Social Investment has allowed us to heal more children's lives

Jenny Westwood Co-founder, IntraQuest

IntraQuest is a small, community-based organisation in Oldham offering therapeutic support to children and families affected by trauma and neurodiversity. With multistage support from Access funding, delivered through its regional partner Key Fund, IntraQuest has created a unique, nature-based centre where children can heal and recover. Co-founder Jenny Westwood talks through her journey with social investment.

“For us it’s been an incredible journey with social investment. It’s been integral because without it, we wouldn’t have the spaces and services we’ve now created. We’d looked at grants before, but most of them wouldn’t touch capital costs. It cost £10,000 just to buy a water pump and it seems that not many grant funders want to put that on their books.

“It was a real turning point to be trusted with investment, acknowledged as a legitimate business whilst also impacting the community. It felt like a seal of approval in a way. If we’d gone to a bank, I don’t think they would have seen us in such a great light as their systems don’t seem to allow for much thinking ‘outside of the box’ so to speak. 

“It was an absolute bonus that with social investment there was a grant element too but, the most impactful aspect of working with Access and Key Fund, has been finding people who understand the business and also have the passion and drive to give back and support the community. They weren’t just investing in another profit-making business - there was more heart behind it. For us, it meant the social investment model fits both ethically and financially.

“When we first started up, we quickly found that we didn’t fit into the usual business networking model or into charity networks either. It felt quite clunky and isolating. But I think now there’s more of a bubbling in our sector and things are opening up. 

“Having that wider support and a good relationship with Key Fund has made all the difference. Their understanding our industry, and the sensitive nature of our work, has meant adjustments have been made when we have most needed them. 

“Recently some major government changes impacted our service delivery and for a time, we were without funds in a major area of our business. Children’s therapy had to be suddenly stopped, meaning we had to manage the emotional fall-out of this for our families, and we also couldn’t back-fill work as therapy is longer-term and requires consistency; we needed to hold these spaces for a return of funding to get these children back on track quickly. We were in a very precarious situation and KeyFund understood this, making repayment adjustments that a bank simply wouldn’t have. Put simply this saved IntraQuest at a time when it could otherwise have failed.  

“The funding we’ve had has made such a difference to the impact we can have on people’s lives. It is not uncommon for us to work with children that are unable to access statutory services due to their complex presentations and the limitations created by environments and restricted timeframes. I remember a child we helped recently, had such an awful history of trauma he couldn’t be assessed through the NHS because he couldn’t sit still for the tests.

“In order to assess him we had to let him run through the fields here, groom the rabbits, play, and go back inside as he needed to. This was a lengthy process, and we managed it, meaning he now has his diagnosis and the support he needs at school. He has sessions with one of our play therapists and the family also accessed therapeutic parenting support based around his very specific needs and presentation. The family say it has been life changing for them, and this is the type of work that brings us most joy. 

“Our site is becoming its own therapist in a way - the green spaces and animals are such a big part of that. We have therapy dogs, goats, and small animals, and it's all part of the healing journey. We observe people arrive here and exhale. One parent told me how overwhelmed they felt just because of how lovely this place is, and how her child had settled here. We’ve really seen the impact of the environment on the lives of the children, and adults alike - and none of that would have been possible without the funding.

“But we still want to do more if we can. We always said we would pilot this concept here and if we could get it working on a small scale, the next step would be to build a therapeutic farm, with a school, and satellite therapy buses. We’ve already been trialing out consultation days with schools. 

“For now, there’s still work to do to fully finish this site. But when we’re ready, I’m sure social investment will come back into the picture again. It’s given us a greater ability to heal lives and that’s incredible. It’s such a gift.”