LINKS TO ALL PODCAST PLATFORMS
Tim Beynon: Hello and welcome to the Charity show, the podcast for Charity Insiders by Charity Insiders. Please rate, follow or subscribe to us on your usual podcast platform. And here's what's coming up in episode 20 we've got, Sti Bechelet from Brainkind and Hannah Williams from Women's Aid talking about, an amazing collaborative project that they've been working on together. Basically looking at the link between domestic abuse and brace injury. Really, really serious subject obviously, but some incredible work that the two charities are doing together there.
Steffi Bechelet: This can happen to anyone, absolutely anyone. There's no one face of brain injury, there's no one face of lived experience of domestic abuse. So if you've experienced any of those things and you feel ready to and safe to please seek that support.
Hannah Williams: From a Women's Day perspective, success for us looks like, those long lasting impacts in semester abus that I was talking about are understood and addressed. and may sure the survivors get the support they need when they need that. So that means that looking at things like education, housing or in the instance of this partnership, health and then really being able to understand and acknowledge the link between brain injury and domestic abuse.
Tim Beynon: What do you think your team would do, what do you think the charity do if an 18 million pound gift came your way? What do you reckon?
Piers Townley: I think we'd have a collective moment of hysteria, to be honest. That is a transformational amount of money, isn't it?
Episode 20 of the Charity show is on a half term break
Tim Beynon: Hello and welcome to episode 20 of the Charity show with me, Tim Bayham, head of marketing engagement at Fire Fighters.
Piers Townley: Charity and Piers Townley, PR manager at the Brain Tumour Charity.
Tim Beynon: So Piers, episode 20, how are you doing? How's things with you?
Piers Townley: All good, actually. A slight pause, a slight pause before we go into our big awareness month here at the Brain Tumour Charity and for the brain tumour community in the UK generally. But yeah, the slight pause is on a half term. So trying to get some peace and quiet, which is kind of like that's not going to happen. But yeah, all good. How about you, Tim?
Tim Beynon: Yeah, not bad, thank you. Peace and quiet, half term. Just t doesn't happen to it. So anyway, you have this kind of idea that you'get a bit of a break when you take time off. But no, it doesn't seem to happen. Anyway, never mind, never mind. It's been a good, couple of weeks. We've obviously we kicked off our first the Charity Show Bites mini episode last week which seems to have gone down really well, which is, which is great. So that comes every, every other Monday when there isn't a main show. So if you haven't caught up with it already, make sure you check out the charity show bites. 10 or 15 minutes of me and peers rambling about nonsense. Basically. It's pretty much it, isn't it? Please.
Piers Townley: How dare you, Tim. Insightful third sector insights. That's what it bill does. It's mean you rambling slightly.
Tim Beynon: Yeah. Nonsense. There you go. Anyway, we've got a cracking show coming up this time around. We've got STI Beeleet from Brainind and Hannah Williams from Women's Aid talking about an amazing collaborative project that they've been working on together. basically looking at the link between domestic abuse and brain injury. Really, really serious subject obviously, but some incredible work that the two charities are doing together there. And this is a brilliant example of two charities working together to achieve something that they couldn't do by themselves. So cracking, interview coming up. A really fascinating insight into that, that partnership.
When charities join forces, they can drive real change
and Pier, I know you and I are't exactly on the services or policy side of things with're boring old comms guys but have you had any experience of sort of working with another charity to do something significant?
Piers Townley: We do collaborate on a regular basis with other brain tumour charities in the uk, Tim. But you're right, it's kind of slightly outside of the day job. Obviously being n PRPR being in comms, we support any of these pushes. We're past our an APPG on brain tumours. That's an all party parliamentary group alongside brain tumour research. Brains Trust, various other charities are out there, the Tessa Gel, Foundation as well, all come together to try and drive research, you know, across the landscape and try and drive change as a whole. Because obviously speaking with one voice, that's when you're most powerful. So that's where most of our collaboration, that's where most of our energy goes with on that. How about yourself?
Tim Beynon: Yeah, we have something very similar really at ah, firefighters s charity. So we work all. We're part of an initiative that was launched by Prince William and ah, when he was Duke of Cambridge, now Prince of Wales isn't he? That's right. I got to get that right. so we're together with the Royal foundation which is his charity and he launched this partnership where he sort of brings together leaders from across the emergency services sector to basically look into how together we can better support the mental wellbe being of emergency Responders across the uk, which is fantastic. And the projects, one of the projects he set up was called Blue Light Together, and also as well as that, he set up this Royal Foundation Senior Leaders Board, of which our chief executive, sits on, and really, great to be a part of that with other, emergency services charities and together coming together, just like
00:05:00
Tim Beynon: you said with you guys, to do something significant. And also vitally, someone like Prince William brings a prestige and brings a profile, to the whole issue that otherwise would be hard to get. So, yeah, fantastic to be a part of that. And then when I was back when another charity, I was, with Nacro many years ago, we worked with other charities that worked, in the similar field to see if we could bring around change to the rehabilit rehabilitation of defenders acts back in the day. And that was a really exciting piece of workd to be involved in. So collaboration is amazing. It can do great things and, it's fascinating to see and be great to hear from other people, other charities about how it's worked for them as well. So, yeah, amazing stuff. When charities join forces, they can drive real change, sometimes in ways they never could alone. For this episode, we sat down with Steffi Beeleet, brain injury and domestic abuse researcher at brainind, and Hannah Williams, evaluation and learning manager at, Women's Aid, to explore the power of partnership. Brainkind and Women's Aid have teamed up to investigate the often overlooked but always devastating link between domestic abuse and brain injury, uncovering the scale of the issue and improving support for survivors. In this first part of our conversation, we explore the collaboration itself, how it came about, the benefits of working together, and why partnerships like this between charities matter. Then later in the show, we'll bring you part two when Steie and Hannah share the lessons they've learned along the way and, their advice for other charities looking to build meaningful partnerships. So if you've ever wondered whether your charity could do more by working in partnership with others, take a listen to those who today are making collaboration work.
