BAD UK are delighted to announce that we have been awarded a grant from the National Lottery Community Fund for our project Connecting People Living With BAD. This award will allow us to roll out our Patient Support Group Meetings. The award is for one year and is to be used to fund support groups in England.

The allocation of this award is a very important step in BAD UK achieving their charitable aim of building a network of local patient groups across the UK to provide support to those with BAD and their families and friends and we are extremely grateful to the National Lottery Community Fund for giving us this opportunity.

Lottery Grant Submission Bid Summary

BAD UK have been successfully piloting support groups in London and Coventry to provide a safe and supportive place for people living with the condition to connect for the first time with others within the BAD community experiencing similar quality of life challenges. The sessions focus on tips to “self manage” the condition and attendees share their experiences, successes and worries to help each other find ways of managing BAD, improving self esteem, growing confidence in leaving their home to socialise and continuing or returning back to work. The sessions are led by people who have the condition and will be supported by BAD UK with group guidelines, group leader role description, safeguarding checks/training and mentorship from one of our BAD UK Trustees or experienced Volunteers. These groups also provide attendees and group leaders with opportunities to volunteer on a more permanent basis with BAD UK and/or to help with time limited projects BAD UK are undertaking. This in turn helps people who are considering returning to work to get involved and test out work type activities in a safe environment, develop new skills and gain self confidence.

Frequent requests for additional groups via our Facebook group / website contacts page and intelligence from our 2nd Patient Reported Outcome Survey where 87.9% (355 people) have told us they would like to access support groups and connect with the BAD community in their area, has identified that there is a high level of need. We have subsequently engaged with people to ascertain which locations further groups need to be based. The response was overwhelming and we have identified a further 6 areas in England where support groups are very much needed. Contents of sessions will be driven by the attendees needs.

The support groups will be held in each location 3 times a year in a venue that is close to good transport links and with access to plenty of toilets to meet the needs of the people attending. The support groups will be widely advertised via our website and social media platforms and for those whom are unable to attend due to disability we will be trialling in two locations virtual joining via web based software.