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2022-03-31-accounts

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1 TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT (April 21 – March 22) Borderline Arts Email: contact@borderlinearts.org Address: 119 Osmaston Rd Website: www.borderlinearts.org Derby, DE1 2GD Tel: 07754 806814 Charity Number: 1160324

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT (April 21 – March 22)

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CONTENTS PAGE
TRUSTEE AND CHARITY INFORMATION 3
DESCRIPTION OF THE CHARITY’S TRUSTS 4
OBJECTS, OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVIES OF THE CHARITY 5
ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT 6
MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS DURING THE YEAR 10
FINANCIAL REVIEW 13
CHARITY ACCOUNTS 14
OTHER INFORMATION 16
TRUSTEE DECLARATION 17
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TRUSTEE AND CHARITY INFORMATION

Charity Name: BORDERLINE ARTS (CIO)

Other names charity is known by: BORDERLINE Registered Charity Number: 1160324

Charity Address: 119 Osmaston Rd, Derby, DE1 2GD

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity:

Trustee Name Office/Role Dates if not acted for whole year
Sarah Eley Founder/Coordinator N/A
Kevin Bagshaw Chairperson N/A
Jill Broughton Adviser N/A
Pauline Shephard Secretary N/A
Lesley Edwards Treasurer N/A
Lisa Ceranic Volunteer Coordinator N/A
Victoria Vaughan Web/Admin &
Workshop support		 1
N/A

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information):

There are no paid staff working for the charity

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DESCRIPTION OF THE CHARITY’S TRUSTS

Type of governing document: Constitution

How the charity is constituted: Charitable Incorporated Organisation

Trustee selection methods: Trustees are appointed during the year as required by decision of the trustees in office.

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

All trustees give of their time and expertise voluntarily. Trustees do not receive any remuneration or benefits

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OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

  1. To promote and protect the Physical and Mental Health of Sufferers of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and their relatives, dependants and carers through the provision of support, education and practical advice.

  2. To advance the education of the general public in all areas relating to BPD, in particular by the provision of training and raising public awareness of BPD.

“Can’t believe how lucky I am to live in the same city as the one UK charity for BPD!!” Art Group Member

ADDITIONAL DETAILS OF OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES (Optional Information) 1

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about: policy on grantmaking, policy programme related investment and contribution made by volunteers.

A huge contribution is made by member volunteers with their valuable contribution of time and energy and expertise. Without this commitment the Charity would not have been able to achieve so much in this period.

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ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

In planning our activities for the year we kept in mind the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit at our trustees’ meetings. The focus of our activities is to raise awareness of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) with the general public and provide support for people living with BPD and their carers through education, training and practical advice.

It’s been another unusual year, to say the least! But although it’s been challenging, we were able to continue to work from home and to support those with BPD and connect with our volunteers and group members virtually, as outlined below. By March 2022, we were finally in a place to be able to plan our move back into the office – aiming to safely return in May 2022!

During the year we ran the following activities:

ONLINE CREATIVE GROUPS (ON ZOOM)

Bi-monthly Art Group:

Our Art Group (which also continued online) is a space for individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) to come together and engage in creative activities, with a focus on exploring, expressing and celebrating the positive aspects of ourselves and our lives. No Artistic ‘skill’ or experience is needed.

1 Workshops were varied, including making encouragement boxes, creating art to remind us of our coping mechanisms and exploring drawing techniques to represent the animal we felt most reflected our personality (Left). For more information, please head to: www.borderlinearts.org/artgroup

Monthly Writing Group:

We continued to run our Writing Group for adults with BPD online. This was facilitated by Pippa (an experienced writer and poet, who happens to also have BPD). Creative writing helps those of us with BPD to express ourselves as individuals, manage our emotions and much more. Through games, writing exercises, discussion etc. participants gain experience and confidence in using creative writing as a tool for escapism, fun and self-expression.

