Our People - Regional Directors
Regional Directors
Executive Team; Stories from our peopleNorth East Region - Nick Ball
Nick has worked in social care for 20 years supporting people with a learning disability, people with mental health problems and older people. Although Nick is a qualified social worker, he has always worked in the not for profit sector.
Nick says: "As Regional Director, I am responsible for helping to deliver the outcomes in people's lives that they ask for, through their Person Centred Plans and through their involvement with our Regional Advisory Forum. This means helping people to change where they live and who they live with, helping people to change their daytime activities and helping people to develop friendships, relationships and connections into their communities. This is their agenda and one I am happy to support."
South Region - Simon Blyghton
Simon joined Dimensions in 1994 to help the organisation setting up new services from the closure of long stay hospital services. Prior to working for Dimensions, Simon held a number of positions within the NHS including Specialist Team Manager. Simon's career in supporting people with learning difficulties started in 1979. During this extensive time Simon has worked with and supported both children and families and adults in a range of settings and service models.
As Regional Director, Simon has helped drive the organisational agenda for person centeredness in services across Hampshire , Surrey and Southampton. He leads the organisational work on Autism and continues to have a special interest for supporting people who challenge the services they receive.
Simon says, ' I continue to enjoy the challenges our work can bring and feel we all work in exciting but demanding times. The current agenda moving towards personalisation and individualised budgets creates exciting opportunities for people we support now and people we will support in the future'.
Bracknell Region - Jacki Carr
Jacki joined Dimensions in 1998, initially as a Registered Manager for three services. She then spent four years as Area Manager and a year as Senior Practitioner (leading on PCP support planning and Risk Management) before becoming Regional Director for the Bracknell region in July 07. She is currently the operational lead for the organisation on Learning & Development, Joint Consultative Groups and Forensic services.
Jacki has worked with people with learning disabilities for over 20 years. She is a registered learning disability nurse and has a BSc (Hons) in Disability Studies. She has experience in working within NHS provision (long stay hospitals and NHS group homes) and has worked in a respite/residential service for children with complex/multiple disabilities, with responsibility for the co-ordination of respite provision.
Jacki says: "I really believe that everything is about the relationships that we have in our lives. To successfully change and improve the support we deliver we need to build on and nurture positive relationships with everyone - people we support, families, carers, other professionals and our staff."
South West Region - Kevin Fairman
Kevin is the Regional Director of our South-West region which supports 130 people with learning difficulties. From 2004 to 2007, Kevin worked for Dimensions as the Group Finance, Housing, & Resources Director before moving into Operations. Kevin has degrees in Chemical Engineering and Organometallic Chemistry and, before joining Dimensions, Kevin worked as the Finance Director of a number of commercial organisations in the UK, Europe, & the USA within the technology sector.
Norfolk Region - Christine Farrow
Christine is Regional Director for services in East Anglia. She has been supporting people with learning difficulties for 35 years. Her last role was within the NHS, where she was a Residential Services Manager, managing 12 community homes run by the Norwich Primary Care Trust. These included respite care services for adults and children.
Christine is a Registered Nurse M.H and has completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Management Health & Social Care. She also holds a post graduate certificate with Lancaster University Leadership for Change. She has been working for Dimensions for over 5 years and set up all the services within the region with the support of her team. Christine takes an active part in staff training, and says: "I enjoy spending time with the people we support. I get a real sense of pride when people tell me what they have been doing."
Within Norfolk, Christine is part of the Norfolk wide steering group for housing. She also acts as the region's key customer manager and has a close working partnership with our commissioners.
West Berkshire Region - Larry Grady
Larry has worked with people with learning disabilities since 1984, when he set up the Phoenix Trust –a charity that provided outdoor activity holidays for people with learning disabilities - with some friends from University.
After leaving college he started work with Berkshire County Council – supporting adults with learning disabilities at Marshlands Hostel in Newbury. He worked for Berkshire County Council, managing a childrens' home (where he qualified as a Social Worker) and then a residential care home for adults, until 1996, when he was TUPE transferred to Dimensions.
Larry left Dimensions in 2002 to take up a post managing the Community Learning Disability Team for Swindon Borough Council, but returned to Dimensions in 2004 to take up the Regional Director post for the West Berkshire, Oxfordshire & Reading region.
Larry is a member of the Core Group of the West Berkshire Learning Disability Partnership Board and has led for Dimensions in such areas as the Supported Living review and our membership of the In Control Provider Network. He is also a Director of Support Horizons, one of the UK's first Community Interest Companies