Impact

The support we provide, which is completely free of charge.

 

These people we help, live in our communities but are ‘unseen’ because they are mostly self-confined to living at home, due to their bowel disorder, where they almost entirely (84-95%) live an isolated life and suffer from anxiety, stress or clinical depression. These vulnerable people have become excluded from society and lack support to help raise them from their plight of an ever decreasing mental wellbeing and quality of life as a result of their isolation which leads to social exclusion from their local communities.

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Evidence shows that bringing people out of their homes and into the social environment of their local communities is highly beneficial to their mental health and wellbeing. All evidence points to the importance of social interaction for the benefit of our mental health and general wellbeing.

 

These people, isolated at home, have two main ‘fears’. The first is the embarrassment of a ‘toilet accident’ outside the home as a result of their bowel condition (such as IBS, IBD, Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis or bowel cancer). The second is the fear of public toilets away-from-home (cafes, shops, restaurants, pubs etc) where the level of hygiene presents a particular risk to these individuals as a result of their suppressed immune systems as a side-effect of their prescribed medication. Together, these risks present themselves as genuine fears and consequently these people become self-confined to their own homes. This unfortunately results in 84% of them further developing mental health issues and the fear of COVID-19 has raised this to about 95%. In other words, almost everyone with a bowel disorder goes on to develop a mental health condition through their self-imposed isolation life-style.

 

These individuals would benefit from having the necessary on-the-go, away-from-home portable toilet hygiene supplies to enable them to address any bowel needs or personal hygiene needs to prevent infection. We provide these people with all the necessary toilet hygiene products, completely free of charge, to enable them to leave their home, move back into the social environment, reconnect with their community and benefit from all the mental health benefits these activities bring. 

 

What’s more, we continue to provide individuals with free toilet hygiene products for as long as they need them to support their mental wellbeing. We have evidenced, through practice, that giving these free products helps boost the mental confidence and physical & mental independence of these individuals.

 

Currently these ‘silent sufferers’ living below the radar, out of sight out of mind, are experiencing social and healthcare inequality because of their own anonymity. Many additionally live in hygiene poverty.