CEO’s first reflections

I have been made to feel very welcome as the new Tinnitus UK CEO having started at the beginning of September and could not pass up the opportunity to introduce myself to you.

My background is in charity leadership having been a CEO in the voluntary sector for around 10 years now with 25 years in the charity sector in total. I have worked with charities of all shapes and sizes and most recently as the CEO of a social care organisation based on the south coast, where I live with my wife and two children.

Why this role?

Well, first and foremost I see a charity with a few problems which I can address with my skills and experience, but I also have tinnitus and have had it for 11 years. I have a constant high-pitch whistling noise which for the most part, I just get on with. Occasionally, it can get the better of me, mostly at 3 a.m. when I can’t find my headphones and am desperate to get back to sleep.

I have always kept an eye on this organisation from the day my tinnitus started. The GP I met initially referred me to a specialist at Lewisham Hospital but neither of them gave me what I would consider a good quality or useful response. So, as I am sure is the case with many of you, I was left to my own devices to find out about tinnitus, what could be done about it and what support I might be able to get. Of course, the British Tinnitus Association as it was then, was the first place I found and being a charity professional I was intrigued as to why this condition, so prevalent and debilitating, had such a relatively small (but awesome) specialist charity in support.

That was 11 years ago, and now here I am having decided to take up the challenge of trying to create and shape something which better reflects the scale of the problem and the significant opportunity to raise awareness, raise funding, research support, research treatments and deliver better support to people with tinnitus, the professionals and those conducting the research. There is so much we could do… where do I start?

There are two challenges for me to address initially:

The first is our financial security. Tinnitus UK has been desperately trying to maintain the services it provides to the many thousands of people who need them in the past few years, despite challenges with raising funds. This has created annual deficits which have effectively used up all the organisation’s cash. My role is to get the ship back on an even keel which will involve doing what we can to control costs, improving systems and processes to make us more effective and driving growth in fundraising income. The idea being to maintain or improve our service output and outcomes to those that need them through efficiency and improved organisational management and engage with our community of supporters to help us through the rest of this financial year while a longer-term plan is created.

This leads me to the second challenge, which is really very exciting. Working with the community we are set up to support, those with tinnitus, professionals, companies, volunteers and employees, to co-create a new Tinnitus UK strategy fit for now and the future. I will be reaching out to you to get your views, ideas, opinions and thoughts on what support you need, what support you think others might need, how we can best engage with our various audiences and re-establish Tinnitus UK as the global leaders in tinnitus; creating a better world for people who have the condition and building on the knowledge and understanding about what can be done about it.

I am planning a road trip to meet as many of you as possible, to run focus groups and discussions with the UK’s network of tinnitus support groups, with researchers, businesses and others dotted around the UK who want to feel part of a community, part of an organisation, a movement dedicated to re-establishing itself as the leader in the field of tinnitus.

We will shortly announce details of these events, which will be supported by online sessions and surveys designed to maximise the input far and wide. If you have any specific ideas about how you might be able to help me with either of those challenges or anything else for that matter, I would be delighted to hear from you. You can contact me directly at alex.brooks-johnson@tinnitus.org.uk.

I have been overwhelmed by the passion, dedication, expertise and knowledge of the people I have met so far including the speakers at our conference (on-demand content still available), our Scientific Advisory Board and our wonderful team of staff and volunteers. And I cannot wait to get out and meet you as we put the next phase of this incredible organisation together.

Alex Brooks-Johnson