Home Instead (Maidenhead, Henley & Wallingford)

Jo joined the team during the summer of 2022 after working in the care industry for over 20 years. Following personal experience looking after a loved one, Jo decided to work in the care industry and delivering high-quality care was for her. She soon progressed throughout the care industry, supporting clients with rehabilitation when discharged from the hospital, working for the dementia team and managing a care home for adults with learning disabilities. Jo is passionate about all areas of her role here at Home Instead - be that supporting clients, their families, the care team and the office team - Jo oversees all this to ensure everything is working well to enable us to deliver high-quality care we are known for.

In her spare time, Jo loves nothing more than going for long walks and spending quality time with her family. She also enjoys reading, especially biographies, and is a big fan of the cinema.

Jo originally joined Home Instead Maidenhead as a Care Professional, a year later, joined our office team becoming our Care Co-Ordinator, and has now become our Live In Care Manager. Jo's role involves working closely with our Live In clients and their families to ensure they are receiving all the help and support they need to help them live a happy and independent life in their own home. She also liaises with the care team to ensure she matches the right Care Professional for the right clients, supporting the Care professionals during their placements.
Jo enjoys her role as it brings something new each day & she loves a challenge! She enjoys working closely with our clients where her experience as a Care Professional really helps in understanding everyone's needs. Jo loves meeting new people.
In her spare time, Jo enjoys travelling and spending time with her family, especially her nephew, Freddie.

Claire, originally from South Africa, joined Home Instead in May 2017 as a CAREGiver. However, she started her career working in office management before moving on to qualify as a Montessori teacher, teaching for a number of years. Claire joined Home Instead as she was looking for a different career path with flexible hours to suit her family responsibilities. Claire soon realised how rewarding CAREGiving was with the added benefit that every day was different and brought new challenges – she loves supporting our clients and their families. In the summer of 2018, Claire joined the office team as a Senior CAREGiver, working mainly on the Client side of the business and in early 2020 was promoted to Client Services Manager, looking after our clients in Henley, Wallingford and surrounding areas.

In her spare time, Claire enjoys spending time with her family and pets and supports many animal welfare organisations.

Kim has been with Home Instead since early 2018 when she joined the team as a Care Professional supporting clients in their homes. She was pretty amazing in her role, so after a year and a half, she became a Senior Care Professional, supporting the Care Team. By the autumn of 2020, Kim's role developed and she became Care Professionals Supervisor, working closely with our ever-growing team of Carers and ensuring they are trained in all areas of required expertise, working well and happy in their roles here at Home Instead.

Through personal experiences with his own family, Paddy witnessed how having the right support & care in place, really can make a huge difference to people's lives making a difference not only to the clients themselves but to their families and loved ones too.

Paddy has spent the last 10 years as a Learning and Development Manager at Home Instead, ensuring our team members are trained to the high standard you would expect from our Home Instead team. Paddy also conducts specialist training, for stoma care, dementia and Parkinson's.

Pippa started working with us as a Care Professional before joining the office team as our Care Coordinator. She is highly organised, with a background of being a Personal Assistant in companies such as BMW and KPMG. Above all, Pippa is a real people person - something that is vitally important when arranging care for over 100 clients alongside over 80 Care Professionals.

Marketa joined Home Instead in 2018 as a Care Coordinator. She has worked in the Health and Social Care sector for most of her career. Originally from the Czech Republic, she gained experience from working as a CAREGiver when she first moved to the UK and has also worked as a Social Worker and Case Manager. Marketa loves working with people.

As a Care Coordinator, she is making sure that the right CAREGiver is allocated to the right customer at the right time.

Marketa returned after her maternity leave at the end of October 2020. She enjoys spending time with her family, especially her baby girl, Elena.

Gillian is our Recruitment Manager - she is a real people person! Her role includes initial Care Professional interviews and screening process, sourcing references and making sure we have all the relevant information in order for a Care Professional to join our team, as well as day to day administration.

Her career has been varied, with time in hotel management in London and Glasgow, before taking on her own business and running a country free house in the Oxfordshire countryside. Gillian has a great deal of experience in office management, including working at a Henley care home for a number of years before joining Home Instead.

Cooking is a passion of Gillian's as well as DIY, reading and travelling with friends and family. She also enjoys walking her dog along the river and in the countryside near her home in Henley.

Melissa Johnson is the co-director at Home Instead Maidenhead along with her husband, Paul. She has lived in Maidenhead since 2005 & during that time has enjoyed being an active member of the community.
Melissa understands just how vital it is to be confident & happy with the care a loved one is receiving. She strongly believes that our CAREGivers & all the team at the office treat our clients as if they were our own family – with respect, kindness and compassion. Melissa is delighted to be part of Home Instead as she believes helping people stay independent for as long as possible is so rewarding. She wants Home Instead Maidenhead, Henley & Wallingford to continue to be the first place people think of when arranging care for a loved one due to our wonderful care, from our marvellous CAREGivers & fantastic support from our great office team.
Melissa has worked in franchising in the past, concentrating on marketing, event management, operations & business development. More recently she ran she own arts & crafts business for children under 12. Through this, she worked closely with some local charities, as well as working with special needs children & running workshops for visually impaired youngsters.
When Melissa is out of the office, you’ll find her ferrying her two children to football, hockey, dance, gymnastics and any other clubs/parties they wish to attend!

Paul has lived in Berkshire for over 13 years with his wife Melissa & two children. He enjoys being part of the local community including supporting the high flying Maidenhead FC as often as possible!
Paul has previously worked in international staffing where he built his own business over 13 years in London before more recently managing another staffing business with offices in London, Germany & Poland.
Having worked in the city for most his working life, over the past number of years Paul had specifically wanted to run & developing a high-quality care business in the local community & when the chance to own an existing Home Instead office presented itself in 2016, it was the perfect opportunity.
Paul’s priority is to continue to build upon the excellent reputation that Home Instead Maidenhead, Henley and Wallingford has in the area. Our focus is always to provide the highest quality care through building strong relationships & remaining focused on the individual needs of our clients to allow them to remain happily independent in their own homes.