As you may be aware, as of Friday 28th August I will be moving on from my role as the ARC England Director, after a rewarding 6 years. I would like to thank all our members for the support you have given me personally and ARC as an organisation over that time.
ARC was set up in 1982 on a mission to bring providers together to build quality in services for people with learning disabilities – the sector has evolved massively since then and I have had the pleasure of leading ARC over recent years. I am proud of the ARC ‘community’ we have built together and the support we have been able to offer to members.
My aim when I first came in to post was to really understand what our members wanted from us so that we could shape our own services to ensure members could access real benefits of belonging to an organisation like ARC. Since then we have achieved just that and it has been a real pleasure getting to know service providers and the staff within them. I have built some wonderful relationships with many people and I will certainly miss them. That said, social media these days means I can keep in touch – and for that I am very grateful.
The pandemic over recent months has certainly taken us to the next level and beyond. I am so proud we have been able to be on the ‘front foot’ – sharing guidance and best practice, acting as a go to organisation and conduit feeding into the highest levels of DHSC and the Government, as we tackled the crisis together. More than ever we have been able to shine a light on the many and
varied challenges faced by providers and the people you support.
As we reach the end of August, I leave ARC safe in the knowledge that the team will continue to deliver excellent support to our members in all of these ways. Lastly, I have enjoyed working with an amazing, small but perfectly formed team who have worked and continue to work so hard for ARC and all that we stand for – I will miss them dearly.
So may I take this opportunity to wish you all well and every success for the future as I sign off for the final time, in this edition of Real People, as the ARC England Director. No doubt our paths will cross again in the future in some shape or form – until then take care and keep on keeping on – social care is the most valuable yet potentially most unvalued sector in this country but I do sense there is a wind of change soon to blow.
Lisa Lenton
ARC England Director
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