National Lottery funding propels Tom’s Trust’s strategy for children’s brain tumours

The National Lottery Community Fund has granted children’s brain tumour charity Tom’s Trust more than £400,000, enabling a big leap forward in its strategy to support more families.

The incredible news was revealed to the charity after they applied for £427,000 of funding from the organisation’s Reaching Communities Fund over four years for three vital strategic job roles.

The three new roles will allow the charity to expand its services including its work with psychologists across the UK and find new ways to provide psychological support to children and young people with brain tumours, as well as their loved ones, following a diagnosis.

The roles include a Director of Services Development, who will lead the clinical strategy of the charity and encourage collaboration between Tom’s Trust and primary treatment centres for brain  and central nervous system tumours across the UK and help forge new services to support Tom’s Trust families.

A Family Liaison Coordinator will  listen to what families need to help develop additional services and information. They will provide information for families and caregivers of diagnosed children throughout their journey. A key part of the role will be to help families build relationships with others in similar situations and set up social connections on what can feel like a very lonely journey for children and families who now have a very different life to the one they expected.

Finally, a part-time Administrator will help the CEO and Director of Services Development with data collection and meetings as the charity develops and expands its services and infrastructure.

Rebecca Wood, Tom’s Trust CEO, said, “We are so thrilled to be able to finally fund these roles which we desperately needed for the next stage of our ambitious strategy. As a smaller charity that needs to fundraise every penny to put it into our services, affording these strategic roles all at once was a big challenge. The new roles will have a huge impact in supporting families going through a devastating brain tumour diagnosis. From connecting families together, running a Young Ambassadors programme and events for families, connecting psychologists together and helping us get the data we need to fund new work and further support families, these roles are absolutely vital as part of the next stepping stone for our charity.

“We would like to say an enormous thank you to the National Lottery Community Fund and all those who contribute to it, for such a vote of confidence in Tom’s Trust and for recognising the desperate need of these families for services that support them to have a better life after such a tough time.”

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