On Thursday, 26 June, over 130 TLC staff members attended our annual staff conference at Stretford Public Hall in Manchester.

It was a day to celebrate the progress we’ve made over the past year and acknowledge the unique contributions of each TLC department to our collective mission. Our theme was ‘An Inside Look’, and we particularly focused on the behind-the-scenes work that goes into running our charity.

Stories were shared, prizes were won, and new members were welcomed into the TLC family. We revealed earlier this year that Relate Bradford & Leeds would become an affiliate of TLC. The former Relate subdivision now sits under the TLC Group as Let’s Talk Relationships, and we were grateful to hear how excited CEO Tina Butler is for the next steps in our collaboration.

Now You’re Talking Managing Director Helen Stuart reflected on a year of our commercial counselling subsidiary and announced some exciting new developments including an innovative approach to employee assistance programmes for businesses. Helen affirmed that Now You’re Talking is onboarding new counsellors each week and continuously ideating new approaches to mental wellbeing support.

We took a look at how our three service departments (Therapeutic Wellbeing, Domestic Abuse, Family Mediation) made a big impact this year via presentations, videos, and audio case studies. We also acknowledged the vital contributions of our business and administration departments and enabled Operations, Development, Marketing & Communications, and our People departments to set up stalls around the room and build connections with staff to assist business development projects.

It’s important at events like this to reflect on why we do what we do in the first place. Our organisation is full of compassionate people who really just want to support others and see communities prosper, so it was heart-warming to hear why some of our staff chose to work at TLC.

I, myself, have a deeply personal connection to TLC’s mission. There were fractures in my circle of support growing up, and first-hand experience of relationship struggles made me aware of just how vital relationship support is in almost every aspect of life. It felt empowering to once again share my story with a room full of people who are just as passionate about nurturing connections between friends, lovers, and families.

It brought me joy to witness people from different ends of our charity come together to chat, laugh, and collectively celebrate TLC’s progress and achievements. We’re all looking forward to what the next year brings.

 

CEO Michelle Hill