In 2012 I first heard of Gaddum through their carers service in Salford, where I'd just started as a sessional support worker for young carers. I didn't know at the time that I'd end up working here full time a few years later, in 2015, as part of their senior management team!

Gaddum are one of Manchester's oldest charities, having been set up in 1833 in response to the cholera epidemic, to support people in need, initially in Salford and Manchester. Subsequently Gaddum also responded to  the cotton famine, providing reading lessons for men and sewing lessons for women.

This ethos is still part of the charity today, supporting and empowering people across Greater Manchester, where we now provide services in six of the ten GM boroughs. Our main service areas are: 

• Advocacy - ensuring the feelings and wishes of people detained under the Mental Health Act or deemed to lack capacity under the Mental Capacity Act, or those with substantial difficulty being able to understand and be involved in their care planning under the Care Act and also NHS Complaints Advocacy for people wising to complain about a service they've accessed. This is a fantastic service, supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our community.
• Carers - Gaddum has services supporting unwaged carers, typically someone, of any age, who looks after someone, often one of their relatives because of ill health (physical or mental), a disability or addiction. The youngest carer we've worked with was three years old when the family was referred.
• Therapy - we provide a range of therapy and counselling services for children, young people and adults. Ranging from counselling and CBT to supporting young people who have been bereaved, working with victims and families affected by the Manchester Arena attack and also palliative care work with families where there is a child with a life limiting condition.

The money raised will enable us to be able to; provide fun and informative events for our service users, buy art supplies for our work with bereaved children, provide therapy via our adult counselling service for people who are unable to afford it otherwise, offer day trips for carers to have a break and also to support us to develop our volunteering programme and ensure that we are able to pay for their training and development.

I absolutely HATE running, but I am proud to run for Gaddum. Thank you for taking the time to read this, if you are able to donate that would be amazing! Thank you so much!

Stacey x

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