Senior Management Team
DIRECTORS
GAYLE BENET
Gayle has been working in the care sector since 1976, initially as a general nurse and since 1981 in the private sector with people with learning disabilities as a Registered Manager of two homes catering for 32 and 20 respectively. The residents in these two homes had wide ranging learning disabilities from mild to severe some with severe challenging behaviour and others with physical disabilities.
From 1988 to 1996 Gayle was General Manager of a Company with four registered homes, community facilities and day centre services, providing residential and day care for some 100 adults and children with varying degrees of disability from moderate to severe with associated challenging behaviours. During this time she was responsible for the setting up of new provisions, the installation and management of BS 9002 Quality Assurance, staff training and the general day to day running of the business.
From 1996, Gayle was the Service Manager for a Private Company which operated an eighteen bed home for adults with severe learning and physical disabilities and two nursing and residential care homes for the frail elderly and elderly mentally ill.
In 1998, Gayle became a director of New Directions (Robertsbridge) Ltd., and found the property Bishops Croft, organised various maintenance works and gained registration to open the home for 7 young adults with Prader Willi Syndrome I September 1998. Bishops Corner was then opened in April 2000, Bishops Lodge in 2004 and Bishops Way which opened on 1st September 2008. Gayle is a Director of the 4 New Directions companies for adults with PWS.
SENIOR MANAGERS
DAVE DAVIES - OPERATIONS MANAGER
Dave Davies has been involved in the care of adults with learning disabilities since 1985. Initially, Dave worked for a charitable organisation on the day services, and then moved to residential care services. In 1993, Dave joined a private company which ran five homes for adults with learning disabilities, as a deputy manager of a 20 bed unit. Within 18 months, he had been promoted to Registered Manager where he worked until June 1998.In July 1998, Dave took over the Registered Manager’s post at Bishops Croft at its opening, and during the first couple of years worked in all aspects of this home including the marketing and assessing potential new service users. Dave relinquished the manager’s post at Bishops Croft at the end of 2001. Dave still has regular weekly contact with the home in the capacity of Operations Manager. Dave is involved in all 4 of the New Directions homes, giving support and advise to the staff team and service users alike. He takes responsibility for Health & Safety Issues and the implementation of the maintenance schedules in all of the homes.
DAVID PALMER - DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
I began my career in the care industry in 1994, when I joined a company running residential care homes in Hastings, East Sussex. Working with adults with profound multiple disabilities and starting as a basic grade support worker, was promoted to senior support worker.
My nephew, Vincent, had Prader Willi Syndrome and I was involved in Vincent’s care for many years. Vincent lived with me and my family between the ages of 17 and 18. Vincent went into residential care and died at the age of 20. It was apparent to me that Vincent’s death was the result of a general lack of understanding about PWS and the absence of provisions which specialised in care for adults with the syndrome. I was elected onto the board of trustees of the Prader Willi Syndrome Association UK where I served for 3 years. I assisted the Welfare Officer in her work with the families and people with PWS. I approached my then line manager in 1997, and discussed the possibility of setting up a specialist provision for adults with PWS in the East Sussex area. I spent time researching to obtain the opinion of care managers and relative of people with the syndrome. Together we looked at various possibilities and finally managed to get three people to finance and set up the first home in Robertsbridge in East Sussex. I have worked for New Directions since it opened this first home in September 1998 providing specialist residential care for 7 adults with PWS. My initial post with the company was that of deputy manager, in this post I assisted with assessments for potential new residents, set up menus and day time programmes suitable for residents, helped to recruit the staff team, liaised with the Prader Willi Syndrome Association, care managers from Local Authorities, parents and people with PWS. The then manager of Bishops Croft (Dave Davies) and I then persuaded the company to open a second home in April 2000. At this time I was promoted by the company to Development Manager, with responsibility for the training of new staff in the understanding of the syndrome, facilitating discussions with service users on improvements to the service and dealing with problems that may be faced by service users and the staff team. This continued when Bishops Lodge was opened in 2004.
As part of the senior management team, with management meetings held once every month, we are all able to look at new ideas, ways to move forward to benefit the service users and further development of New Directions, particularly with the opening of Bishops Way in early Summer 2008, and the development of a semi independent apartment at Bishops Croft.
TERESA HILLS - LIAISON MANAGER
My name is Teresa Hills, I have worked with adults with Prader Willi Syndrome since 1999 and started as a support worker at Bishops Croft and through promotion and Bishops Corner opening, progressed to Manager. I have gained NVQ level 3 and 4 in care qualifications and the Registered Manager’s Award and am an NVQ assessor to helped my staff team gain NVQ qualifications. My current role involves managing the homes in the absence of the home manager, carrying out monthly checks and writing reports on each of the homes, arranging and chairing meetings with the day service co-ordinators from all the homes and working with the other senior managers to ensure the good running of the homes.