Colin Hilditch is the Head of Community Services who's mission is to help everyone affected by sight loss in Scotland.
“I love working in the charity sector, it is so rewarding seeing value in what you do every day. I love the fact my work with Sight Scotland is making a big difference to people’s lives, there is huge job satisfaction.”
Colin Hilditch has been Head of Community Services for Sight Scotland since 2020. He leads a team of 16 people and is responsible for the delivery of both Sight Scotland’s Family Wellbeing and Rehabilitation and Mobility Services.
Colin has been involved in the charity sector since 2010, and has worked for Sight Scotland for just over four years. Initially, he started out as Business Manager for the Royal Blind School where he developed the school’s outreach service to support pupils in mainstream and then moved on to Head of Community Services when it was launched in 2020.
Helping the community
“People with visual impairment can lose their confidence, self-esteem and ability to do many day-to-day activities. For families and carers, they have huge concerns about how to best support their loved ones and don’t have the support themselves in coping, particularly following initial diagnosis. Our Family Wellbeing Service starts from a position of just wanting to help – help with information and advice, together with the practical and emotional support so many people with sight loss need. The service is free to access for people of all ages, and at all stages of sight loss, and their families.
“I started in my current role in September 2020 and my first job was to recruit my team and then develop and launch the helpline. The people we have in place are great, and they all do such an important job. When developing the service, we were determined that our support would not just be building based, it was essential we were outward facing so we could reach and engage with more people in the community.
“It is an important part of my role lead and support the team to make sure they are equipped to do their job well. The ethos and culture that we have nurtured with the team is the importance of making a difference; We start from a position of wanting to help and support. Anyone who is affected by sight loss can turn to us for help."
Helpline
“We launched the helpline in January 2021 and so far we have supported over 1500 people. In 2022 we took over two thousand calls. As a new service, and from a standing start the number of people we have helped has been good, but we want to do so much more. We want to create more community groups and have a very ambitious target of helping over 1000 people a year.
“When someone calls the helpline, we do not just talk about vision impairment. We talk to people about what is important to them or to their loved one if they are calling on behalf of someone else. Often it has taken a lot of courage to call and ask for help, so no matter what problem someone has, if we can help, we will. It may ultimately be a housing problem or a social work problem, for example, therefore we may not be able to help solve that problem directly ourselves but we will get in touch with the people who can. I know it sounds a bit clichéd, but we do genuinely care.
“Sometimes what we see as a small thing, is absolutely massive to the client. Some people just call for a chat because they are lonely, or they call to talk through their diagnosis and the changes they are going through, such as giving up their job or their car or changes they need to make in their home. Often people need emotional support and someone who will listen. For someone affected by sight loss having someone listening to them cannot be underestimated, it is just so important that people know they are not alone.”
Let’s make a difference
“What really drives me, and my team as a whole, is that every day we start with the objective of how do we help more people with sight loss, collaboration is vital, and it’s our practice now and my hope for the future, that everyone involved in the sight loss sector across Scotland, and beyond, can work more closely together. There are thousands of people out there that need our help.”
You can call our Support Line on 0800 024 8973 or contact us through our website page below.
Turn to us today
Our free support line is there for you, no matter what severity of sight loss you have.
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