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Press Release

United Response goes from good to great at Charity Awards 2007

25 June 2007

United Response has been highly commended at this year’s annual Charity Awards event. The commendation, for work in the field of disability, was given for the charity’s Good To Great programme.

United Response was one of three shortlisted charities, alongside the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society and overall winner, the Alzheimer’s Society.

Good To Great was rolled out across the North West in 2006, and sought to give staff the tools and skills they needed to ensure that their work was entirely focused on the needs of the individuals rather than United Response’s organisational needs or standard practice. This led to improved staff morale and more independent and fulfilling lives for the people we work with. As a result, Good To Great is now being rolled out nationally as a natural development of the charity's existing person-centred planning approach, "The Way We Work".

“Through the Good To Great pilot we trained staff in using simple tools to help them resolve the kind of dilemmas which cropped up regularly, and to work more effectively in teams,” said managing director, Bob Tindall. “The skills were already there, but the project gave staff the confidence to apply them. Staff became even more enthusiastic about what they were doing, and this had a huge positive impact on the people we support. Obstacles which had seemed major before became manageable by applying these techniques.”

The judges said the project was very well executed. “The evidence is there that the introduction of this initiative made a real difference to the most isolated people it worked with.

For more information please contact Sarah Bartlett or Jaime Gill in the United Response Press Office on020 8246 5237/ 020 8246 5122 or email

Note to editors:

United Response is a national charity working with over 1,500 people with learning disabilities or mental health needs. United Response supports some of the most vulnerable people in society. More than half of the people we support cannot talk and many more have communications difficulties. Many also have physical and visual impairments. United Response is committed to supporting people – whatever their level of disability – to live the life they choose. We work with each person, their circle of support and their families to find out what they want and how they want to be supported. We have pioneered an approach called ‘active support’ which focuses on supporting people to engage and participate in a whole range of real, meaningful activities and relationships, rather than being or remaining isolated within their communities.