Flourish Group

Recruitment and retention are still tough for many care providers – but strong leadership and a positive culture can make a real difference to how care workers feel in their roles.

Join our upcoming panel session on 3 June, 10–11am, hosted by Peter Humphreys, Head of Partnerships at Flourish. We’ll bring together real voices from across the care sector to explore what supportive leadership looks like in practice, and how culture can help people see care as a career.

We’ll be joined by:

💬 Louie Werth, CEO at Care Research
💬 Kam Gill, Registered Manager at Walfinch Oxfordshire
💬 Jon Healy, Advisory Board and Champions Member at The Care Workers'​ Charity

➡️ Register for free: 1cfa763a-d02c-4ad5-ab9e-86d65cf30cc1@ce9d0c67-4e6d-43aa-95ab-ec9460c5b570" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/1cfa763a-d02c-4ad5-ab9e-86d65cf30cc1@ce9d0c67-4e6d-43aa-95ab-ec9460c5b570

The Flourish team has been here, there and everywhere this month – and what a brilliant few weeks it’s been!

We’ve loved catching up with customers, hearing how our platforms are supporting their teams and picking up plenty of helpful feedback along the way! 💙

It’s also been great to meet so many new faces and chat through the challenges organisations are facing – motivating us to keep making support simpler for the people who work so hard to support others.

Give a listen to episode 2 of our Shift Happens: Crisis Support – not just what support is available to care workers, but why people may not reach out when they need help most.

In partnership with The Care Workers' Charity, this podcast series explores some of the most talked-about topics in social care. In this episode, we also hear powerful stories of support making a real difference, reflections on what good care looks like. It left us with even greater admiration for the resilience of care workers.

Hosted by Peter Humphreys, our Head of Partnerships, this episode features Cath Williams, Trusts and Foundations Lead, Daina Karai, Grants Administrator, and Jon Healy, care worker and Advisory Board and Champions Member at the CWC – bringing together different voices and perspectives from across the sector.

You can listen to episode 2 here ⬇️

🎥 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFl_JGSllPg
🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4cqE6gySOk6rlt4MhtQduc
🍎 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shift-happens/id1891360115

We usually talk about dementia as a "late-life" thing. And while getting older is a major factor, it’s far from the whole story.

If you’ve seen the news lately, you might have caught the story of The FTD Brothers. Jordan and Cian Adams have been incredibly open about a reality that most people still don't want to look at: dementia can hit while you're still young. Both brothers carry a genetic mutation for frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a condition that took their mum when she was only 52.

They aren't just sitting with that weight; they’re currently running 32 marathons across Ireland to force people to pay attention. 🏃🏃‍♂️

➡️ You can donate and follow the FTD Brothers’ journey here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/theftdbrothers

Their story is heartbreaking – but it’s real. It tears down the biggest assumption we have – that dementia is just about old age.

The 'old person' label is more than just a stereotype – it’s a barrier. When symptoms start showing up in a person's 40s or 50s, they can easily be misdiagnosed as depression or mid-life stress. It feels isolating – especially when you’re still working and have a family to provide for. Also, most support services are designed for retirement age, which means younger people often don't get timely or appropriate support.

This coming Dementia Action Week (18–24 May 2026), the Alzheimer's Society is encouraging everyone to share their Forget Me Not story – raising awareness for dementia together.

It’s a chance to stop and challenge our assumptions. Dementia doesn’t look the same for everyone – and it certainly doesn’t wait for old age.

https://flourish.co.uk/community/dementia-awareness-needs-go-further/

Dementia Doesn’t Always Wait: Why Awareness Needs to Go Further - Flourish Dementia Doesn’t Always Wait: Why Awareness Needs to Go Further - Flourish

Everyone in social care deserves to be heard and to influence the decisions that affect their working lives. 💬

At Flourish, we believe in giving care workers a voice. That’s why we’ve introduced Click Pulse, built into our eLearning experience to give over 140,000 care workers the opportunity to share anonymous, real-time feedback on the realities of working in social care.

With questions shaped in partnership with The Care Workers' Charity, Click Pulse explores key areas such as pay, training, wellbeing, retention and how care workers feel in their role, helping providers understand where support is needed and where positive change can have the biggest impact. 📊

As Kam Gill, Managing Director of Walfinch Oxfordshire, shared: “Pulse is new to us, but I’m really looking forward to being able to hear honestly from our team on things like pay, training and how they feel in the role, and then benchmark that against the wider care sector, is exactly the kind of insight we want to act on.”

Over time, anonymised insight will help give care worker voices a clearer route into provider decisions, local understanding and wider sector change. 🤝 Because when care workers are heard properly, their experiences can help shape a stronger, fairer and more supported social care workforce.

The Care Workers' Charity has always been a close connection for us. Founded in 2009, the supports care workers during periods of financial crisis – and that’s something we’re proud to stand behind 💙

Care workers give so much every day, and we wanted to do our bit to support the sector in a practical way. That’s why we’re a silver sponsor of CWC, helping them continue their work supporting care workers when things get tough.

It also links nicely with our next Shift Happens episode, coming in mid-May, where we’ll be chatting about crisis support and what support for care workers actually looks like in real life. Watch this space! 😊

Looking for CPD for your school staff? Come and find us at Stand F50 at the The Schools and Academies Show ( ) at ExCeL London!

Our lovely Peter, Alan and Layla will be there flying the Flourish flag and chatting all things:

➡️ Trauma-informed training
➡️ Relational practice
➡️
➡️ Plus the wider support we offer to schools, including our quick guides and monthly expert insights sessions

Or, if you’re just after something sweet to get you through the day, we’ve got you covered too 🍫

If you’re attending next week, pop by and say hello!

The 1st episode of our new Shift Happens, highlighting real voices in social care, is live today 🎙️

In this episode, Peter Humphreys, our Head of Partnerships, is having an honest conversation with Karolina Gerlich, CEO of The Care Workers'​ Charity, on the state of care.

Karolina shares her views on whether the government and politicians truly understand social care, what meaningful structural change looks like in the sector, and more.

“People don’t talk enough about the correlation between the wellbeing of the workforce and the quality of care they can deliver.” – Karolina

Check out the episode 👇
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrbcJWwFeqqlOvq26d0llKy_8tiGblFvF
🍎 Apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shift-happens/id1891360115
🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4cqE6gySOk6rlt4MhtQduc

Are you with Karolina, or are you seeing it differently? Share your thoughts!

Shift Happens Podcast · Flourish · Shift Happens is a podcast from The Care Workers’ Charity and Flourish, bringing you the real stories of life in the social care sector.

Join our free LDSS webinar on Wednesday 15 April, 10–11am to learn how to make the most of funding and claim your training costs.

The government has confirmed that Learning and Development Support Scheme (LDSS) funding will continue into 2026–2027 – supporting adult social care employers to invest in workforce development.

This means you could claim funding for a range of training, including leadership and management programmes.

In this session, Peter Humphreys, our Head of Partnerships, will cover:

💡 What LDSS funding is and who is eligible
📝 How to make a claim and how the reimbursement works
🎓 An overview of our Skills for Care fully funded leadership programmes

📢 Register free here: 6e03631a-88c2-4700-aecb-fe668657433e@ce9d0c67-4e6d-43aa-95ab-ec9460c5b570" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/6e03631a-88c2-4700-aecb-fe668657433e@ce9d0c67-4e6d-43aa-95ab-ec9460c5b570