ID: The DDA Logo, A green rectangle with capitalised, centrally aligned white text ‘The Dissociative Disorders Alliance’
TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2025 – 2026
1) Introduction
The Dissociative Disorders Alliance, known as ‘The DDA’ (Registered Charity Number 1212371), is a new charity for people living with complex dissociative disorders, their allies and professionals working in the field. In 2023 The previous UK charity for people with complex dissociative disorders (First Person Plural) closed, leaving unmet needs in the community. The DDA was established soon after and celebrated achieving charitable status in March 2025. This is our first Trustees Annual Report for 2025 – 2026.
Our vision is for an improved quality of life, healing and recovery for people living with a complex dissociative disorder. Working alongside other charities and allies, we aim to develop; lived experience led information and resources, supportive and empowering peer led initiatives and activities to improve awareness, understanding and quality of care among health and social care practitioners.
In the longer term The DDA hopes that our work will also contribute to much needed preventative approaches to reduce cases of childhood trauma and abuse.
Our primary beneficiaries are adults who meet the diagnostic criteria for any of the Complex Dissociative Disorders (CDD’s). It is not necessary to have an official
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diagnosis to benefit from the services of The DDA, an individual can self-identify based on their lived experience of symptoms.
The DDA is run entirely by a small team of volunteers, who are a mix of people with lived experience, practitioners, and allies.
2) Structure, Governance, and Management
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Address: PO Box 368, Cirencester, GL7 9LZ.
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Type of Governing Document: Constitution
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Constitution Model: Foundation Model (The Board of Trustees constitutes the sole voting membership of the CIO; there are no wider voting members).
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Trustee Selection Method: Trustees are appointed/re-appointed by a majority vote of the existing Board of Trustees in accordance with the rules of the Constitution.
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Trustees: The DDA operated with seven Trustees during 2025-2026 of which two were newly appointed to the board in November 2025. The makeup of the board is in line with the ratio of lived experience: practitioners/allies as detailed in our constitution. No Trustee stood down during this period. A list of Trustees is available from the Charity Commission website.
3) Objectives, Activities and Public Benefit
The trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission for England and Wales on public benefit. In planning our activities for the year, the charity has delivered public benefit with a focus on establishing robust structural and governance foundations including banking, bookkeeping and essential policies and guidelines. We have also put in place vital background systems such as secure filesharing networks and volunteer communication channels.
Building these foundations in our early years is essential to support volunteers and safely deliver its core services to the community effectively moving forward.
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In the early stages of our development, we sent out a community survey to help inform objective setting. Some key themes emerged; a need for information and resources that are led by and centred around lived experience, a desire for supportive and empowering peer initiatives and the ongoing need for improved awareness, understanding and quality of care among health, social care practitioners, and other front-line services. This feedback also helped to shape our broader Strategic plan which we published on our website in March 2026.
Our objectives and future workstreams are focused on four main areas:
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The advancement of education and provision of accurate, culturally appropriate evidence-based information about trauma, dissociation and complex dissociative disorders.
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The advancement of supportive and empowering peer led initiatives for those with complex dissociative disorders.
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The advancement of awareness, understanding and quality of care regarding complex dissociative disorders among health and social care practitioners and other frontline services.
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The establishment of alliances and relationships with national and international practitioners and organisations.
4) Achievements and Performance Summary
Policies and Guidelines
Building on the work undertaken prior to becoming registered, we have made good progress this year with new policies. We have also established a master record of approved, draft, and future policies. Various guidelines on areas such as content accessibility, ways of working and resources and information for new volunteers, have also been developed with an inclusive approach.
When developing policies and guidelines, a trauma-informed, dissociation competent and safety orientated approach is paramount and must not be an afterthought for people living with complex dissociative disorders. For The DDA, they are not just
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paperwork, they are part of how we build trust and we aim for them to be responsive and attuned to volunteer and community needs.
From the very beginning, we have focused on how we can establish ways of working which are active commitments to diversity, inclusivity, equity and anti-oppressive practice. We want people from all backgrounds and identities to feel they belong. We are already seeing this take shape, in the way our volunteers and trustees support one another, and in the sense of connection that is growing.
Trustee and volunteer recruitment
The DDA developed and put into practice a new Trustee Recruitment and Induction Policy. Following a skills and experience audit, during 2025 we undertook an open and transparent process and successfully recruited and appointed two new Trustees. We did not find a suitable candidate for the role of a Treasurer which remains a priority. However, as part of our recruitment drive, we appointed a new volunteer bookkeeper who has assisted with the financial information required for this report.
Over the last few years, having become aware of The DDA, numerous individuals have proactively approached The DDA seeking volunteering opportunities. As a result ‘Action Teams’ have been established focused around our objectives. The huge amount of work done by Action Teams this year has bolstered and supported the extensive work undertaken by the Trustee team. The DDA values the diversity within our team it actively strengthens us, keeps us grounded, accountable, and closely connected to the realities of those we aim to support.
Bringing our aims and objectives to life
An outline of some of our potential workstreams under each objective, is detailed in our strategy document. Over and above our formal Trustee meetings, Action Teams have met regularly throughout the year. They are doing the essential groundwork to prepare for future activities within our four focus areas. For example;
- Provision of information - Versatile content aiming to represent and centre the living wisdom of the most diverse voices and experiences as
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possible is being created. This will be used for a new website (when are able to fund and resource this), as well as for social media posts and other resources. a new website. This is being co-produced by people with lived experience and knowledgeable and respected practitioners, drawing on the expertise of both.
