CAF Resilience Charities

About building Resilience In Communities (BRIC)

Building Resilience In Communities (previously called Home Start Lincolnshire) helps parents to give their children a happy and secure childhood so that they can achieve their potential. They offer targeted support through a home-visiting service to parents with young children who are struggling to cope.

Like many small charities, BRIC's biggest challenge was its long-term financial sustainability and ability to meet increased demand. They cover a vast rural area, having merged eight local charities into one to be more cost-efficient, consistent and provide county-wide coverage.

As public sector cuts have taken hold, statutory services have significantly reduced early contact with children which has resulted in more complex referrals to the charity, whilst families who do not meet the threshold of statutory services are left struggling.

“Our biggest fear is securing funding to support the demand in referrals.”

The charity in action

BRIC told us about how they had supported Gina*, a mum of four young children who contacted the charity as she was struggling emotionally whilst her son was being diagnosed with autism and social anxiety, and his Dad works away.

There were 13 different agencies involved with the children, which Gina found overwhelming, yet still struggled to get the support her family needed. She found it difficult to access local activities due to her son’s condition, and was very isolated.

BRIC’s volunteer Family Support Mentor gave a listening ear to help Gina talk through everything that was happening for the family and allowed Gina to spend time individually with her children to help reduce stress. Gina recently described what she values about the service:

“The fact that she turns up every week, without fail, and is there to listen and allow ideas and solutions to be talked through is invaluable.”

BRIC and CAF Resilience

Although they provide a brilliant early intervention service, much of BRIC’s time is spent ‘fighting fires’ with little time to make informed decisions and secure a healthy future for the organisation.

BRIC have said that the CAF Resilience Programme gave them the impetus and mind-set to think about things differently and make confident decisions. They describe feeling more in control and attribute this to having the time and space to see their issues clearly and actually address them.

* All names have been changed to protect the identity of the individuals involved