St Martins is celebrating recognition at this year’s Norfolk Care Awards, with Head of Care Iain Boag winning the Outstanding Leadership Award. The partnership project My Story, My Words, My Voice was shortlisted in the Innovation category.
The Norfolk Care Awards recognise excellence across the county’s care sector, highlighting the dedication, innovation and commitment of individuals and organisations making a difference to people’s lives.
Outstanding Leadership Award for Iain Boag
Head of Care at St Martins, Iain was presented with the Outstanding Leadership Award in recognition of his exceptional leadership and commitment to supporting people with complex needs. Iain leads the team at Highwater House, St Martins’ CQC-registered residential care home, which is rated Outstanding and provides specialist support for people who have experienced homelessness alongside complex health and social care needs.
Under Iain’s leadership, Highwater House has developed a reputation for delivering compassionate, person-centred care that helps residents build stability, independence and improved wellbeing.
Iain said, “I’m feeling very proud to have been nominated for, and to win, the Outstanding Leadership Award at the Norfolk Care Awards. After nearly 25 years of working in the care sector and at St Martins, it remains a privilege and pleasure to go into work each day to lead a dedicated team who are completely focused on improving the complex lives of our residents. Awards like this help to shine a light on the team’s amazing work.”
Recognition for My Story, My Words, My Voice
St Martins was also delighted to see the My Story, My Words, My Voice partnership project shortlisted for an Innovation Award. The project was developed in partnership with people with lived experience, St Martins, NHS partners and digital inclusion specialists to help people share their stories in their own words, reducing the need to repeatedly recount often difficult and traumatic experiences when accessing support.
The project uses digital storytelling technology to enable people to create and control a personal record combining words, images and voice recordings. Individuals choose what information they want to share with professionals, helping build trust and improve conversations across health, housing and care services.
Co-designed with people who have experienced homelessness and multiple disadvantage, the project aims to ensure people are heard, understood and treated as whole individuals rather than having to ‘start again at every doorway’.
The shortlist recognition reflects the strength of partnership working across Norfolk and the shared commitment to finding new ways to improve outcomes for people facing some of the most complex challenges in society.