Steie and Hannah from Brain Kind and Women's Age join charity podcast
Steie and Hannah, welcome to the charity show. It's fantastic to see you. Lovely to welcome you onto the show today. And to start with, we're going to talk a bit about the work you guys do, and how you'll be collaborating together the two charities that you work for. So to start things off, perhaps you could each just briefly introduce yourselves and your roles at both Brain Kind, and Women's Age. Stephi, perhaps first off, brilliant.
Steffi Bechelet: Thank you and thank you so Much. Tim Piers, for having us, on this podcast. I. We've been talking about it a while. I'm really excited to be here.
Brainind and Women's Aid collaborate on brain injury and domestic abuse research
So I'm Steffie Behelelo, I'm a brain injury and domestic abuse researcher. Ah. @ Brainind. And as you may or may not know, Brainind is the UK's leading charity, supporting people post brain injury through neuro rehabilitation and support, but also through research for populations that maybe aren't accessing, brain injury support traditionally.
Tim Beynon: Fantastic. And Hannah, what about you? Your role and Women's Aid.
Speaker C: Yeah, and just to echo what Stephie said, thank you so much to both of you for having us. It's really, really exciting to be here. Buteah, My name is Hannah Williams and I am the evaluation and learning manager of Women's Aid. And then I suppose for those that aren't aware, Women's Aid is England's leading domestic abuse charity, so we're working towards women and children being safe and free from abuse.
Tim Beynon: Fantastic. Both, you know, amazing work that both your charities do. And the reason we thought we'd get you both on today because you've been working very closely together, collaborating on a joint project. I'm really keen to see a bit more about that project also just to sort of chat through the whole world of collaboration and the strengths and theits of doing so and how that work in this.
Brain Client and Brainkind collaborate to raise awareness of brain injury in domestic abuse
So perhaps you could just give us, a little bit of a background, in terms of how it came about and what the main objectives of the collaboration are.
Steffi Bechelet: Brilliant. Yeah. So this came about mainly through the findings, some research that Brain Client had done looking at brain injury in the context of domestic abuse. It's a report called Two Met Count and through this research we found that as many as 12 survivors of domestic abuse could be living with a potential brain injury. And this really got us thinking as a brain injury organisation, how do we connect with and extend this message to, to people outside our organisation, people who work in the domestic abuse sector and thinking about that real, long term, positive social impact, that piece of change that we can make M Because Brainkind, as many organisations we love doing this research but we don't want it to just sit on a shelf, wanted to do something. So, we were quite lucky that through the research, many of the host sites, for part of the research project were women's aid members. So we already had that connection, and just started having conversations with people about what our next steps were, and thinking about how can we raise awareness of brain injury in this space? And what can we learn as a brain injury organisation about the way that the domestic abuse sector supports and provides advocacy to people?
Tim Beynon: As you said, it sounds like there's a real sort of natural synergy there between your two organations.
Researchers collaborate to collect more data on link between brain injury and domestic abuse
Hannah, perhaps from women's AIDS perspective, what do you see as the main objectives or
00:10:00
were, are rather the main objectives is this collaboration?
Speaker C: Yeah, of course. So I suppose from our conversations with steie, we were able to kind of identify that there's a need to start collecting more data on the link between brain injury and domestic abuse. And we thought that on track was a good way to do that. So on track is women's AIDS case management and outcomes measurement system. It's used by over 100 domestic abuse services across England. and what we were able to do is identify four questions that we could add to the system that would enable professionals to capture data around the potential causes of brain injury in a domestic abuse setting. But also that that information would come through to us at Women's AGEID and our national data set that's collected through the system. And I think that just being able to collect that information is kind of our main driver in being able to start continuing that evidence base.
Tim Beynon: Sure. It's, you know, it's, it's a shocking subject, isn't it? It's something that that's, you know, I'm sure you wish you didn't have to research and didn't have to collaborate on at all. It's a really, really shocking you know, subject to have to work around and to talk about.
There is a link between brain injury and domestic abuse, says Hannah Abe
for those of us who aren't experts in the field at all, tell us a little bit about what you know about that link between brain injury and domestic Abe, what do we know about it so far?
Steffi Bechelet: Sure, and that's a great question. It's when we get asked in a lot of different spaces and I think people are really curious as to how that might connect with the work that they do in the people that they support. So what we know is that hits to the head, neck and face and non fatal strangulation are incredibly common for people who experience physical violence. And what we also know is that those types of injuries are potential mechanisms for brain injury. So not every head injury will be a brain injury. But what we know is that the more cumulative these injuries are and the more severe these injuries are, the heightened risk, increase of risk for people to experience a traumatic or a hypoxic Brain injury are. So when we're thinking about people who have experienced domestic abuse, that's really quite profound, particularly for physical violence. So that is the main connection that we know that exists. And obviously this has been further reinforced in the research that we've done, the too many to count report. But we're also hoping to understand in greater detail about those mechanisms and how often those are experienced by survivesest domestic abuse on a more national scale.
Piers Townley: Hannah, just from a woman's age perspective, how does this research, excuse me, aligned with the needs survivors of domestic abuse?
Speaker C: Yeah, I mean I think it's really the validation for survivors. I think when we talk about domestic abuse, domestic abuse is seen as a pattern of instances and behaviours. But for all of those instances there are potentially long lasting impacts and it's important that long lasting, damage to physical health like brain injury is acknowledged and understood and that those survivor experiences are seen. And I think that's kind of the key for us is that awareness raising that helps survivors and practitioners of domestic abuse have that awareness of the link between domestic abuse and brain injury and then hopefully ultimately that needs to survive as being able to get the support they need when they need it.
Piers Townley: Very interesting. And at the end of the day, Hannah, I'll stay with you.
Brainkind and Women's Aid collaborate on tackling domestic abuse
First, what do both organisations hope to achieve from this collaboration? What does success look like for you?
Speaker C: Yeah, of course. Well we kind of see domestic abuse as a national emergency. and I suppose from a Women's Day perspective, success for us looks like those long lasting impacts of domestic abuse that I was talking about are understood and addressed. and really acknowledging that recovery from domestic abuse isn't just about leaving the perpetrator, it's about those long lasting effects and as I said previously, making sure survivors get the support they need when they need that. And in doing that, it's that whole system approach that we need to take in tackling that. So that means that looking at things like education, housing or in the instance of this partnership, health and then really being able to understand and acknowledge the link between brain inj. Dr. Domestic abuse and. I don't know what your thoughts are, Stepie.
