Chief Executive (CE) Stephen Mathews OBE, Deputy CE Eileen Thomson and Trustees Maura Lavery and Sheila Kennedy Andrews attended a presentation in Belfast Castle to accept the Investors in People (IIP) Platinum Award. 

This milestone marks Cedar being announced as the first social care organisation in Northern Ireland to achieve IIP Platinum status and only the third organisation to be accredited at that level in the region. The recognition endorses Cedar as an organisation that:

“Staff explained that core values and, most importantly dedication to meeting the needs of service users, are at the heart of the way in which [Cedar] operates. They said that they are modelled at every level in the organisation; and in the provision of high quality, person-centred care and support…”

Speaking at the presentation event, CE Stephen Mathews said:

“We are a well-established organisation with a track record of over 75 years of supporting people with disabilities across Northern Ireland.

“Today Cedar is fundamentally a social inclusion organisation, aiming to achieve positive outcomes that enable individuals and families living with disability, autism and brain injury to live the lives they choose.  Our Vision is to support and encourage the development of an Inclusive Society for All and hence the title of our talk today is Opportunity Choice and Inclusion.

“Fundamental to this has been our People Strategy, guided by the IIP Framework. We aim to ensure that Cedar is an inspiring place for people to work and achieve their full potential. We want to be an organisation that is supportive and high performing. The Strategy supports the delivery of our overarching strategic aim of building a competent and resilient organisation.” 

Deputy CE Eileen Thomson also explained:

“We have developed 2 distinctive Leadership Development Programmes. While our Managers do a range of external qualifications such as QCF Level 5 in Leadership in Health and Social Care and ILM coaching programmes, at various levels, our commitment to developing the capabilities of leaders and managers is reflected in two internal bespoke programmes. Empowering and Developing Leaders and Be Inspection Ready Training Programme.

“Empowering and Developing Leaders MD Programme is an important cornerstone for assuring that we have cultural consistency across Cedar-whether you are a member of staff or a service user in Belleek, Belfast, Ballycastle, Benburb you will have a Cedar Leader/Manager who is a role model for our Values.

“Be Inspection Ready Training Programme is designed to ensure effective leadership management and governance. It promotes a culture focused on the needs and experiences of service users in order to deliver safe effective and compassionate care. Since we introduced this in 2014, we have had no requirements in our RQIA feedback reports.

“Cedar is fully signed up to the democratic model of user involvement in our services and our services have always involved users in informing and influencing service development and delivery.”

Cedar would like to thank everyone involved in the assessment process and also extend gratitude to Investors in People for providing a platform at the presentation and allowing us to share the Vision and Mission of the organisation.

We will continue to champion the professional development of staff and cultivation of a supportive work culture. If you would like to learn more about employment opportunities at Cedar, please click here to discover dynamic employment roles.