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"Hidden poverty" is one of the biggest problems facing families in Jersey at the moment – and helping them feel comfortable enough to seek support when they need it only adds to the challenge.
Enter Brighter Futures, Bailiwick Express and Connect Magazine's charity partner for 2024, whose aim is to help individuals from all backgrounds, with free, non-judgemental support.
We caught up with CEO Fiona Brennan to find out more about the charity's work over the years, and the key pressures facing families in Jersey at the moment...
From the moment Fiona Brennan starts talking, her passion for Brighter Futures is evident.
You can tell that the charity CEO lives and breathes Brighter Futures; even her black outfit and orange blazer is perfectly coordinated to match the colours of the family charity’s logo.
It’s no surprise that she cares so much. Fiona joined the charity in 2008 – the year it was founded – and has helped Brighter Futures support over 3,500 local families since then.
Before joining the charity as a keyworker, Fiona worked in both primary and secondary school settings, supporting children with special educational needs.
However, the CEO credits some of her more unconventional “training” to the “fabulous pub” she used to run alongside her husband, Pat.
“I’ve always worked with families,” she explained.
“I ran a fabulous pub with my husband for many years and we had lovely customers.
“Many families used our pub, and the children grew up with us alongside our own.
“They were a community in themselves. So I think that was my training, so to speak!”
Fiona was appointed Manager of Brighter Futures in 2010, and promoted to CEO in 2021.
WATCH: An animation explaining the vision, mission, and values of family charity Brighter Futures.
Becoming charity CEO in the midst of a global pandemic was never going to be easy, and the impact that covid had on islanders is evident.
“Since Covid, we've seen a significant rise in requests for help with mental and physical health in children,” said Fiona.
“Pre-COVID, we didn't really see that. It was out there but since Covid, people have become much more aware that help is needed.”
And the cost-of-living crisis has also taken its toll. Charities across the island have reported an increase in demand, couples with a reduction in donations – something which the Brighter Futures CEO has also noticed.
Fiona said: “I think for any charity to have had an increase [in demand] in the last three years is not a surprise.
“People don’t have the money. People don’t have the funds to share with charities, or they reduce the funds that they would maybe be naturally sharing.
“For the families, it's become increasingly hard to manage. Not for all families, I have to say. Some of our families come to us with different challenges, but actually they have things that they need.
“Another family might come to us that has a completely empty fridge, and nothing for the children because they don’t have the funds to be able to provide.
“Those kinds of challenges have definitely increased.”
Fiona also pointed to the “hidden poverty” in the island – which she described as “the big challenge that’s grown in Jersey”.
She explained: “It’s the people that maybe are working full-time – mum and dad both working. But they’ve maybe got one child or two children in nursery, and then their mortgage.
“Once they get to week two [of the month], they’ve paid all the bills that they have to pay, and there’s nothing left.
“They're the people that it's very, very hard to get support to to – but also may well be a family that turns around and goes: ‘I never thought this would happen to me.’”
The CEO continued: “It's a very hard thing to do, to ask for help.
“Brighter Futures would say to anybody out there that if you feel that you are struggling and help, please talk to us.
“It might not be the right service for you, but we will help you to access other services that will be able to support you.”
Fiona acknowledged that, in the early days, the charity had to “fight against a certain stigma” – something she hopes is now changing.
“I would say that people who were less well informed about the type of work that we did, would have an impression of the ‘type’ of families that they thought came to Brighter Futures,” she said.
The CEO recalled being asked that exact question once in a radio interview.
“They said: ‘What type of families come to Brighter Futures?’,” she recalled.
“I remember just turning around and saying: ‘Families. It could be your family, it could be my family – it's just families who at that time in their life need some help.’”
However, Fiona likes to think that stigma no longer exists.
“People realise that families come to Brighter Futures from all walks of life and from different cultures, and everybody has different needs,” she explained.
“They’re at a time in their life when they just need some extra support.”
The CEO shared a message from one of the charity’s clients, which said: “I used to think Brighter Futures was not for me, as I had a healthy child and a roof over my head.
“I felt my needs were not important. I remember being in my one year old’s check and looking out the window and asking the health visitor about Brighter Futures.
“I have never looked back. You helped me so much to realise I am important and I matter.
“I love coming in and talking to you. You make me feel so relaxed. I feel safe enough to share anything with you.
“You feel like my best friend and I never want to leave.”
Fiona said: “It's a perfect example of how maybe when people come in, they don't quite know what they're coming in for.
“They also don't know what they need; they just know that they need some extra support.”
Fiona also noted that, if you can put extra help in early, “it may well stop the challenges that the family are struggling with escalating”.
She said: “In the big picture for the island of Jersey, if situations escalate and people need more help – and potentially more Government help and more Government funding – it's a much bigger cost than the Brighter Futures cost.”
Fiona explained that it costs the charity approximately £6,600 to work with one family for the whole year.
But if help is not in place early, and a child ends up in care, it can cost around £100,000 for just one child. You can make a donation to support the charity by clicking here.
This article first appeared in the July edition of Connect Magazine, which you can read in full below....
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