Steffi Bechelet: Yeah, well, I mean I completely echo those sentiments and I think for us at Brainkind, we're really committed to raising awareness of brain injuring, the context of domestic abuse. And working with women's aid has been a pivotal step for us. You working with leading experts in their field who can share information, we can share expertise together and I think for our success of this Is first and foremost gathering that massive data set and being able to really understand what those experiences are, but being able to utilise that to make change where that change is needed. so not just in the domestic abuse sector, but like Hannah was saying, thinking about that whole systems approach, where can we all come together as charities and share that learning? Where can we use it to influence positive policy and legislation and where can we use it to adapt practise where we need to?
00:15:00
Hannah: There's no way we could have done this alone
Tim Beynon: I think that very, very nicely leads on to my next question in terms of talking about the strengths of the partnership and working together. First off, do you think that either of your or two organisation could have done this by yourselves? and if not, what do you, what individual strengths do each of you bring or does each organisation bring to the collaboration? Hannah?
Speaker C: First stuff, because they're absolutely not. I think one of the most valuable things about this partnership is like, stuff we'saying is that knowledge sharing from both ends and really acknowledging the expertise that we both have individually as organisations, domestic abuse really is a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviours and having experts that understand particular impacts is really invaluable. I think one of the things we've done as part of this partnership is we had a webinar, on our partnership and explained it to, our member services and others. and as part of that, Annari, who works at Brainkind as a clinical consultant neuropsychologist, came along and was able to answer questions and that was like, really, really invaluable to those that were there, particularly those frontline practitioners who have never had a space or an opportunity like that to ask questions that someone has so much knowledge on within, like the brain injury area.
Steffi Bechelet: Yeah, I think for, for brain kind, absolutely. I agree with Hannah. There's no way that we could have done this, in isolation. You know, that expertise from a domestic abuse organisation, and a leading one at that, really made sure that this work was a success, that it's reached all the right people, in terms of that webinar, but also in terms of collecting that data on track, is absolutely incredible. And each year gathers around 50,000 unique data sets. I can't think of another space that wouldn't require really significant funding and resource where that would be possible. So we're eternally grateful that Women's Aid said yes to that partnership, and that we've been able to start collecting that data and, you know, hopefully in the next few months we will be starting to see what that year long partnership has produced and hopefully that will be a long term effort from the both of us. But no way could we have done this alone and if we had tried wouldn't have been nearly as successful. So, a massive strength in collaborating there.
Tim Beynon: Fantastic.
Did you find any challenges working together on brinkcon project
Tell me a little bit about the practicalities of working together. You're two separate organisations based in two separate places, two different workforces, different ways of working, different ways of handling data, different ways of technically operating and all that kind of stuff. Did you find any challenges working together? I'm interested. Obviously there''s a lot of data being handled in this project. How are you working together in that respect and have there been any challenges and how have you sort of gone about overcoming them?
Speaker C: Yeah, I think, I suppose my, probably the first thing that comes to mind for me is a broader challenge just around finding dedicated time and funding for projects like this. I feel like this partnership has been a wonderful success but it was unfunded work for us. and it really did require finding time around other responsibilities. and I think, yeah, that was probably the biggest challenge that we've seen for brinkcon.
Steffi Bechelet: I'd say our biggest challenge in working together probably stem from our own capacity and resources. A team. So as Hannah's alluded to, we've got great expertise across the team, whether it be clinical neuropsychology, whether it be policy, whether it be doing the research, and all of those members of our team have been really vital even in the background and doing the supporting as well as leading on the webinar and having these conversations and it's about getting all the right people in the right digital room. we've not met in a physicalorium, maybe in time we will. But getting all the right people in the digital room and being really mindful of really busy schedules, with lots of different deadlines across both of our organisation for different projects. But it's been really great that we've also had the flexibility to you know, amend what we were doing, to have really honest and open conversations. And I think for us it's really, it's been really powerful because we are, and we try and practise our work as being trauma informed, survivival led thinking about the impacts of our work. And that's really true obviously of the work at Women's Aid as well. So we have that shared understanding of how we want to approach the work and also thinking about, you know, the well being of staff. Are we saying the right things? Are we getting the Right. Message across. So our main issue, and I think it's the same for a lot of organisations initially, was around capacity and resource and once we were able to over become that then it was about finding space in the diary. That was the reality.
Tim Beynon: I'm just fascinated.
Tim: Do you think digital technology has made collaboration easier post pandemic
It was interesting. You said that you haven't met in person and obviously you're working in a digital space. Do you think that sort of the way that technology has advanced, probably sort of post pandemic really
00:20:00
in terms of the way we now work and the fact that we live our lives on teams and so forth, has that made collaboration easier?
Steffi Bechelet: I would say so, definitely for brain kind. I think particularly for this type of work, that isn't our expertise. you know, we're a brain injury organisation and, and we've really had to lean into a sector that we've had very little knowledge of, aside from individual team members. And being able to network digitally has been huge. You know, we've been able to be part of meetings that we'd hadn't even heard of know before we had started our venture into this space. And I think being able to schedule in a teams call, it's been a game changer. I mean I don't go wrong. I'd still love to meet Hannah and go for a cup of coffee and be able to plan work in that physical sense as well. But I think, yeah, digitally it's really changed the game and I think we all have so much more digital literacy because of the pandemic. We've had to adapt, we've had to use teams in our everyday life. so definitely for brainkind it's been a huge part of being able to navigate this.
Tim Beynon: Sure. Do you feel the same, Hannah? Does it feel almost like there's sort of like a culture change as well in a way since probably since the pandemic Now I remember those days where, you know, if you wanted to meet another organisation, you try and arrange a place at a time and you'd all get around a table together, but that just doesn't seem to happen anymore. Does that fit?
Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. I think like really echoing what Steie said, it's that flexibility that this online world gives us in kind of being able to create the right spaces. and like, yeah, it's always been great working with Steffi, but I think another example I'm thinking of is the webinar that we did. We had over a hundred people attend from not just across England but across the world. And the time and resource it took to require that was to convene that was significant but would have been considerably more significant if we were trying to do something like that in person. so yeah, it does make everything a lot, a lot easier.
