Praxis Care to create hundreds of new jobs in Northern Ireland

By Q Radio news

Social care provider, Praxis Care, says it aims to expand services across Northern Ireland, Ireland, Great Britain and the Isle of Man in the next five years.

The expansion will create 1,350 new jobs almost doubling the workforce from its current 1,650. 

It's thought the lion's share of the roles will be in Northern Ireland.

Unveiling its guiding document, Strategy 2025, the organisation says the improvement in people’s lives, which relies heavily on bespoke accommodation, multidisciplinary input and a collaborative approach with statutory services, has been successful across the range of Praxis Care’s activities and sites.

(Residents and staff of a Praxis care setting)

Belfast-based Chief Executive Andy Mayhew says Praxis Care, which supports 1,500 people, stands out because of its decades of experience providing innovative, professional, high-quality support services to people across the spectrum of need and particularly at the higher level of complexity.

“We are growing in response to the high demand for our services and aim to expand to support 3,000 individuals by 2025,” says Mr Mayhew.

“Our strategy for the next five years is to build on what we have learned. It is about working alongside service users and their families to create bespoke support and accommodation solutions, which reflect their choices, is informed by contemporary evidence-based practice from research and is delivered by highly trained and well-supported staff.

“We have seen remarkable improvements in our clients’ daily lives as they receive the support they need to live a full and happy life,” he says.

Praxis Care is due to open a new day centre in Leicester in close partnership with a group of parents of adult children with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD). This is the latest example of co-production, where the service users and their families take a leading role in developing the service.

Praxis Care is Northern Ireland’s largest charity provider of care for adults and children affected by mental ill health, learning disability, autism and dementia.

The strategy to take Praxis Care to 2025 outlines the way forward for the organisation’s continued development across all four jurisdictions (Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and the Isle of Man). Shaped around individuals—service users, their families, our staff and our partners—the strategy maps the key areas of training staff, designing service models and environments specific to individual service users, focusing on research and innovation through partnerships including leading Queens University academics and consolidating targets in terms of finance and personnel.