Brave, the social enterprise developed by pioneering HIV charity Body & Soul, has recently completed work delivering bespoke training, consultancy and public speaking to professionals working within the health, social care and private sectors.

Being Brave & Using Empathy To Bring About Fundamental Change

For the past 18 years, Body & Soul has dedicated itself to transforming the devastating impact of a HIV diagnosis for children, young people and families into hope, courage and strength for the future.

Ethan Ohs, who is coordinating Brave for Body & Soul said “Witnessing bravery every day and encouraging bravery in members means that it has become something that Body & Soul embodies. It helps us overcome difficulties in the journey for a more enriched, successful life. In work, life or love, we need to be brave to reach our dreams. We’ve learnt to be Brave and we know that this experience, strength and empathy is something we can pass along.”

In these times of financial uncertainty in the voluntary sector and taking into account the increasing volatility of traditional charity funding streams, Body & Soul has been proactive in identifying new and creative ways to generate sustainable income that will allow them to continue providing the vital support they currently deliver to over 4000 children, young people and families living with HIV in the UK.

Brave’s approach is based on the belief that empathy can bring about a fundamental change to personal and professional environments and lives. Empathy challenges the increasing individualistic focus of twenty-first century lives and provides focus, unity and purpose.

More and more, we are seeing compassion and empathy high on the agenda across the health, social care and private sectors. The benefits of empathy in the workplace have been proven for those working in caring professions but also sales, customer services and account management. Brave’s transformational training improves professional outcomes and productivity with the added bonus that all profits go directly into Body & Soul’s work supporting some of the most marginalized and vulnerable members of our society.

The Brave team recently completed some work with Islington CCG on training that aims to improve the experience of patients visiting GP surgeries and pharmacies in the borough. After the training, 90% of participants said they felt better able to communicate as a result of the training and 94% said that their understanding of empathy and compassion had improved. The training has given people new ideas and ways of working while also allowing people to share little things they do on a daily basis to build stronger relationships with patients. It covers ideas as simple as smiling on the phone and learning patient names to much deeper personal reflection on how we work with and respond to negative emotions.

For more information about Brave and the training it can provide, please visit the Body & Soul website:  www.bodyandsoulcharity.org

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Nisha Kotecha is the Founder of Good News Shared. Having worked and volunteered for charities in the UK for over 10 years, Nisha is on a mission to highlight how amazing charities are.

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