Headway Northern Ireland has had its government funding from HSCNI cut from 2026, but leader Diane believes the service is ‘vital’ and has fought tooth and nail to keep their services running. After many months of struggle, Diane and Headway NI have secured enough funding to keep running.
Headway is a UK-wide charity which aims to help people who are sadly suffering from traumatic brain injuries to help with speech and living daily life, giving an opportunity to try accessible sports/competitions, and to get folks out of the house and with like-minded people who are experiencing the same challenges.
Diane joined the Headway team in 2023 after many endeavours in animal wildlife protection. “It’s been the most rewarding experience of my life, we’ve seen a tremendous amount of improvement in all of our participants with regards to their speech and quality of life, regardless of how long they’ve been here” she told us. “It’s almost like a family, and for some participants it’s the only time they get out of the house.” Shedding light on some activities, she said, “The favourite activities are the recreational drama and the seated bowling – They’re all a very competitive bunch!”
However, at the beginning of 2025, the NI Health and Social Care Trust, (which provided up to half of the funding at one time) after around a decade of dwindling funding, announced that it would be suspending it entirely. “Staff had been cut down throughout the past 12 months, leaving just me in our NI branch, until eventually I was made aware by the HSC that funding would cease.” “It wasn’t just the fact that I feel it’s a vital service, I was also in serious risk of losing my job.” However, ever-determined Diane wasn’t prepared to give in.
After a long period of correspondence with numerous organisations, the Cedar Foundation agreed to take on enough funding to keep Diane’s dream alive. “We must move to fortnightly sessions as opposed to weekly and may not always have guests coming in for talks or activities every session. But some Headway is far better than nothing.” Whilst the funding from The Cedar Foundation is less than HSC’s even in the later years, Diane is determined to make the best and has been in active talks with Headway groups in mainland Britain to ensure the best service is provided.
Whilst of course, it isn’t ideal for Diane or her groups that sessions may be less frequent/activity-heavy, Diane’s sheer determination and goodwill is the sole reason Headway NI will still have its doors open and offer its brilliant services to hardworking folks who’ve had severe misfortune due to illness/injury, and is a huge testament to her resilience and the importance of Headway’s services.
