PJL continues to evolve.

At PJL Healthcare Ltd, our ethos always stays the same – to always put the children we care for at the heart of all we do.  Making a positive impact to their lives, supporting, encouraging, and enabling them to lead a life full of opportunities and a childhood full of happy memories and the opportunity to live laugh and learn.

2020 was certainly a different year for all of us.  At PJL, we look after some of the most vulnerable young people in society and nobody could have foreseen what unfolded as Covid-19 took hold.  As one of the Directors said in their first letter to staff at the beginning of the pandemic:

When Janis and I started PJL some 15 years ago we never anticipated the situation we find ourselves in today. There have been hurdles we have had to cross but nothing like this. We are up against a global pandemic which has turned all our lives upside down

Paul Sellars, Director and owner

A global pandemic makes people re-evaluate how things are done and what really matters.  PJL managed to adapt and re-evaluate remarkably and we’re proud of how we, as a company have continued to provide outstanding care for those we look after and proud of our whole staff team who really, ‘stepped up’ and showed what an amazing bunch they really are! 

As we adapted the business and made sure that those we look after were affected as little as possible by Covid-19, it also felt time to think about how far we had come as a company and consider what the future holds. We decided to think about what really makes PJL successful and how we can continue to improve.  As part of this, to get the ball rolling, we decided to ask the staff and young people for their help to come up with some inspirational words that define us as a company and launched a competition with prizes to be won!

PJL Healthcare Ltd was formed in 2006 when Paul and Janis took over Mayfield Children’s home.  At that time, they asked the staff and young people for help in designing a logo for the Home.  It was one of our young people, and her Support Worker, who came up with our fantastic rainbow logo which, over the years has developed and become synonymous with the PJL family of homes.  

This time around we asked staff if they would like to enter suggestions for any of the following:

• Write a short paragraph to explain what PJL do and why we exist.
• Write an inspirational strap line to update our current strap line of, Care, Choice & Independence
• Give us a word and short explanation of each of our core values.

We had a great response to the competition and the entries were weaved into the creation of the updated company’s mission and we will continue to use most of the entries in one form or another to help shape the future of the company.

Firstly, we were able to put into words what our company ethos is:

PJL has an ethos and culture of truly caring for the children and young people they support. Their views, wishes and feelings are always at the forefront of decision making. The sense that all our young people are our most important consideration, filters all the way down through the company from the most senior levels of PJL.  Big ideas and initiatives are turned into real, tangible events and activities for the benefit of the young people.

PJL recruits and retains some of the best Support Workers in the industry. The high standard of recruitment and in-house training gives staff the ability to deliver the best possible care.  As a result, some of the most vulnerable young people in our society receive an outstanding level of support to help them live, laugh and learn.

We all act according to our values and the core values of PJL Healthcare are:

Live

• Inspiring children and young people to overcome their difficulties and embrace life.
• Helping them to flourish and make every moment count, instilling the belief that anything is achievable.

Laugh

• Offering an endless supply of fun and laughter the secrets of a happy home.
• Creating activities which help build social skills, teamwork, fitness and confidence are a crucial part of our success.

Learn

• Adopting a holistic, ‘can do’ attitude. Supporting children and young people to reach goals they didn’t feel they could achieve.

Next, we came up with a new mission statement for the company:

Offering children and young people a family home filled with love, laughter, and learning.  
A place where memories are made, and challenges overcome.
Together everyone achieves more.

Following on from that, we were able to create a new PJL logo.  We are really happy with the current design of our family of logos, and the original rainbow logo drawn by one of our young people back in 2006 holds a special place in our hearts.  So, our children’s home logos stay the same but with the fresh new wording reflecting our core values as a company, we developed a new strap line for the PJL logo.

from     Care, Choice & Independence       to          Live • Laugh • Learn

This gives our PJL logo a fresh, new look:

The feedback from the competition and the new mission and values have been used as part of the development of this website and continues to be used to bring a consistent message and feel to all our communication and give us a fresh approach to ensure the young people we care for continue to be at the forefront of all we do.