My First Year as a Service Quality Director: Rising Star

Posted 19/06/2024

Sam Avery, Service Quality Director for Thera South West, discusses networking within her role, and being nominated for a staff award.

One of the areas I have required support with since starting my role is on Thera’s E-learning modules. It is necessary that all members of Thera’s staff complete these to ensure we have the right knowledge going forward but accessing them and completing them can be challenging. After informing people of this, one of the other Service Quality Directors Executive Assistant signed into teams and we all went through it together. This was a huge help. Thera prides itself on being as accessible as possible. It’s so important to provide people the support they need to get the best out of them.

Recently I met with our Head of Impact and Communications to discuss my role going forward and my experiences so far. Networking and building relationships has been a vital part of my early experience as a Service Quality Director. I was given good feedback from her about how I am performing at present.

This month has been a month of good feedback. I received lovely comments from two of the people we support grateful for the support we have offered them. As well as that, I have been nominated for Thera’s 2024 “Rising Star” award. To receive this nomination after just 3 months proves I must be doing something right.

Estelle, Thera South West’s Managing Director, provided some feedback about how I’ve been performing so far:

Sam has got off to an amazing start with Thera South West, she has demonstrated passion and enthusiasm for her work and her energy is infectious. We are so glad to have Sam on board and believe with her input and lived experience expertise we will make big differences to the lives of people we support.

Our Group Lead Directors for Quality and Involvement, also said of my experience so far:

Sam has been settling in well and has shown enthusiasm by getting out and meeting people Thera South West support and staff. Sam has used her knowledge of what quality of support people should be getting and reporting this to the Board. Sam continues to grow and develop into her role with coaching from ourselves and peer mentoring from her Service Quality Director colleagues.

Bring on the next 3 months! I am excited to see what else I can achieve.