We recently caught up with Vickie Yavuz, who joined three months ago as our new Goals and Outcomes Lead. Vickie shared more about her background, her passion for supporting people and what she hopes to bring to AFG.
Why AFG?
Vickie had come across AFG many times throughout her career and was consistently struck by the passion and commitment of our colleagues.
She said: “I’ve worked a lot in community settings that provided services for people with learning disabilities and mental health conditions, and AFG has always been one where I’ve engaged with support workers and they’ve always been very passionate about the organisation. You can see that they care about the people and it made me want to work with people like that.”
A Little About Vickie’s Background
Vickie brings extensive experience across the voluntary, community and local authority sectors. Her roles have included Progression Manager at Mencap Liverpool and leading Leonard Cheshire Disability’s ‘Can Do’ programme across Merseyside, supporting people to grow, develop new skills and make new friendships.
“I felt like when I was challenging poor practice, I wanted a better understanding of the barriers people faced and how I could support people to live their best life possible. So, in 2020 I achieved my Masters in Disability Studies to enhance the quality of my work and ensure I could provide the best support possible.”
What Does a Goals and Outcomes Lead Do?
Vickie supports colleagues to have meaningful conversations with the People We Support about their independence goals. She focuses on understanding what individuals want to achieve, whether those goals are big or small.
A key part of Vickie’s role is helping teams to capture the great practices already taking place through setting SMART(ER) goals and helping teams develop clearer more effective ways of working.
She said: “I hope the fantastic work that we do gets smoother and sleeker, that it’s documented so when regulators and commissioners come in, we can evidence the work we’re actually doing.”
Vickie will be providing coaching, training, team meeting support and online drop-ins. As we move to DSR, she will also help colleagues work more co-productively using digital tools.
Why Build a Career at AFG?
From her early experience, Vickie sees AFG as a place full of opportunity.
“There’s room for development and no two days are the same. It’s not like Groundhog Day. Every day is different and there is always somebody new to meet because it’s such a big organisation, where every individual contribution truly matters. While each of us may play a small part, together we make a meaningful difference in the lives of the people we support, empowering individuals to live their best lives, defined by them, not for them, and being proud to be part of a team that puts compassion, respect and excellence at the heart of everything it does.”