Piers Townley: It's something that we see, we see this quite a bit, don't we Tim? Actually it's the pandemic and the lockdown and the new hybrid way and the digital way of working. It'kind of supercharging the third sector. It'supercharging if not collaborations. Those far along the line as yours is that discussion and that ability to talk you and share ideas and collect research. We're finding that a lot with our charity, I'm sure use our team. So yeah, really interesting to sort of see you showcasing this collaboration actually. It works. It has worked, you know, alongside all of the effort that going into it. It is working. It must be such tough subject math to work around. But what an amazing project Steie and Hannah are working on. Part two coming up shortly.
Bernardo's receives 18 million pound donation from Catherine Martin Charitable Trust
Before then though, let's dive into some news. What have you got, Tim?
Tim Beynon: I've got a story I spotted this week that is one of those, one of those stories that jumps out at you because of the size of the, of the figure that's quoted. So basically Bernardo'I ll get it right. Bernardos is celebrating a historic milestone. Basically the largest single donation in the charity's history has dropped into their pockets, which is rather amazing. So the 18 million pound gift. Just say that again. 18 million pound gift from the Ktherine Martin Charitable Trust will basically fully fund the rest of Bernardo's Gap homes programme, creating 50 homes across the UK as well as an ongoing fund to support vital services in the north of England. What's an amazing donation that is 18. Always got the number wrong. 18 million pounds. incredible transformative stuff. And ah, the article I'm reading from goes on and these articles on the Bornardo's website, you can check it out for yourself in terms of the full details. But this gift builds on Catherine Martin's extraordinary life and legacy. And I must admit I hadn't heard of Ktherine Martin before reading this story, but she sounds like she was an incredible lady. Catherine defied societal norms as a trailblazer in the 1920s. She was a successful businesswoman, a pioneering racing driver and a key figure in shaping the iconic Aston Martin brand. As a Motor Raing fan I should have known that as well. So shocking I didn't know that, but definitely going to Find out a bit more if I can. Beyond her achievements in the automotive industry, she was a dedicated philanthropist with a passion for improving the lives of children and young people. So the Ktherine Martin Charitable Trust has supported Bernardos for more than 60 years, particularly in the Northeast, where, generations of children and families have benefited from its funding over this time. Bernardis has received an incredible amount of funding from the trust in excess of £7 million in the past, which equates to well over £10 million in current day figures. And the latest donation ensures that Ktherine's legacy will continue to make a profound difference children and young people, for years to come. So I just wanted to read a quick quote as well from the CEO of Bernardo's, a lady called Lynn Perry. And Lynn says this extraordinary donation from the Catherine Martin Charit Trust is monumental for Bernardos. We believe it's the largest single gift in the charity's history and it's hard to express
00:25:00
Tim Beynon: just how much of an impact that will have for so many young people. So, yeah, what an amazing legacy, an amazing gift, that Bernardz has just received. What about you? Have you ever. What would the brain tumour charity do? What would you do? What do you think your team would do? What do you, the charity do if an 18 million pound gift came your way? What do you recagkon? What happened? What be the impact?
Piers Townley: Oh, I think we'd have a collective moment of hysteria, to be honest. That, that is a transformational amount of money, isn't it? Let's be honest. I mean that exceeds our funds raised in the last financial year by a few million. So yeah, that would be just an incredible, I mean that. Imagine opening up that metaphorical letter and seeing that donation coming in. Yeah, truly, truly transformational.
Tim Beynon: Yeah, absolutely. It kind of links nicely to our next, bittes episode next Monday actually, because we're asking, for our next the Charity Show Bites, we're asking what's the weirdest, strangest or most unexpected donation that your charity has ever received. So this could be something that's completely off the wall, could be something that's come left field and, you know, just landed, through your door, in an unexpected fashion. It could be an 18 million pound gift, it could be a, you know, a tin of beans. Who knows what it could be because, I mean, completely, completely random. let us know on LinkedIn or by getting in touch with the show through the links in the show notes or on any of our social channels actually. So get in touch, let us know, we'll read out all the best ones, in next week's Bites episode.
Charity Commission chief says trustees should accept contentious donations if best interests
I also, I'm sorry to take up all the time here on our news pers. I've got one other story that's just really interesting as well and link to donations, which is why I thought I'd chuck it in. It's an interesting one that I think will spark, a lot of debate. So the charity. I don't know if you've seen this. The Charity Commission's chief executive has said that trustees should accept contentious or controversial donations if they are in the organization's best interests. Speaking at the Beacon Philanthropy and Impact Forum, David Holdsworth said he hoped the Commission's recently published guidance on accepting donations would inform a, quote, receiving culture in the sector. What do you reckon to that? P.S. receiving charities should be open to receiving contentious or controversial donations. What you reckon?
Piers Townley: It's a tricky one, isn't it? I don't think this issue has come up very recently with the Brain Tumer charity, but this must be something that goes across all sort of due diligence across the financial teams in any organisation. We have had kind of internal discussions, for example, fundraising. You know, people wanted to put on, with us, fundraising boxing matches and obviously wework for the brain charity, Brainchug, MA charity and, you know, head injuries, head impact. So that's come up as like, well, where do we stand on that? So all of these things have to be considered, don't they? A few years back, we had, a large amount of cryptocurrency that wanted to be donated to us, which was a sideways thing as well. But obviously with Glott of Crypto, you've got no, idea of where that has its origin. So huge dilemma, I think, and possibly going to increase as well for many organisations.
Tim Beynon: Definitely is. That raises that whole sort of ethics versus financial security question, I think, for charities. So perhaps that's something we could explore a bit further on the show, I think. Get a couple of people in to talk about that. Is it right or wrong? Should people. Should charity be putting ethics, before financial stability and sustainability? I don't know. It's an interesting, interesting debate. So let's, let's put a pin in that and come back to that another day.
March is Brain Tumour Awareness Month for all UK charities
Pierce, what about you? What have you spotted in the news this week?