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Peer led initiatives - During this year volunteers have researched what peer support options are already available and what is required to resource peer support initiatives that are safe and meaningful, not just for those living with CDD’s but also allies and professionals working in the field. To inform ways the team can work together to build strong, accessible and effective peer support initiatives a survey was circulated amongst the community. The team have developed generic guidelines for peer support activities which can then be adapted when required to meet the needs of the specific intersections of the community.
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Advancing awareness and understanding and quality of care – For the first time The DDA attended a conference held at Derby University ‘Building Foundations Together – The future of complex dissociation in the UK.’ It was a big success and met our event objectives. The conference bought together private and NHS clinicians, students, researchers, allies, and the lived experience community. It also featured a publication launch of ‘Working with Dissociation in Clinical Practice’ which many of The DDA Trustees and other volunteers had contributed to in their own right.
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Building alliances and community – Our volunteer groups in themselves have provided opportunities for connection acting as informal peer support. Volunteers have grown in confidence especially when it comes to interpersonal communication. Some have spoken of having their internal experiences accepted and reflected back by being amongst other volunteers. The DDA now has an established and growing direct mailing list and social media following, all of which has been achieved organically. Our presence at the ‘Building Foundations Together’ conference provided a great opportunity to network and The DDA organised a quiet room offering delegates a restorative space with grounding and self-help
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resources. It also helped to begin to situate The DDA as the major livedexperience led charity working alongside allies and practitioners to bring meaningful change.
5) Financial review
Banking and Fundraising facilities
Having achieved charitable status, we undertook a review of potential banks. In August 2025 we were accepted by The co-operative bank for a ‘Charity and Community Bank Account’. This meant we were then able to receive donations, and subsequently we registered with HMRC for Gift Aid. To facilitate donations, we also applied and were accepted by ‘PayPal Giving Fund’ and have added a donations page to our temporary website.
Accounts 2025-2026 (see pages 7-9)
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Accounts of The Dissociative Disorders Alliance (The DDA)
Year ending 5[th] April 2026
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | £ | |
| Opening Balance | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| RECEIPTS | |||
| Donations | 1,319.08 | 683.40 | 2,002.48 |
| Total Receipts | 1,319.08 | 683.40 | 2,002.48 |
| PAYMENTS | |||
| Postage & Communication | 371.40 | 0.00 | 371.40 |
| Printing | 45.73 | 0.00 | 45.73 |
| Miscellaneous | 1.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 |
| Total Payments | 418.13 | 0.00 | 418.13 |
| Closing Balance | 900.95 | 683.40 | 1,584.35 |
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Statement of Assets & Liabilities of The DDA
As at 5[th] April 2026
| Assets | £ |
|---|---|
| 1584.3 | |
| Bank | 5 |
| Donations pending (see Note 4) | 187.00 |
| 1771.3 | |
| Total Assets | 5 |
| Liabilities | £ |
| Amounts outstanding to trustees (see Note 1) | 683.40 |
| Total Liabilities | 683.40 |
Notes to Accounts of The DDA
Year ending 5[th] April 2026
1 Pre-registration Trustee expenditure
Prior to registration, trustees incurred expenditure for PO Box & domain name registration costs on behalf of the charity. The trustees have resolved that these costs will be reimbursed. The total expenditure was £750.54 of which £67.14 has subsequently been waived. The amount outstanding to trustees at the year end was £683.40.
- 2 Post-registration Trustee expenditure
Following registration, trustees incurred expenditure for postage & domain name registration renewal costs on behalf of the charity, repayment of which has been waived. The total value of such expenditure was £120.40
- 3 Pre-registration expenditure funded by supporters
Prior to registration supporters incurred expenditure for various set up costs, repayment of which has been waived. The total value of the expenditure was £189.00
4 Donations pending
At the year end there were donations awaiting clearance and payment by the PayPal Giving Fund. The total amount outstanding to the charity was £187.00.
5 Donated services
The charity benefited from 24 months' use of Office 365 provided by a supporter. No value has been included in these accounts in respect of this donation
6 Online platform fees
Certain online donation platforms deduct fees before remitting funds to the charity. Income is recorded net of these fees in the accounts
- 7 These accounts are prepared on a Receipts & Payments basis
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6) Future plans
Whilst our first year as a registered charity has been a steep learning curve, it has also been extremely productive and positive due to the extensive efforts of Trustees and other volunteers.
The board of Trustees in the coming year will prioritise our objectives and possible future activities. We will identify which activities and aspects of our work could be undertaken by volunteers and those for which we will need to fundraise. Identifying possible sources of early stage and ongoing funding is a key priority for all volunteers. Draft implementation plans will need to be developed so that we can identify what financial budget and resources are required. These in turn can be used to support grant and funding applications.
Our Fundraising policy outlines our approach to sound ethical principles including the Charity’s sources of income. When considering which projects we undertake, any which require ongoing funding should be supported by an appropriate level of reserves, a policy for which is yet to be developed.
Whilst we are actively working towards long-term, sustainable funding. In the meantime, we are doing everything we can to support our small but dedicated team, so that this community can continue to grow safely and sustainably.
It is important that our volunteers prioritise their health and wellbeing so that their roles are a positive and sustainable experience. This means our growth will have more of an organic approach and be carefully paced.
Our hope is that The DDA will become a trusted space for people living with complex dissociative disorders and for those who stand alongside them. A place where individuals feel seen, heard, understood, and supported without judgment.
The DDA Trustees
Signed: Date: 8th July 2026 Name: Amanda Ball
Position: Chair of the Board of Trustees
On behalf of The DDA Trustees
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