For more information, please head to: www.borderlinearts.org/writinggroup

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Creative Expressive Group:

We also ran a series of 6 creative sessions between April and June 2021, again for those who are 18+ and are diagnosed with BPD/EUPD.

These ran in addition to our usual art and writing groups and were run by a third year student on placement with us from the University of Derby.

Sessions included creative movement sessions and some drama activities as well as visual arts.

The plan to move groups back to ‘in-person’ groups

Throughout the year, facilitating sessions remotely became more of a strain, as it limited the creative activities we could do due to service users not having their own materials. On a positive note, it enabled participants to join us from across the world including from Australia and Malaysia. However, as ‘Zoom Fatigue’ really set in and people became busier, attendance began to drop.

After consulting group members for their feedback and preferences, we began to work towards safely moving groups back to being ‘in-person’ – starting in May 2022. We also planned to change the group from running on a bi-monthly basis to running on a monthly basis instead.

BPD AWARENESS MONTH 2021

This year, for BPD Awareness Month (May 2021), we opted to raise awareness online again, due to the pandemic! We ran a Zoom Q&A and posted daily on all our social media accounts...

Zoom Q&A

On 31[st ] May 2021, we hosted a Zoom Q&A Meeting.

This was for people who do not have BPD/EUPD, but want to hear more about what it is, its causes, symptoms, the reasons beneath the symptoms/behaviours and how to support someone with the condition.

It was a chance for participants to learn more about BPD/EUPD from the perspective of someone who lives it on a daily basis, alongside medical/scientific information.

It was led by our founder, Sarah, who gave a brief overview BPD and answered any questions participants had about the condition, based on medical/scientific information alongside her own personal experience.

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GOING INTERNATIONAL

Sarah (Founder) was invited to be the keynote speaker at the 15[th ] International Conference on the Treatment of Personality Disorders in Australia.

The conference took place in November 2021, online, due to the pandemic. It was well attended and very well received.

Sarah gave her keynote speech ‘Using Creativity and Lived Experience of BPD to Raise Awareness, Reduce Stigma, and Empower others with the Condition’.

She was also a panel member at the conference’s Consumer, Family and Carer day.

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FUNDRAISER

Virtual 5km / 10km Fundraiser

We would like to say a massive thank you to all those who took part in our virtual run (or walk)!

20 People took part, from age 6 up to age 75, from as far afield as Belgium! Their efforts raised over £300.

Thank you to everyone who took part or donated! We are incredibly grateful to you all!

ONLINE ART & WRITING GALLERIES

We have continued to run our ongoing online project, in which we invite adults with BPD (anywhere in the world!) to create and submit piece/s of writing or pieces of art expressing their experience of life with BPD.

We then add it to our online galleries.

But what is the purpose of these 1 galleries? Read below to find out:

The Galleries:

You can find out more or browse the writing gallery here or browse the art gallery here.

We have also been working towards launching an online Music Gallery – making contacts with musicians with BPD etc. We are aiming to launch this in March 2023 (to coincide with our 10 Year Anniversary), so watch this space!

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MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS DURING THE YEAR

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year

Creative Educational Workshops

Borderline Arts has run a series of successful, fully subscribed workshops over the past several years. There is currently no other BPD-specific training available in the UK, so this project is an important and vital starting point for educational development about BPD.

Our Creative Educational Workshops raise awareness and reduce stigma surrounding Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The workshops are interactive and engaging. We try to include a facilitator who has a diagnosis of BPD for genuine feedback and Service User expertise. Each participant is given an information handbook and a certificate to take home.

Unfortunately, due to Covid restrictions, we have been unable to continue running these workshops on a regular basis for NHS staff working at Acute Psychiatric Units (Radbourne Unit and Hartington Unit) in Derbyshire. We did, however, manage to run a version of the workshop online for MA Social Work Students at The University of Nottingham.