Piers Townley: Well, I've got to actually hijack the news slightly for the Brain Tumour charity and for all Brain Tum charities in the uk, because what's happening in March is our annual Brain Tumour Awareness Month. Bam and these, fondly known. And that's where all the charities end up shouting about the research, the support, the change and awareness that they're driving for everyone affected. So here at the Brainor charity we have our big hero fundraising event which is the Twilight Walk taking place in London towards the end of March. Still ready for people to sign up and come walk with us. We have over a thousand walkers trekking away on a few kilometres route through the Royal Parks and the Hyde park rather and it's just a wonderful day galvanising the community. We've got our high profile supporter, Amy Nuttle, Hollywood actress from Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice and star of Emmaale and Downton Abbey. She's going to be joining us on that day as well and hopefully a whole raft of other celebrities that we're going to galvanise and join together. But alongside that during bam, during Brain Tumour Awareness Month we have ah, our annual publication coming out, the Grey Matterts which is our magazine, that goes out to all subscribers and we have other, other projects on the go as well including a visit to one of our research labs where there's lots of glioblastoma which is a very malignant, very poor prognosis, brain tumour where some of that research is going on in an Oxford lab and a massive amount of awareness going across our social channel. So the news for us is that we're galvanising, we're gearing up for March which ends up being an incredibly you know, intense
00:30:00
Piers Townley: but emotional but awareness raising month for us as a charity and for all Braincher charities here in the uk.
Tim Beynon: Yeah, I'm looking forward to hearing what about it. It'd be nice to get our teeth into that as March comes around. It's amazing how quickly, how quickly March is coming around as well. Also I think it's interesting maybe we should look at that in terms of other charities. There's lots of awareness weeks and months on there throughout the year and lots of high profile events'be interesting perhaps to see how other charities approach that challenge as well in terms of how they go about galvanising and bringing together their communities to get behind a specific week or a day or a month and how much energy goes into that. So definitely something I think we could look at.
Piers Townley: It's good, isn't it? And also seeing the internal pressures or the external community pressures to make this year's whatever that week, whatever that month is bigger and better than last year's. Month, you know, and everyone's trying to raise their voice. Are'they above the parapet these days? In part two of our interview with Steie and Hannah, we delve deeper into the collaboration between Brainkind and Woman's Aid to find out what advice each charity would offer to others in regard to the benefits of working together. What are the pros and cons of collaboration? How can other charities follow suit? And when you're working on important but emotionally challenging work, how do you make sure your own well being isn't impacted? So, going back to the collaboration, is there any insights or findings that you want to share with us? Stephanie, I'll go with you.
Steffi Bechelet: yeah, and that's a great question. obviously we've not done that data collection yet. It's not been a full year since we've had those questions added to Untrack. But we can already see for Brainkind one of them. The major outcomes of this partnership is, around the recognition of the work in this space and also our reputation building as a consequence of working with sector leaders like Women's Aid. so in terms of when we go and we promote and we talk about our research, too many to count. People are now saying to us, you're the organisation that's working with Women's Aid. I've heard about that. Or I caught that webinar, and that was really, really interesting. I'd love to ask you some more questions around that. And it's also, you know, starting those conversations around what future pieces of work could look like, how we can collaborate and share more with other sector leaders. And, it's been really, really great. I think it's, you know, even that, just as a small outcome, without even looking at the data, is a massive bonus for us. And thinking about how we work in this area that isn't our expertise, how our voice can be important and how we can share information. So that's one of the main outcomes, I would say, at the moment. That is a wonderful bonus.
Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. I think, obviously, whilst we've not seen any insights from the day yet. Ah. like I think that we've mentioned before, Women's Aid is a federated organisation and we have over 170 member service who are delivering, domestic abuse services to survivors. And what we're really seeing from this partnership is a building in that, awareness raising around the links between domestic abuse and brain injury. we are, like Stephanie said, continually getting questions about what we've done together, wanting to see. We recorded the webinars we're still getting requests to see the recording of the webinar and, and various things like ah, that we are still getting. it's still when we did the webinars like August, we launched a partnership in August and we're still getting questions now in January, which is I think quite a testament to how far it's gone in terms of awareness raising.
Piers Townley: Yeah, four or five months in. That's amazing to see that that reach and our awareness is still, you know, gathering or maintaining the momentum. Would you both say that it's fair to say that goes beyond your organisations? Are you hoping that the work you're doing will ultimately impact a wider charity and wider public policy?
Speaker C: I'd like to think so. I think like we at women's age are kind of like our most important role as a second tier organisation as being able to translate the experiences, old survivors and also those of frontlines domestic abuse practitioners like their experiences into information that we can really use to influence change. and this partnership has been a really great way to start to do that. I think moving on from this would really like to look at modelling different partnerships. like I said before, domestic abuse and particularly impacts so many different areas of life. and we like to look at tackling it with that whole system approach and so looking for other ways that we can do that with other charities would be a really great next step.
Steffi Bechelet: Yeah, I think organically that's already started happening even without us deliberately going out and trying to create specific outcomes from that. I think just from the multi agency meetings that we've sat in, you know, cross sector, it is changing the way people think about brain injury and
00:35:00
Steffi Bechelet: domestic abuse but even outside of our specific areas and you know, I'm really hoping that people will listen to this podcast episode that work for charities in third sector and think, okay, well if they've done this collaboration, why not us? And this all started from sending some emails and just taking a chance on having a conversation and thinking what could we do? You know, not going in with a strict idea, of this is what the project has to be and these are what the outcomes have to be. We were curious to learn, we were curious to have that conversation. So I think, and I hope there will be further impact and you know, I just reiterate, anyone watching or listen that works for an organisation and is considering sharing expertise or wanting information from an area that isn't their own, just make that call or send that email and see where that partnership can Lead. Because, Hanah, I don't know what you think, but I wouldn't have envisaged that we would have had that webinar with. I think we had hundreds of people on that call internationally as well as nationally in our wildest streams. I don't think we could have put that, you know, pen to paper and said that that would happen. But here we are. Another four questions on, on track that, are collecting data, you know, approximately 50,000 data sets that we'll be able to look at to really understand these issues. And that's because we started a conversation.
