Interviewer

All right. Can you start off by telling us your name, age, and what member group you’re discussing today?

 

Mark Cheese 

So, I’m Mark Cheese. I’m 40 years old and I’m part of the FAABI group. I’m a trustee also of FAABI as well. I’ve been a trustee for, gosh, I want to say eight years.

 

Interviewer

Perfect. And what first inspired you to get involved with FAABI?

 

Mark Cheese

So for me, I had a friend of mine who was actually a client of FAABI and he introduced me to David, who was the then chair of Attend and FAABI. And for me it was just really quite inspirational. I wasn’t expecting anything from that meetup or engagement, but I felt through my friend who has a brain injury that it was really interesting and there was potentially something there I could learn and maybe something I could give as well.

 

Interviewer

And do you remember what year it was that you joined FAABI?

 

Mark Cheese

Very good question. 2013, something like that. 2013, 2014.

 

Interviewer 

Oh wow. So you’ve been at it a good while.

 

Mark Cheese

Yeah, exactly. The trustee role probably happened two years after that. So I want to say 2015, 2016, something like that.

Interviewer 

Could you explain a little bit about just your role at FAABI and how you help out?

 

Mark Cheese

So for me, I have a background in law and I remember that I attended a session about law for people with brain injury that was being run externally but in the Attend office. And I remember suggesting to David if I could do something similar because I think it would be something I’d like to do, it would keep me thinking about law. It’s not something I’m doing as a full-time career myself. At the moment, I’m actually in software engineering. So, it was something that fascinated me. I’d obviously just finished my studies and then David and I agreed that I could design, create, and run sets of workshops. We called them Law for Life. So it was just taking very basic areas of law in everyday life and trying to consolidate basic rights and trying to make it very relevant and applicable to the client group as well. So, specifically, it could be anything from equality rights and the Equality Act or people with disability. It could be even something so basic as you buy something in a shop, what are your rights to return or refund? That kind of stuff. So, essentially, I’ve been running those sessions for a number of years and usually they’ve been six weeks. So, it would be like a three hour session on a Wednesday and then they’d go on for six weeks on six areas of law. And I think I’ve been involved in other things as well, to be honest, but primarily it’s been running and designing and updating that Law for Life course.

Interviewer 

Alright. And do you have a specific memory from Law for Life, or just FAABI in general, that sticks out to you as a story that you would like to share?

 

Mark Cheese

When I first started running these courses, I appreciated that I probably didn’t make it clear to people that I’m not a lawyer per se and I’m not legally trained. And in not doing that, what happened was in the first few sessions that I ran, when the course would finish it in the evening, maybe I remember like half eight or something, when it was time for people to go, I used to remember having a queue of people come to me at the end with all their legal problems and I was like, “Oh Christ, I’ve opened up like a legal clinic!” And it was just fascinating for me to realise that law touches so many aspects of people’s lives and I think particularly for the client group that FAABI works with, it’s particularly relevant that all these people have obviously lots of challenges about the law and they’ve got no one to turn to or they just don’t know where to go. And so for me, my biggest memory was trying to manage that a little bit because I didn’t want the next session to be 20 people queuing up for an hour after the session. It fascinated me but also intrigued me and it made me feel that what I was running was relevant and people were engaged with it and also helped me to understand how to tweak that course as we were running it. I think another memory I have is potentially, when going through some of this material, I realised that perhaps not everyone was fully understanding some of the concepts. And I kind of appreciated then that this was not a lecture room where I was teaching an academic subject. I really needed to think hard about how to make very difficult concepts, some very complex concepts, more understandable through examples. So I’d have one person, the class would constantly put their hand up and I was constantly trying to work out how I could make the concepts even simpler. So it’s really helped me, if anything, to hopefully be even better at delivering the course material.

 

Interviewer 

Why do you feel it’s important specifically for brain injury survivors to learn about the law and do you think that there’s any advantage for people who haven’t suffered a brain injury, but would like to learn? Is there an advantage of those people attending the sessions as well?

 

Mark Cheese

Yes, I think one of the things that David used to tell me was he would often hear the story of someone with a brain injury come out of hospital and medically they were fit to go – fit to continue their life – but psychologically, emotionally they just weren’t ready. They weren’t ready to just jump into a job. They weren’t ready to live on their own, even though they in theory and medically were capable of doing so. I feel with the law aspect of it, one of the key challenges that people with brain injury have is finding employment and feeling that they are protected legally when they are employed. So, if an individual needs to go off and have regular medical visits or breaks, they’re not discriminated for that. So I feel there’s a huge, huge advantage for people with brain injury to feel empowered by knowing that they have these rights and that companies should also be making reasonable adjustments for all these people and just letting these people know that this is the scope of what the law means. You don’t have to go read something online and learn it verbatim, but here are some examples of how companies need to work with people who do have a disability. So I think for that group, it’s very advantageous because they’re the most affected people in all of this ultimately. And I see the frustrations in a lot of these people who talk about not being able to hold a job for too long because of the complex interactions with their employer and their employer not really understanding either being empathetic and also not understanding the legal obligations that they have. So I think for that group, very advantageous. Yes. I also think it’s advantageous for people who don’t have a brain injury. And in fact, when I ran my course, I opened it up to carers and friends of people with acquired brain injury. And that was actually really helpful because when there were complex issues that I was trying to make it easy to understand, you often had people constantly putting their hands up and often having someone who brought their carer along, it was good that there was a second opportunity for that person to re-explain it to that individual again at a later point. And often these were people who didn’t have a brain injury, but they also have examples of being affected by legal issues and stuff. So I think it’s not just synonymous with people with brain injury that you have legal challenges. It could be breach of contracts to something’s happened in the workplace to anything of that kind is completely far reaching. So I think it does benefit both sets of people in different ways.

