Praxis Care
Praxis Care (formerly known as Praxis Care Group) is the largest care providing charity based in Northern Ireland, an amalgamation of four charities which has its headquarters in Belfast. Four charities initially made up the former Praxis Care Group - Praxis Mental Health, for those experiencing mental ill health such as clinical depression or schizophrenia, Respond, for older people including those suffering from dementia, Challenge, which deals with service users with learning disabilities, and the Northern Ireland Agoraphobia and Anxiety Society (although this is a separate charity in its own right, Praxis provides management and support to it).
Activities
Praxis Care provides a range of accommodation and support services for services users, including residential and supported living, domiciliary care, floating support, home response, drop-in centres, an advocacy project, a befriending department and workskills projects. Praxis Care has a dedicated in-house research department which monitors issues as diverse as staff and service user satisfaction and the evaluation of schemes, as well as doing research into relevant issues.
The organisation also has its own in-house staff development department, which is responsible for regularly inducting new staff and for providing other relevant training, primarily though not exclusively to ensure that care staff are adequately trained for their work, which can involve dealing with complex needs and challenging behaviours. Other departments include quality and governance, human resources, development, finance, fundraising / PR and administration.
The organisation runs schemes across Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, England and the Republic of Ireland, and is constantly developing.
Praxis Care is headed by chief executive Nevin Ringland, who founded the original Praxis Mental Health in 1981. He is supported by a team of directors and assistant directors. All in all, the organisation employs about 1,400 people, the majority of whom are in care roles although a significant minority are involved in support services.