Tim Beynon: With that in mind.
Stephanie says funding difficulties are holding back third sector collaboration
Have you sort of looked beyond your charities or heard from colleagues elsewhere that you mean that? Do you feel, or do you just feel that there's a growing appet type for collaboration in the third sector at the moment?
Speaker C: I think there's always been an appetite. I think the real challenge is like, just with the funding landscape being how it is, it makes collaboration so much harder to achieve, is finding the dedicated time and resource to be able to do that. and yeah, I think platforms like this are a really good opportunity in being able to spread the word around kind of what success a partnership can look like and the impact that it can have. and hopefully it will reach others and spread ideas around funding work like this.
Tim Beynon: Do you think just picking up on that funding point, do you think that there's. The funders have an issue with working with, you know, when, when projects perhaps are collaborative in the way that yours are? Is there something there that maybe'an it's not traditional form of. It's not traditional project in the, in the sense that there's a supporting a. Funding a project and they can see how that's going. Is it more complex for them and therefore they, they feel, it's not something for them. What do you think of those issues, perhaps holding funders back from being supporting more collaboration?
Speaker C: I mean, I think probably the main challenge is maybe not necessarily funders, but just the amount of funding there is. and the competitive nature of funding like that. and I think one of the things I think Stephanie was talking about earlier is that we had no idea that this partnership would lead in the direction that it has. And I think trying, to put that in pen and paper on a funding application would have been really challenging. and I think that is, yeah, potentially the challengees when you've got two organisations coming together, it is a lot more challenging to identify where you can really, have a big impact and make that kind of success when you still are unsure of what outputs you want to produce.
Tim Beynon: Stepie, would you agree with that?
Steffi Bechelet: Yeah, I would. And I would add, you know, this partnership happened really quickly M over a series of, I think, 12, 12 to 14 weeks. Hannah, I don't think that's about right for the timeline from that first conversation to what can we do, what can we implement? And, it all sort of fell in at the right time as well. Women's Aid were already looking at, ah, reviewing on track and making sure they had all the questions that they wanted in there. And we just got lucky, I think, as a brain kind, as to when we reached out. but I think from a funder perspective, when something's moving at such a fast pace, and as Hannah alluded to, not having super clear outputs from that initial meeting, that can be quite tricky to pin down. But I would also echo, I think it's around that level of funding. It's not if there's funding, it's how much and how far can you make that go. Currently, we're in a climate where it's incredibly difficult and we're all having to be quite resourceful and quite resilient. so I think going back to what we were saying earlier about that digital capacity that really lends itself to funding. You know, we didn't have to physically get everyone in a room, fly people in, provide tea and coffee, you know, and do all of that and pay for a space. And that made that webinar infinitely easier to share that information to such a large number of people. But I think it goes back to that level of funding. I don't think there's necessarily such an issue. Well, not for us, I would say, as an organisation about people not wanting to fund things. I think it's, how big is the pot, basically, and how far can it go?
Piers Townley: Yeah, that
00:40:00
Piers Townley: key phrase, that return on investment that sometimes I often hear in meetings all the time, just to go sideways slightly and focus your spotlight on you individually.
Brain Kind is conducting research into brain injury and domestic abuse
Steffi, first, what drew you to this area of, research? How does this project align with your professional career, your professional journey?
Steffi Bechelet: That's a great question. If you had spoken to me at 18 and said I'd be working for a brain injury organisation nearly 18 years later, I probably would have laughed. I think I peaked scientifically with GCSes. my world of work very much since, you know, undergrad and master's days at uni, has always been around domestic AB use, gender, thinking about policy change, commissioning. I've worked in safe houses, done frontline work. And I think that gave me a really unique insight. when I joined Brain Kind and they were thinking about doing this project. It really m made me reflect a lot on my own practise in frontline, frontline work, thinking about if we'd included brain injury and all of those conversations, how different outcomes could have been for people and how we might have adapted the way that we navigated that space. So, I was mainly curious when I saw that there was a brain injury and domestic abuse research project about to be undertaken. And I had read Brain, kind's paper, formerly known as the Disabilities Trust. I'd read their paper, looking into Drake hall, thinking about the potential rates of brain injury, fe, the female estate at H and P Drake hall, you about how the criminal justice system intersects with brain injury and experiences of trauma. And I found that wildly fascinating and was hungry for more knowledge essentially and just became lucky enough to get the role. I think my background sort of spoke to someone who could understand a domestic abuse and sort of hit the ground running. and yeah, it's an interesting one. All sort of aspects of my professional journey seemed to lead back to domestic abuse and now I think brain injury is firmly a part of that too. So I feel incredibly lucky to have, you know, done the research but also to be in the space where we're sharing it with people and we're thinking about making that change and we're making that change because of partnerships such as working with Women's Aid. You know, we're incredibly lucky and so, so grateful that our work is getting out there to people who need it and it's starting conversations. So I know you started off asking about me, but it always does come back to the work and the impact we can make for people's lives. And I just feel immensely lucky and grateful that I'm sat on this chair and being able to do this.
Piers Townley: I think that's why we're all in this sector, isn't it? It always comes back to the cause, the charity, the organisation that we're working behind.
One in four women will experience domestic abuse at some point in their lifetime
so Hannah, what motivates you in your role at Woman's Aid and what excites you most about this partnership? Kind of two prong question there.
Speaker C: Very good two prom question though. I think for me, it'it's. The idea that that one in four women are going to over experience domestic abuse at some point in their lifetime is incredibly common and it really is a national emergency. and for me, coming from a background of social research, an opportunity like this to be able to, without sounding too nerdy, utilise the power of data for good, is a really exciting opportunity. and on track. Our database, it's the largest database in England collecting, experiences of abuse. Since 2016, we've got over 200,000 cases on there from survivors of domestic abuse. So it's a really, really powerful tool. and I think partnerships like this are really inspiring and being able to utilise that data in the best way possible. so I think that's part of it. I think the other part is it's just like within my role, obviously work in the domestic abuse sector. Domestic abuse really does impact every aspect of life and being able to work with Steie and others at Brainkind, I feel like I've learned so much. I really did not know much about brain injury at all. maybe slightly aware that there would be a link between domestic abuse and brain injury. But the too many to count report really kind of hit home how common that is. You know, the one in two that have experienced domestic abuse experience in brain injury is shocking. And I think being able to see a problem like that and actively being able to do something about it, which is what this partnership is, is a really, really motivating thing.
