Yay! Our charity scoops national award!
My Sight Notts is celebrating winning a prestigious national award for the life changing impact of our innovative facilitated peer support group, which helps local blind and partially sighted people deal with the often devastating impact of sight loss.
Visionary awards
We won national acclaim from Visionary, the umbrella organisation supporting sight loss charities across the UK following a vote of its members, who agreed that its peer support group delivers life changing impact for people coming to terms with the often devastating impact of vision loss.
Peer Support changes lives
The charity’s facilitated peer support group aims to bring people together to share their fears for the future and their feelings of loss, which they often cannot share with family and friends. The group aims to create a safe environment for people to explore their feelings with a visually impaired counsellor and with others who understand the challenges they face. This has had a profoundly positive impact on people’s mental health and coping strategies, helping them to see beyond their sight loss to a more positive future.
Gail’s story
Gail, who benefitted from attending the facilitated peer support Group, has a tumour surrounding her optic nerve; she has no sight at all in her right eye and limited sight in her left. The tumour is growing and so she’s facing surgery to remove it however, doctors have said this may mean she will lose all her sight altogether.
Gail said: “I am generally a positive person and I’m lucky to have a wonderful family, who have been a great support, but the thought of losing my sight completely really affected me, I found myself sometimes wondering if I could go on. I had all these feelings and thoughts and yet I also wanted to be strong for my family.
“Coming to these sessions has helped me acknowledge my feelings without feeling like I have to hide them. Meeting others in a similar situation to me and realising there are other people I can learn from has helped me gain some positivity and confidence. I’m still scared of completely losing my sight, but I can’t change things, so I’ve got to deal with it. Coming to these sessions has helped me feel more in control and I know I’ve still got a lot to live for.”
Award means a great deal
My Sight Notts Chief Executive, Michael Conroy, said: “Winning this award, especially through a vote of our peers from other sight loss charities means a great deal. My Sight Notts benefits from a team of hugely talented and dedicated staff and volunteers who are passionate about improving the lives of local people with sight loss. We believed our peer support group was delivering life changing impact because of the 100% positive feedback we received from people attending the group, and to see that recognised with a national award is absolutely fantastic.
Looking to secure future funding
”Over the last 12 months our facilitated peer support group has enjoyed funding from the Boots Charitable Trust, for which we are massively grateful. To continue the life changing impact of the excellent work we have begun, we are now seeking further funding to ensure our peer support group can continue to support local people, so that no one has to face the devastating impact of sight loss alone.”
