Meet our Managers: Frank Cahill at Oswald House and Whalley Road

Meet our Managers: Frank Cahill at Oswald House and Whalley Road

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Back in August 2021, we welcomed the Pathways Northwest services to Active Care Group. The three services are no longer referred to as ‘Pathways’ but have retained their individual names ‘Blackburn Road’, ‘Oswald House’ and ‘Whalley Road’. There’s been a few changes to the services since joining Active Care Group but none more so than the arrival of Frank Cahill as Dual Service Manager for Oswald House and Whalley Road.

A bit about Frank
Before taking on his current role in December 2021, Frank worked at Christchurch Group, part of Active Care Group in a Quality & Governance capacity. Prior to joining Active Care Group, Frank worked at Huntercombe (also now part of Active Care Group) for 12 years in a range of roles spanning clinical, group training and quality. Frank qualified in 1995 as a Learning Disabilities and Mental Health Nurse in Essex. He went on to work for the NHS before moving to Bristol to join the National Autistic Society as a Specialist Nurse and studying for a second registration at the University of West of England. Frank has accomplished a lot in his years working in healthcare, alongside gaining plenty of experience in varying roles and organisations making him a perfect fit for Active Care Group.

Tell us about Oswald House and Whalley Road

“Both services are specialist residential environments offering community-based rehabilitation for adults with mental health conditions. The key difference is that Oswald House is for females only and can support women who may have a history of physical or sexual abuse. We support people over the age of 18 with a wide range of conditions such as Autism, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, OCD, Personality Disorder, Schizophrenia etc. At both Oswald House and Whalley Road, we give people the opportunity to engage in a thorough programme of rehabilitation coupled with independent living experiences – it’s all about helping people build their confidence and equipping them with the skills to return home.”

What are your plans for the service?

“Oswald House and Whalley Road encourage the recovery style model, a holistic approach for supporting and measuring change for individuals with mental health problems. The model focuses on outcomes and measuring where they are in the recovery journey, and what they need to focus on. The model has quickly gained momentum over the past decade and is becoming the standard model of mental health care so it’s something I plan to continue driving. I’m really looking forward to achieving great outcomes for our residents.

I have been busy introducing advanced technology, procedures and quality into Oswald House and Whalley Road. Since joining, I’ve been working to establish rapport with local authorities and funders, effectively communicating our ethos – that our services are all about supporting people and addressing individual needs.”

What do you enjoy most about being a Service Manager?

“I love working with a compassionate group of people who always put our residents first. There is a lot of hard-working, considerate staff here who have built great relationships and engagement with our residents, it is so lovely to see! We remind ourselves that we are working in a place where people live, rather than them living where we work – this is their home. I like that everything is focused on the individual.”

What do you like to do outside of work?

“We’ve just recently got a new German Shepherd puppy who takes up a lot of time outside of work! I’m a huge music fan with wide ranging tastes, I play the guitar and I’ve recently started to learn how to play the piano too. I’m a sports fan; 6 nations rugby time of year is my Christmas – especially when Ireland win! For my sins, I’m a fan of Aston Villa which usually brings me back down to earth…”