Piers Townley: It's really interesting. That's a really lovely thing to hear as well. It. The partnership seems to have supercharged both your respective roles and your. Both your respective careers in that sector.
Steffi Bechelet: And I feel like we've learned so much from Women's Aid as an organisation, as an individual, you know, it'it's. Been really great and you know, long may it continue our partnership and eventually.
Stepie: How do you look after your own well being during research
Tim Beynon: Over a coffee, Hanah, eventually, you guys are clearly doing some amazing work, but can ask you about your, your own wellbe being and it something that perhaps we need to, you know, we don't talk
00:45:00
Tim Beynon: about enough on this show but ultimately you guys are working with people who've been through unspeakable trauma in their lives and of course you're both professionals but you know, I imagine that you're hearing and dealing with and seeing, you know, horrifying details of domestic abuse on a daily basis.
Piers Townley: This.
Tim Beynon: How do you each sort of look out for your own well being with that in mind so that your work doesn't impact your own lives too much.
Speaker C: Hannah, perhaps first off, I think this is a really important question, and something that's been really conscious for both stepie And I, during our partnership, I think kind of the vicarious trauma experienced by researchers in the violence against women and girls sectors is really well evidenced. and I think it's something that we really have considered when undertaking this work, I think like alongside that as well, obviously one in four women will experience lessus in their lifetime like I said. So taking both those things into account and it's really important to think about ah, in partnerships like this, being aware of how what we're talking about might impact others within the project and just being sensitive to that. I think we've both been very good at that and I think like stei said, both organizationite have quite similar values when undertaking research like this. And I think that's what's made it really easy is that we've been able to have kind of like those open and honest discussions and hold space for each other to debrief and things like that. So it is just, I suppose we've both been quite sensitive to that and proactive in making sure we're looking after ourselves but also each other.
Steffi Bechelet: Yeah, I would agree with what Hannah said. I think it's been really important that as organisation we've been able to hold that professional space and be really mindful of that personal impact because it does take a toll. It absolutely does. You know, we're all human. and I go back to what Hannah was saying about one in four women. We know it's one in four women, one in six, one in seven men. so anyone in the room could be impacted by both domestic abuse and brain injury. And the really interesting thing when you start to understand brain injury in the context of domestic abuse is how much of it is hidden. You know, how many of the symptoms might present as trauma based symptoms that people might have developed some coping mechanisms for or might not be coping. And that can impact anybody, you know, whether you're thinking about the audience that you're speaking to and sharing that information with, whether you're working directly with people with lived experience but equally people within your own team and within your own organisation. And I think this whole partnership has really brought home for us the importance of having those policies and place to support people to make sure that if the team are impacted we've got a course of action we know we can take, but also just checking in with each other, making sure you've got a good balance of things and you know, we would joke about it in our debriefs but you know, what are you Doing tonight anything nice? You know, is anyone going to do some exercise, have a glass of wine? Like, what does that relaxation and de stress and decompression from the work look like? And it's different for everybody but just being really mindful that anyone can be impacted by this work. and I think it even goes across to even the language that you use. You know, so often I think when we think about domestic abuse and brain injury or even just domestic abuse, language can feel quite othering. But being really inclusive of it could be anyone and the likelihood is that it is someone, so reinforcing that approach of care, and understanding and just, you know, really echoing what Hannah was saying about being so grateful that both organisation come at this from the same approach of being trauma informed, of being able to listen and understand and being reflective if people do need that space and if they need something and being able to have that conversation. so really, really grateful of that and it's a great question. Thank you for asking. Because I think so often we get caught up in the doing, we don't stop and think about the impact to us as professionals, which does exist.
Piers Townley: Yeah, it's a huge important that you've touched on there. the word decompression is quite profound. When I think across the sector, so many charities and so many individual staff, you know that decompression is hugely important for the kind of roles that a lot of people have and especially, you know, your two organisations, you, as you've touched upon just lastly for me about the collaboration.
There is a general lack of funding for charities, Hannah says
So looking at it holistically, looking at it all in altogether, is there one obst ###le or did you come across one obstacle? If you had a magic wand you could just wave and you'd get rid of that. Or was it been fairly plain sailing?
Steffi Bechelet: Hannah, do. Do you want to say the word or should I?
Speaker C: I can do it. I feel like this will be a, shock to absolutely know one when we say funding, and I think we're not alone in our asking. So many charities have similar apps that we talked about before. there is just a general lack of funding. and it makes it really difficult to do what we want to do. when you don't have the time or the resource to
00:50:00
Speaker C: be able to do it.
Steffi Bechelet: I would completely echo that.
Tim Beynon: It's funding the one word, the F word.
Piers Townley: We'll call it F wor yact.
Steffi Bechelet: I didn't want to phrase it like that. But now that you have. Yes, that's absolutely how it's in our.
Tim Beynon: World, we know what the F word means. Okay, listen, having you both one has been a fantastic. Thank you so much for joining us.
Brain Kind research shows link between domestic abuse and brain injury
So it's got a couple of very, very sort of final questions or a couple of last questions just to throw at you. If you could give a message to our listeners or what message would you like to share with our listeners about the importance of understanding the work that you're doing and that link between domestic abuse and brain injury. What would be the one message you'd like to share with our audience?
Steffi Bechelet: It's a slightly long message, but I'm happy to take this one. first and foremost, not every head injury will be a brain injury. You know, we don't want to panic people here, but our research is showing that one in two survivors may be living with a potential brain injury and that this is through serious close to the head or being deprived of oxygen, whether that's non fatal strangulation or non fatal suffocation and any losses of consciousness associated with that. And I think the main message I would give to people is if you have experienced any of those, I really hope that listening to this gives you the strength, to seek appropriate medical support, mainly through your gp, but also to reach out for domestic abuse support if that is something that you've been impacted by, that you need help with. and that can happen to anyone, Absolutely anyone. There's no one face of brain injury. There's no one, one face of lived experience of domestic abuse. so if you've experienced any of those things and you feel ready to and safe to please seek that support, fantastic.
