Mark
When did you join ASM?
2020.
Tell us about your experience, lived and/or working?
Prior to working for ASM, most of my experience has been through working for Local Authorities, specifically Day and Residential services for Adults and Children with a range of disabilities.
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Unwisely moving into managerial roles in both services gave me an insight into the practical realities facing service users and their families in these sectors.
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Basically the struggle to access appropriate input which despite the best intentions of staff is unlikely to meet the needs of people who depend on it.
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I also worked for several years as a Community governor at a Special Needs school which reinforced the views above.
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What do you value most about your work?
The opportunity to develop supportive relationships with individuals and ideally to see them make significant improvements in their daily lives.
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Working primarily on a one to one basis, can strip away some of the other stuff that tends to get in the way.
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What are your areas of interest or expertise?
Expertise would be ‘pushing it’ but I can sometimes see the wider context for clients and help them to improve key relationships both professional and personal that are significant in it.
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When you’re not working, how do you relax, have fun etc?
Apparently walking without a dog is still legal, although probably not for long in this team.
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Football, films, theatre, reading and everything else that would be obligatory to mention in a Guardian feature.
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