There were surprise celebrations for Swanton’s Jan Collins this February when colleagues marked her 15 years of service.
Jan, who started working for Swanton in 2009, had completely forgotten that she’d clocked up a decade and a half at the organisation until her fellow managers presented her with a cake.
For Jan, the Service Manager at The Cedars, the milestone marks the next chapter in her career journey, and she says innovative Swanton is her future.
Jan said: “I was so surprised when I got to the Manager’s Meeting, and there were balloons that read ‘15’ and a cake.
“At first, I didn’t know what we were celebrating until they pointed out it was my 15th year at Swanton!
“It was so nice of my colleagues to say, ‘well done’.”
Jan joined Swanton back in 2009 she’d worked for the ESPA (European Services for People With Autism) charity before that, as well as training as a teacher, working as a police officer and supporting victims of crime.
When Jan started working for Swanton, she was an Assistant Operations Manager.
Now she’s working with the events team at a regional and national level, as well as managing The Cedars.
Jan said: “What keeps me interested is that Swanton is a very forward-thinking and caring organisation.
“The senior leadership have a genuine interest in discovering people’s strengths and building on that, which makes the whole organisation stronger.
“There’s been so much change in social care over the past five years, but Swanton has embraced it positively, and as a result, we’ve achieved the best possible outcomes.
“Swanton is a company that cares about the quality of life for the people we support and the quality of the working life of those employed here.
“That’s unusual for an employer, and it creates a sense of belonging that is passed on to everyone who works here.”
After 15 years, Jan is now looking forward to what the next chapter of her career story has in store for her.
Jan said: “I feel like it’s going to be an exciting future!
“I love the development in cross-site work that we are doing and how people across Swanton are linking up to work together.
“I’m also interested in developing services in different areas of treatment and therapy so we have an even wider range of things to offer the people we support.
“Every day is different for me, and that keeps things very interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next!”
