Who we are - Integrate Preston

About Integrate
We have an impact on people’s lives where in the past those people have been excluded from society

About Integrate
We have an impact on people’s lives where in the past those people have been excluded from society.

About Integrate – Learning Disabilities Support throughout the North West

Integrate was founded in 1983 with a vision to pioneer a different way of supporting people with learning disabilities and complex needs – in a way that reflected our belief that every person has a right to be a valued member of the community.

Our vision

This vision for community-based support was brought to life 35 years ago when Integrate became the first of its kind in Lancashire to support numerous adults to move out of long stay hospitals and into their own homes within their local community and enjoy the rights that we continue to uphold as our mission:

To enable adults and young people with learning disabilities and others in need in the community to participate in full and valued lives in the community;
To support people in their right to choose within the constraints imposed on everyone in society;
To ensure people are supported and challenged in their choice and through this, to achieve growth, self-esteem and respect from others;
To support people with the skills and help needed to achieve the lifestyle they choose;
To support people to develop a full range of relationships from close intimate friends to a range of acquaintances;
To organise support and services such that people are accorded equal value and status;
To mediate with other services and the community to support people in their rights and value within the community;
To ensure that services are tailored to support people with their individuality and in the context of their cultural needs, social backgrounds and previous experiences, as well as in relation to their future aspirations.

To this day, we continue to push boundaries and challenge in order to empower people to grow, feel valued and to live the life they choose.

Our Executive Team

Leading Integrate is more than just a job to our executive team – they are change makers and a passionate bunch that believe each person should be able to live their life to the fullest in their community.

The professionalism, expertise, energy and enthusiasm they have to make this a reality for the people we support filters through to our dynamic and dedicated workforce.

Sue Pemberton

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

When Integrate was started, it was a different and new way to care – and is still breaking boundaries today.

Sue is at the helm of Integrate – a passionate leader who understands the needs of people with learning disabilities and complex needs to live the lives they choose and the barriers they may face. She is driven to campaigning for and pioneering change.

She draws on 35 years of working with people with learning disabilities and complex needs – from residential and day care services to in the community – to lead the day-to-day operations of Integrate.

Sue, who has a diploma in Management and Social Work, was appointed CEO in 2010.

Peter Green

Director, ISS

Our social enterprises give the people we work with the opportunity to build confidence, make friends, learn new skills and be treated as equals.

Peter leads our social enterprises; which are vital to our support work in providing diverse day opportunities and work experience for the people we work with, as well as providing an income for Integrate and raising our profile in the community.

He also leads supported living services in our womens’ and older peoples’ services including neighbourhood and outreach programmes.

He joined the team in 2010 bringing with him many years of experience in mental health.

Andrew Watson

Director, New Focus

New Focus – Helping people with a learning disability to have a life worth living.

Andy is the director of our specialist New Focus service based across the Northwest of England. He has worked for Integrate since November 2000 when he joined as a support worker.

Andy now leads a specialist team of support workers that engage with people with complex needs to help them to integrate back into the community.

Andy is a Social Work England Registered Social Worker (SW42419), holds a management award, a PG Cert LD/MH Forensic Practice and British Sign Language level 2. Andy is also a senior Positive Behaviour Management trainer and delivers Restraint Reduction Network (RRN) accredited PBM training both internally and externally across the Northwest.

Meet The Board

John Kay

Chair

John has served as a trustee/board member for over 20 years. A litigation solicitor by profession (now retired) in his early time on the board he concentrated his particular attention on personnel issues, advising over a broad area, including employment contracts and employment tribunal matters. He helped guide through the major change in the structure of the charity some fifteen years ago and the establishment of a strong senior management team to support the chief executive.

More recently (about 5 years ago) he became the chair of one of the three regular sub-committees that emerged from the restructuring and took over as chair of the charity in August 2022.

John is a Prestonian born and bred and is a lifelong supporter of Preston North End. He has recently written two books about former North End legends Alex Dawson and Graham Alexander. He was a school governor and latterly vice-chair of the governors of a local primary school for over 20 years. He is a church warden at St Mary’s Church in Penwortham and a volunteer at the charity Sporting Memories in Preston and in Leyland, which uses the power of sport to re-engage with those living with dementia, depression, and loneliness. He has an interest in local history and between 2014 and 2018 researched some 80 or more Penwortham servicemen who gave their lives in the Great War. March 2023

Other Board Members, and former Board Members

Maureen Robinson (Retired), John Kay, Lynda Arkwright (Retired), John Dunn (RIP), Paul McKeown, Nancy Homan, Tom McLean (RIP) and Terry Keely. (Not shown, Mark Bleasdale.)

In June 2024 Richard Crowther, Sanjay Shrestha, Sarah Stephens and Tony Caine were appointed as Trustees and Directors of Integrate.

About Integrate