Our workshops enable participants to:

People who've attended have said that the workshop has increased their:

“Thank you so much for your fabulous session; it was such a great learning experience. The combination of instructional content, role play, open discussion and of course creativity worked so well. The students really valued it and it transferred to the online format just fine”.

Bi-Monthly Art Group for Adults with BPD

This is a free bi-monthly group for individuals with BPD to come together and engage in creative activities.

The group is free of charge to ensure it is accessible to all those with BPD, as many are on benefits or low income and would otherwise struggle to attend and participate.

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As mentioned earlier, we have been running this group on Zoom throughout the past year due to enable us to continue to reach out to those with BPD through the pandemic.

‘Really enjoyed being able to take part today. It's been nice to somewhat feel connected to the outside world whilst being stuck at home. Thank you! Stay safe everyone!’ (Art Group participant)

Our Art group is not a therapy group to explore difficulties, but rather a space to focus on positive elements of ourselves and our lives. We create art to explore/express themes such as our qualities, interests, quirks, happy memories, healthy relationships etc.

We have chosen these themes, because many of us with BPD struggle to know who we are outside of the BPD label. Much of the time we can even feel that we are 'innately bad'.

We want to strengthen the realisation that the diagnosis of BPD is essentially a list of (often overwhelming) difficulties we are faced with, but that it does not define who we are!

The group offers a chance for participants to have fun, connect with others and use creativity to build up a more positive self-image, sense of identity and resilience.

“Today I am so thankful for the kindness of strangers on the other side of our planet. I was lucky enough to be welcomed into Borderline Arts’ online art group, located in Derby, UK. So, while Australians slept early this morning, I was in a Zoom group with a bunch of amazing humans with whom I shared something in common. It's the first time I've made art with my hands since I entered isolation 26 days ago. They were so warm and welcoming. Art connects, heals, soothes and strengthens us. Thanks so much to Borderline Arts, especially to Sarah, their coordinator!”

(Art Group participant)

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Monthly Writing Group for Adults with BPD

This is a free monthly group for individuals with BPD to come together and engage in creative writing and socialise in a relaxed and fun environment. As with the Art group, we have been running these sessions online through the pandemic.

“I always enjoy the free writing and the fact you can interpret it however you want”. (Writing Group participant)

These sessions include games and creative writing activities and the opportunity to share with the group if you want to. The aim of the group is to facilitate an opportunity for adults with BPD to use creative writing as a tool for escapism and self-expression. Most importantly, the group offers a chance for like-minded people to gather in a safe environment, socialise, and have fun.

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Fundraising/Awareness Events

We ran several fundraising events throughout the year, including the 5km/10km virtual run. Thank you SO much to all who've supported us and/or donated. We are the ONLY charity in the UK specifically focussing on Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) - a severe mental health condition, and we are a very small charity! The amount raised will make a massive difference to us in raising awareness and fighting the stigma of BPD and improving support and social inclusion for people with the illness - watch this space!

Raising awareness via our website

Our website is a useful first port of call for anyone wanting to know all about BPD and what we are doing. We are aware that we have online visitors from all over the world, so it’s a really important part of what we do.

Many people with BPD have told us that simply seeing the website and knowing there are people out there who understand BPD and are ‘fighting for them’ has really helped them feel less alone.

Lots of people who don’t have BPD have shared how useful the website and articles are to them in gaining further understanding of the illness and how to support those with the condition.

Additionally, we offer the opportunity to those with BPD across the world to have their artwork or writing showcased. The purpose of this is to raise awareness from a variety of personal experiences and to celebrate their talent.

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“Thanks for putting together such a fantastic website – I love it, it’s really helpful, informative and inspiring and the art and writing there has made me feel much less alone. I believe what you are doing is very valuable to a lot of people”.

“Very professional and informative - a great resource for accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date information on BPD”.

Throughout the year, we’ve added to our website. There’s a lot on there, but just to give an idea of a few aspects of the site, you can:

…and much more!

