Mary’s Blog: March 2017 - MACS Supporting Children & Young People

Hi guys, short blog this month – but this doesn’t mean great things are not happening.

Well done to Wellbeing Service who were reaccredited as an Approved Mentoring Provider.

Claire in Admin gave a stunning presentation on why MACS is a great place to work at Employers for Childcare conference. She was poised, confident and her speech was packed full of keen insights into what makes MACS so fabulous. A natural orator, Claire if you could age significantly and shrink a few inches in height perhaps you could do a few of my presentations in the future!

Our Social Innovation Team have been beavering away to find creative ideas to improve outcomes for children and young people in care. We are nearly at the end of this very innovative programme and hopefully we will be in a position to apply for seed funding to take one idea forward and make it a reality! This group made up of managers, staff and young people is a powerful example how working together, we can generate new thinking and solve problems that might seem insurmountable.

We recruited for Board of Director members recently and I am really pleased to welcome Tina, Barry and Harriet. Hopefully over the next while they may be able to get out and visit some MACS services.

It is with great regret that we say fare well to Karen Collins, who will be chairing her last Board meeting in April. Karen has ably represented the MACS Board for the last 5 years and has been a true champion and critical friend to the organisation.

With the help of Ricky O Rawe, we completed a leadership plan for the organisation. Essentially the main theme is – WE ARE ALL LEADERS – hopefully you will see this developed over the year and it should further establish MACS values on self-determination.

A group of managers, including myself, are currently doing ILM Level 3 in Coaching. I must say the training has been very interesting and has given me loads of food for thought particularly in asking more open ended questions and helping others to finding solutions to their own problems rather than fixing it – hardly promoting self-determination! We all have 36 hours of coaching to complete over the next six months – so it you see me coming towards you with a certain glint in my eye – run for the hills!!

This month we say farewell to Nick in Admin and Sorcha in Uni St. and we welcome Kathryn to Belfast floating Support, Drew and Bernie to Newry Housing. Also a fond farewell and Good Luck to Ana, in Floating Support Belfast, who has gone off on maternity leave.

Can we spare a thought for Iain and Claire who have soldiered on despite experiencing staff shortages in their Housing? They have displayed great resilience, leadership and that spirit of getting the sleeves rolled up and getting stuck in.

And finally, Billy, one of our Board of Directors, commented that when he was at his own Board review (Inspire), their Board were blown away (my words! but you get the gist) by MACS Annual Report 2015-2016

Well done Led by You!