Tim Beynon: Great, great message, Stepffhanie. Thank you. And we'll make sure we put all the relevant links and signpost people to the right places in the show notes as well. So everyone's called that can just ask report.
Piers Townley: Too many, Too many to count. Is that available readily as well, Stefen?
Steffi Bechelet: Yes. So Too many to count, in its full version is available on the Brain Kind website. If people would like a shorter summary, you can absolutely contact me. We have a two page version. So, and we also, we launched it on Women's hour on Radio 4 and I think that link is still live. So if people prefer listening to content as opposed to reading, which we completely understand it is available there. So, and if there any questions off the back of that, obviously feel free to contact us. And there's no such thing as a silly question.
Tim Beynon: Brilliant. Thank you again. Wa. Now you've said it'make sure all Your contact details go in the notes as well. So thank you both, thank you both for joining. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you ever so much.
Speaker C: Thank you.
In each episode of the chat show we want to celebrate our sector superstars
Tim Beynon: In each episode of the chat show, as you should all know by now, we want to celebrate our sector superstars. Those incredible people working, volunteering and fundraising across sector. And you can nominate your deserving colleagues, volunteers or fundraisers for a shout out just email us at the charityshowpodmail uh.com or get in touch through the links in the show notes. You can even send us a voice message that we would happily play out in the next episode. So here'who's your superstar or superstars this week?
Piers Townley: this week Tim is want to highlight an incredible young lady called Alexandria Crystal. And she was 14 before she was finally identified as dyslexic. Throughout her education she hadn't been presented as a typical dyslexic. But with a young sibling who was identified at the age of just seven years old, Alexandria realised that the benefits of early identification are necessity, not something to be left to chance. And last year Alexandria was awarded the British Dyslexia Associations s Outstanding Young Person of the Year. Disappointed that attempts to pass the Neurodivergent Conditions Screening and Teacher Training bill fauld due to lack of parliamentary time and ensure whether new members of Parliament would make newod divivergen provision, Alexandria filed a petition that m encompasses the spirit of the previous bill. Now, the Educational Policy Institute recently reported that send provision is inconsistent, requiring a major shift to stop what they describe as a postcode lottery, the epi. The Educational Policy Institute has also highlighted git for increased teacher training in send provision and child development. Alexandria as the face and the push of this bill. She said that they need 100,000 signatures to make the government listen. So please support, sign and share this petition. We'll put all the links in the show notes of each episode. And on a personal level, Alexandria last year was the youngest ever finalist in the 70 year history of the Miss England competition. She was awarded the title Miss Inspiration for her dyslexia campaigning and charitable support. In addition, she walked catwalk events during the London and Paris fashion weeks, won an award at the Top Model London competition and was a regional North America and Europe finalist in the World Monologue Games. So many, many strings to Alexandria's bow. But championing the dyslexia and trans and championing the British Dyslexia association, she's just an incredible young lady. So massive shout out to you Alexandria.
00:55:00
Piers Townley: And obviously we'll put links into your petition and we'll see if we galvanise support for this vital piece of legislation.
Tim Beynon: I've got an amazing and inspirational young person to mention this week as well, Pierce.
Young Liverpool girl front of new Cancer Research UK marketing campaign
So this is a young lady called Faye from Liverpool who spent three months in hospital, undergoing cancer treatment. and she says she's been, she's amazed, to have been chosen to front an all new marketing campaign for Cancer Research uk. doctors found a tumour the size of a melon. After Faie from Liverpool was taken ill at school, she had a 10 hour operation at older Hay Children's Hospital and underwent 18 months, of treatment. It must have been incredibly tough for her. The seven year old, whose recovery is still being monitored is now pictured on Cancer Research UK'posters in more than 500 of their charity shops. They fantastic images of her smiling on her hospital bed and on her first aid back at school. and they were used after she took part in the charities's clinical trials which aim to reduce damage to surrounding organs. On discovering she had d been depicted on the poster, Faye told BBC Radio Merseyside, I felt so amazed to see it. I just could not believe my eyes. Going through cancer is quite hard to go through. And Faye's mother Becx also said it was just so nice to have the opportunity to turn something that's been a bit negative and a bit rubbish into something that's actually quite exciting. Everybody's proud of their children when they see them do well. But to do well whilst overcoming the odds really is particularly something that really makes you feel that she is special and Faye certainly are special and fantastic that you know, you're the front of this amazing marketing campaign for Cancer Research UK and deservedly so. So congratulations to you and well, next I'm in a Cancer Research UK charity shop. I'm going to keep an eye out, see what I can see if I can see your pictures. Amazing. Well done, Faye.
Piers Townley: So that's a wrap for episode 20. Huge thanks to Steie and Hannah for sharing their incredible joined up work which will undoubtedly help to improve the lives of those impacted by domestic abuse and brain injury. Now we've got plenty more lined up over the next few episodes in the main and on the charity show Bites Tim.
Tim Beynon: Yep, absolutely right, Pierce. In a fortnight's time we're going to be talking to Zoe K from Julian House about the power of celebrity and how your personal contacts book could be the secret to a big name ambassador and as you mentioned earlier, Piers and I will be back for another the Charity show bites next Monday when we want to hear your stories of the strange left field out of nowhere Don Nation that have dropped into your charity's lapse over the years. So get thinking and get in touch via the comments on LinkedIn and on our other social channels, or through the links in the Show Notes.
Piers Townley: And don't forget, you can be part of our main shows too, whatever your role in the third sector. Just send us your voice messages. We'll get in touch through any of the links in the Show Notes to share your stories and tell us what you'd like us to cover.
Tim Beynon: And of course, we also want to know who your superstar fundraisers, volunteers or colleagues are too. So again, head to the Show Notes and share their brilliance with the rest of us.
Piers Townley: In the meantime, please follow or subscribe to us on your usual podcast platform and leave us a five star review, both of which will help others to find the show.
Tim Beynon: So that's it for episode 20. Thanks for listening, take care and we'll see you soon.
00:58:16
.png)
.png)
