Nurturing home-grown talent, Belong Crewe has promoted Jessica Butler, also of Crewe, to the post of Experience Co-ordinator at the care village on Brookhouse Drive. 

Her new brief will see Jessica work with the wider village team to ensure the provision of meaningful occupation for residents of both its 24-hour care households and independent living apartments, as well as managing the Experience Day programme for customers of Belong’s specialist day care service.

Joining the team as a bistro assistant at Belong Crewe when the village first opened in 2010, Jessica has progressed with the organisation, as it quickly became apparent that her skills in connecting to the customers would be highly beneficial in a care capacity. 

Belong supported her learning and development to make the transition to becoming a support worker, and Jessica worked under the guidance of Belong’s Dementia Trainer as she took her Level 3 qualification. Jessica soon flourished, showing the perfect balance of empathy and positivity to bring joy and purpose to Belong’s residents and she progressed to a senior support worker.   

Inspired by the value added by the Experience Day Team, Jessica later moved across to a role in this service. Already knowing the residents and their needs well, she understood how to create meaningful activities that engaged the customers on a daily basis. Jessica commented: "I just love enabling customers to do the things they want to do. It brings them this amazing sense of achievement, and I really feel like I'm making a difference."

One of her highlights includes introducing the garden club, 'Belong in Bloom'. Designed to support the needs of a customer, Ken, who has limited mobility and is a wheelchair user, the sensory garden provides a welcome boost of positivity and motivation. Now thriving with vegetables and herbs with Ken as ‘Chief Gardener’, Jessica is looking forward to hosting its big opening in the near future.

Belong Crewe General Manager, Kathryn Farmer, said: “We are delighted to welcome Jessica to this new post, working closely with the village management team. She has already proven herself an invaluable member of our community and we have every confidence that she will continue to flourish in the role and to have a positive impact on the wellbeing of our residents and customers.”