Interviewer 

For someone who’s been at FAABI for a decade or so, how have you seen it change over time and would you say that there’s still the same need for volunteers that there was when you started? Or has that changed as well?

 

Mark Cheese 

Yeah, no, it’s a really good question. I think the key change I’ve seen is the use of facilities. I know that, for example, during Covid, everything obviously went remote. So my in-person sessions were now remote – as were other sessions as well. So other things like movie nights and ukulele nights, they were all obviously not able to be done in person during covid. Then after Covid, access to some of the facilities at the King’s Fund became very limited. So, that was regrettable and obviously due to the increased costs of rent and leasing and all that kind of thing. So that’s one change I felt just in the whole structure. In terms of the needs for volunteers, absolutely. I would say that FAABI and Attend don’t work off just employed staff members at all. All the meetings we go to AGMs, OGMs, even sessions where I would run my law for life course – there’s always a volunteer on site. There’s always a volunteer who’s there to make sure everything is as it should be. A nice example – I remember running one of my Law for Life courses and – kind of a funny story – thankfully nothing happened, which is why it’s funny. But, what happened was, there was a flask of hot water that one of the clients was trying to pour and the thing fell on the floor – the flask fell on the floor – and the inside of the flask just completely smashed and it was very obvious that it smashed. But this guy, the client, in the room where I’m in, was there still trying to pour this water. He picked it up from the floor, and poured the water into a cup with glass shards in it from the internal part of the flask. If a volunteer wasn’t there to help me, I wouldn’t know what to do. It was like constantly keeping my eyes open to just make sure no one was doing anything that was risky. So absolutely, I think, in terms of what’s changed, I think I’ve seen lots of volunteers come and go. I think that’s fair to say. I think some volunteers have stayed the same. Some of the clients have stayed the same. I think Jenny [Chandler] has been there since I started, to be honest. But there’s always new fresh faces and I think that’s not necessarily a bad thing either. Sometimes it’s nice to have a fresh face on the trustee board or sometimes new people come as volunteers to bring some energy – different energy, different perspective – to the charity. I think that’s also important. But yeah, I don’t know if that answers your question, it’s kind of covering all aspects there.

Interviewer

That’s a great answer. You kind of touched on how it changed and post-Covid, but more generally about you, do you do any volunteering outside of FAABI?

 

Mark Cheese

I have. So I used to be involved in a charity called Switchboard, which is an LGBT helpline that still exists. I was volunteering there for about five years. So for me, my main role was supporting or call handling. So, people would ring in with often very sad, depressing issues. LGBT-related – not always, but most of the time it tended to be that way. And so, I went on the training course, which was very similar to how the Samaritans do the active listening skills and essentially would need to support these people on the phone. And it could be a very traumatic phone call where someone is thinking of ending their life. You need to stop them from doing that kind of thing, or it could be just someone just wants to be listened to. So I’ve done quite a lot of that work and I was heavily involved for about five years. I have since stopped that just to focus on other things in my life. But, yeah, there was a time when I was doing Switchboard and FAABI volunteering at the same time.

Interviewer 

Wow. What advice would you have for people who are just starting out their volunteering journeys or are looking to start volunteering?

 

Mark Cheese

I would say to keep an open mind and know that you are adding value. Even if initially you might not think you are, I think it’s very surprising that you learn that even if you think you’re not doing something that is benefiting someone, at some level, someone, whether that’s at an organisational level, whether it’s at an individual personal level – someone is admiring that. And maybe, when I ran my law course, I might get zero questions and think, “Oh God, no one really enjoyed that.” But, if that one person that comes to me at the end of the session says, “Mark, I really liked that and I learned a lot,” I know that, even if it was just one person tonight, it’s one person and that’s fine. So I think my biggest advice is be open-minded and don’t be too hard on yourself. Yeah, I would say explore the organisation. I think volunteering is a great opportunity to give a voice – an expressionism – of your own wants and passion. So if you come into the organisation and say, “You know what, actually I’m really good at social media,” suggest doing that and do it. Don’t be afraid to look at your own talents, passions and apply them to the role as a volunteer. Don’t think of the volunteering role as this pigeonholed kind of, “”It only involves A, B and C because that’s what I’ve been told to do.” Ask. And I’m fairly sure that, as long as it’s not something too outrageous, it will be welcomed and you might even end up owning that and becoming very experienced in that. And that can also help your own personal development as well. So there’s a bit of giving and receiving in that sense.

 

Interviewer

Alright. Awesome. Those were all my main questions.

 

Mark Cheese 

Amazing.

Interviewer 

If there’s anything else you would like to say to have people hear, then feel free.

 

Mark Cheese

Yeah, no, I think that’s it. No, I think this has been great. But yeah, I’ve really been happy with FAABI and ATTEND in general. I think one of the things I’ve admired is. Specifically, I’ve just been given the freedom to do stuff. If I suggest something, it’s never met with a “No”, it’s a, “Well how can we make this work?” attitude. I think that makes a huge difference. And I think that’s one thing I would say is a selling point if we are trying to bring in volunteers to the organisation, is to say that, from my personal experience, it’s been a very open-minded charity. They’re willing to take on board your thoughts and what you want to do and give you that flexibility to move around. So it’s a two way street. It’s not just on the volunteer, it’s also on the organisation. And I think that’s where the balance is achieved.

 

Interviewer

Alright, well beautiful. Thank you so much for all you’ve done for FAABI.

 

Mark Cheese

No worries.

 

Interviewer 

And for sitting down and talking to me.