everyday bookkeeping for years.