A Southampton man behind an award-winning social care company is looking to make a positive change within the industry. 

Jonathan Beebee, 44, founded Nursling-based social care company Positive Behaviour Support (PBS4) in 2014, after a career dedicated to learning disability nursing, following a life altering experience.

At the age of 19, Jonathan was hit on the head by an attacker at a party which left him with a severe head injury.

At the time, doctors told Jonathan’s parents he would require the use of a wheelchair.

He said: “I could have been in a situation at a young age where I would have needed my parents to feed me, change me and I might have been unable to talk.”

Against the odds, Jonathan made a full recovery, and has since devoted his efforts to caring for and housing those with learning disabilities.

He told the Daily Echo: “I wanted to make a difference by rolling my sleeves up and doing something of my own, I’d like to think with PBS4 we do that.

“We do lots of work around understanding how people’s learning disabilities affect their life, looking at how people interact with their environments, looking at their communication needs and looking at syndrome specific needs as well.

READ MORE: CCTV image released after car park pay machine smashed

“It’s looking at how all that plays together and how we can help the person to have maximum independence and optimum health in their lives.

“We design bespoke care for people’s needs.”

Jonathan’s commitment to helping others has seen him rewarded with the Outstanding Contribution to Social Care award, at the Great British Care Awards in Birmingham this year.

On receiving the award, Jonathan said: “It was wonderful recognition and it’s really fulfilling for the work we do, I even had Peter Andre present me with my award!

“We’re struggling with numbers for learning disability nurses.

“Year on year, the number of learning disability nurses has been declining and it’s really important that employees get recognised because most people come to work in social care for more than money.

“Most people do it because they want to make a difference to people’s lives.”