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FINANCIAL REVIEW

Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

Cash reserves are regularly reviewed. The Charity holds sufficient cash to cover at least 3 months office costs and planned events and to meet any unforeseen expenditure that may occur.

Details of any funds materially in deficit

Not applicable

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

Yapp Charitable Trust: Successful Funding Application

We are so grateful to Yapp Charitable Trust for supporting us with £3000, being given to us in 3 increments of £1000 over 3 years. This is making a HUGE difference to us, enabling us to cover many of our basic costs, especially at this challenging time! We have currently just completed year 2 of the 3 years.

Fundraising/Reserves

We’ve been overwhelmed by the support of so many people this year! This has been a 1 huge help for us as a small charity - especially during this pandemic - as we are unable to run our usual fundraising activities/events, and rely on donations to continue with our work.

Many people have also supported us through online fundraisers, Paypal Giving Fund, giving donations, Easy Fundraising, Amazon Smile , Facebook birthday fundraisers , and much more. We also raised a lot of money on Local Giving – through fundraisers and the Magic Little Grant of £500, for which we are very grateful. We’re so thankful to every single person who has supported us in any way! THANK YOU!

The Charity regularly fund raises in order to provide funds to raise awareness of BPD with leaflets, an online presence with the Charity’s website www.borderlinearts.org, Creative Educational workshops & Therapeutic Art Groups to name but a few.

We have total reserves of £7372, of which we have restricted funds of £2122 specifically for our film project. The board of trustees have also designated a further £4250 for the film project. The remaining £1000 is in general reserves, to cover up to 3 months expenses.

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OTHER INFORMATION (OPTIONAL)

General information about the Borderline Arts Theatre Strand

The Theatre Strand of Borderline Arts creates and performs performing-arts pieces that convey what it is like to have BPD to raise awareness of and reduce stigma surrounding the condition, as well as reducing isolation of those with BPD, by showing them that they are not alone in their experience.

It provides a platform for people to take part in performances in a safe and encouraging environment, to help increase confidence and foster creativity.

We had been working on a script for a film that explores the different sides of BPD. The film is set in a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) group - all the group members have BPD.

However, due to Covid and due to receiving the incredibly sad and shocking news that Debbie, (who had been working alongside Gav to write the script), had lost her battle with cancer, the script- writing was naturally put on hold for a while.

We are back on track with it now and making great progress again. Gav has completed Acts 1 & 2 and is working on Act 3. We are aiming to call the film ‘On The Borderline’ – which will be an exciting collaboration with Smith & Smith Productions.

For our focal characters, we will show dramatized flashbacks of the situations (based on real life BPD experiences) that they disclose in the DBT group.

The film will show the reality of life with BPD, as we see the characters' struggles as they learn 1 to manage BPD symptoms in day to day life. But we will also see their unique qualities.

We see the friendships that develop in the group & their strength - both as individuals & as a group - in not letting BPD win. We are already falling in love with them & their quirky ways!

The film will premiere at Quad in Derby and a DVD will be produced! We also plan to develop an educational resource package to go alongside it (aimed at professionals & students working in medical/social services).

Our aim with this piece is to raise awareness and get people talking and asking questions about BPD, perhaps also challenging the current healthcare system, and ultimately showing that people with BPD are just people. We hope that this will really make the reality of living with BPD come to life and that the viewer will be able to see, experience and understand of BPD in a new and deeper way. We hope that this will also offer hope and reassurance to those watching who have BPD themselves.

We're very excited about this project's potential to increase awareness and to decrease stigma & feelings of isolation. Watch this space for more information!

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TRUSTEE DECLARATION

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:

Full name(s):

Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc):

Date:

Signature:

Lesley Elizabeth Edwards

Treasurer

17[th] January 2023

Full name(s):

Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc):

Date:

Signature:

Kevin Bagshaw

Chair

17[th] January 2023 1