Meet our Partners: The Brain Charity

Each month, we will be bringing you a new partner profile, giving you the opportunity to say hello to our team and find out about their involvement in Directions. 

Say a big hello to The Brain Charity  – The Brain Charity offers emotional support, practical help and social activities to anyone with a neurological condition and their family, friends and carers. 

The Brain Charity

Can you tell us about The Brain Charity?

Our mission is to enable all those affected by neurological conditions to live longer, healthier, happier lives.

We are unique in that we support people no matter which condition they live with. There are hundreds of different neurological conditions, from stroke, brain injury, dementia and cluster headaches to many rarer ones too – we are here for every single one of them.

The impact of a diagnosis can be devastating and many people face unemployment, poverty and social isolation as a result.

We will fight together for an inclusive and just society: a world where stigma, hardship and isolation are replaced by compassion and understanding. 

We are a local charity with a big ambition to fight loneliness, guide people through hard times and help them reach their potential.

Diane Richardson - Project coordinator at The Brain Charity

Why did you become involved in Directions?

Being diagnosed with a neurological condition is life-changing, and can mean so much more than losing your health – people also lose not just their independence and friends, but often their jobs too. 

Many people find they are no longer able to work as they previously did and this can have a devastating effect on their self-esteem – making someone already vulnerable and struggling physically feel worthless and like they have nothing to contribute to society. 

Statistics show just 31% of people with epilepsy are in employment, and for people with severe learning disabilities this drops to 18%. Overall, The Brain Charity estimates fewer than one in five people with a neurological condition are currently in work.

While discrimination and a lack of skills, experience and opportunity can hold our clients back and make it difficult for them to enter or re-enter the workplace, we find low confidence is their major barrier. 

Therefore, the Directions Project aims to give individuals with neurological conditions back the confidence they need to come to terms with their change in employment situation and forge a new path. We will grow our participants’ potential and ultimately let them fly – Directions will be the springboard from which they can achieve the goals we know they are capable of.

Tell us about the activities you’ll be running with Directions

Our activities address a variety of different practical and emotional support offers to improve confidence and self-esteem. These include:

• Flexible individual support and personal mentoring to enable people to access a network of volunteering, work experience or specific employment opportunities
• Pathways to training and education if participants want to retrain in a new type of work, aiming to make bespoke matches according to the individual’s need
• Access to adult education courses in subjects like literacy and maths 
• Benefits advice and advocacy for people balancing employment with a caring role  
• Free, in-house one-to-one counselling to address any specific emotional or psychological barriers to working like anxiety, PTSD or lack of self-belief
• Guidance around health expectations in the workplace, such as pain management, fatigue issues and comfortable working environments
• Practical support with CVs, job applications and interviews
• Help with business plans, marketing strategies and publicity for clients who would like to become self-employed 

Do you have any events coming up?

Find an additional full list of all events taking place at The Brain Charity here: https://www.thebraincharity.org.uk/whats-on/events 

To take part in the Directions Project at The Brain Charity, contact project coordinator Diane Richardson on diane@thebraincharity.org.uk or 0151 298 2999.

Follow The Brain Charity on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Sign up to The Brain Charity mailing list here: https://www.thebraincharity.org.uk/email/#subscribe 

About Directions:

Directions is a specifically designed and fully integrated programme of support which will improve the employability of over 2,000 local residents from Liverpool City Region who are currently not in work. 

About European Social Fund:

Directions is receiving funding from the European Social Fund as part of the 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme in England. The Department for Work and Pensions (and in London the intermediate body Greater London Authority) is the Managing Authority for the England European Social Fund programme. Established by the European Union, the European Social Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support skills development, employment and job creation, social inclusion and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding