Contact a Family is a nationwide charity that works with families with disabled children, providing support, advice and information to many, many thousands of beneficiaries. Its Head Office is in London, but it has national offices in each country of the United Kingdom, including a thriving Northern Ireland operation based in Lisburn.
Frances Murphy is manager of the Northern Ireland office. “Our ethos as a charity is to get information to parents about the help they can get, in order to give them choices,” she says. “They make the decision – parents know their own child best. We don’t prescribe single solutions, but try to say: ‘here’s option A, option B, option C’. Then parents can choose what suits their child and their lifestyle best.”
"ABLE TO LINK FAMILIES - PUT THEM IN TOUCH WITH A SUPPORT GROUP"
Unusually, the charity works across all disabilities. “That’s our unique point, although we often focus on rare conditions, as that’s where the least amount of information is often available,” explains Frances. “In these cases we might be able to link families one-to-one if possible, put them in touch with a support group or – if no support group is available – to help them form one. Peer support is so important.”
A charity with regional offices needs solid communications, and Frances and her colleagues use Community Network – the provider has been supporting the charity’s regular national meetings for some time, and teleconferencing is established within Contact a Family as an efficient way of working.
"TELECONFERENCES MAKE IT EASIER TO BE IN CONTACT"
“We have a ‘nation council’ – a steering group – comprised of parents of disabled children and professionals from the disability sector. The meetings are alternated – one face-to-face then one teleconference. The teleconferences make it easier to be in contact. When you ask people to be on a committee, they are sometimes wary – they don’t want endless meetings,” she says.
Frances’s perception is that the meetings work in different ways: teleconferences are very ‘to the point’ whereas the face-to-face meetings are good places to follow-up. “You have to have an agenda for a teleconference, and stick to it!” she insists. “You have to ensure that it doesn’t become a ‘talking shop.’”
This is Frances’s core advice for any charity seeking to explore this means of communication. “Have your agenda clear, and get it out prior to the meeting,” she says. “And be firm – if somebody wanders off on a tangent, you need to say ‘excuse me’ and suggest that the point is brought up later, under ‘Any Other Business’. Or, if the point really isn’t relevant, suggest a one-to-one conversation after the teleconference has ended.”
"VERY HAPPY WITH COMMUNITY NETWORK'S SERVICE"
A determination to stick to the point is what makes many teleconferences succeed and become more efficient than face-to-face meetings. Often, the different format does help people focus. “It can get chaotic in there if there are a lot of people and if they forget to announce themselves – but I find that in fact people are very polite, and don’t interrupt as much as they perhaps would face-to-face,” says Frances.
Frances is very happy with Community Network’s service. “All I need to do is to ring up and book it, giving them the telephone numbers of the participants. If there are any apologies in advance, I let them know.” From here, the provider telephones each attendee at the appointed time, and a human operator introduces them to the meeting. It is a personal service with no fuss, and no complicated PIN numbers or dialling for people to remember.
So would Frances recommend Community Network to other charities? “I certainly would,” she confirms.
