Charity nominated for care award

A KEY programme delivered by Warrington-based charity The Relationship Centre has been nominated for a North West NHS Health and Social Care Award.
Talk…Don’t Walk, which aims to reduce the number of young runaways in the region and help their families, has witnessed great success particularly in Warrington, and staff have now been nominated for the Best Team prize at the awards.
In the last three years, the number of young runaways has been reduced by 76 per cent, saving local authorities a total of £3.1 million.
Originally funded by the Government when it was established in 2004, Talk…Don’t Walk has now received financial backing from local authorities to continue with the service.
The high profile awards offer teams exposure and recognition for their achievements across the North West and nationally, and enable the sharing of ideas for the wider benefit of patients, service users and staff.
The Regional Health and Social Care Awards provide a superb opportunity to highlight and celebrate excellence and innovation across the North West in the sector.
Spokeswoman for The Relationship Centre, Marissa Hankinson said: “It is great that we are getting recognition for the work that we are doing with young runaways. Over 86,000 children run away each year. Initiatives such as Talk..Don’t Walk are incredibly important. The difference with us is that we provide a holistic service to the entire family unit to address the issue of why a young person would run away from home in the first instance.
“This success has really put us in the spotlight regionally and is one of the flagship projects in dealing with issue. Fingers crossed that on the night we can win, it would be great success for the team and the charity as a whole.”