Becca's story

The Revd Rebecca Henney is a curate at St Laurence's Church, Foleshill, and lives in Coventry with her husband, James, and three children, Theo, Matilda and Agatha.

When Matilda and Agatha both began to struggle at school, Becca was concerned, and thought her daughters may be neurodivergent. Through the NHS, the family faced a five-year waiting list for an assessment and diagnosis. If they went private, it would only be a two-month wait, but could cost upwards of £600 for an appointment.

We were privileged to be able to help, by providing a Health grant towards a child ADHD assessment, as well as an Occupational Therapy assessment to see how they could be best supported, through out service partner, The OT Practice.

Becca is dressed in a blue t-shirt and dungarees. James is dressed in a white t-shirt and a dark grey shirt. Both are holding hands, and looking into one another's eyes.

How did you first hear about Clergy Support Trust?

"Someone in my fellowship group at university smacked a tooth out with an oar!"
"He was on the rowing team, and he couldn't afford to have it fixed. Our fellowship group tutor said, 'You should talk to Clergy Support Trust. They may be able to help you to get your tooth fixed'. I asked 'What is Clergy Support Trust?' - and that was how I found out."
"At first, I felt guilty about receiving support. I felt like we were getting a lot, and I didn't want another family to miss out on a grant because we were getting lots."
"Your Visiting Caseworker Manager, Lindsay reassured us that another family wasn't going to be denied help, just because we needed that helping hand."

Occupational Therapy Assessment

"Our journey started when we realised both of our girls were demonstrating signs of neurodiversity, in particular not being able to cope in school."
"The first grant Clergy Support Trust gave us was a Health grant for Matilda to be assessed for ADHD, and she was subsequently diagnosed. Things were becoming steadily more problematic; both girls really struggled in school, had a lot of anxiety, and it was really impacting their mental health. Then a clergy colleague mentioned the wonderful Lindsay. She is absolutely marvellous."
"We were put in touch with her by your Charitable Services team, and one of the first things she suggested was an Occupational Therapy Assessment. In my ignorance, I thought it was what happened when you broke a hip and you needed rails in the toilet. That was my image of it. But it turns out Occupational Therapists work with sensory profile and neurodiversity, and that was so helpful as we navigated this journey."

The family are stood together, looking at the camera. Behind them are a church tower, tall trees and a cloudy sky.

Visiting Caseworkers

Our Visiting Caseworker Service help households with more complex needs to make grant applications, while also working helping them to access support from local authorities and other organisations, including Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payments. Households are referred to the Service following assessment by our Charitable Services Team.

"We felt like there was a grown up in the room who knew what was happening, which is invaluable when you're a bit at sea and you're trying to do the best for your children, but you're not sure how to get there."
"Agatha in particular was really struggling with school, and the school just weren't equipped to deal with it. They didn't have any resource, or anything they could do for her. They just kept asking me what the nice lady at Clergy Support Trust was recommending."
"Having Lindsay's expertise, calming and reassuring us, helping us to navigate SEN (Special Educational Needs), a system that was completely alien to us, was just so helpful."

Theo is giving his mother and two younger sisters a piggy-back.

Fitness and leisure activities

"Now that Matilda's doing online school, a Health grant helped us to take her to classes at the gym to stay active. That's essentially her PE. We wouldn't have been able to afford something like that without the Trust."
"Because there's a scarcity mindset at the moment, there's a fear that you don't want to take away from someone who deserves it more. Clergy are susceptible to that because they tend to be quite empathetic, because that's the nature of the people who do these jobs. I think for us as well, we serve in a pretty poor community, and that's tricky to navigate."
"We've got quite an age range of children, and actually the gym is one of those few nice treats that we can all enjoy together, the five of us, where everybody's happy. The girls can go swimming, and there's different classes that all of us can do."

We are concerned that more than 1 in 5 serving clergy rely on our help.

That’s why, as well as providing grants and services for those in need, we're working with the national Churches and others to develop longer-term solutions, so that every clergy household can thrive. This includes our advocacy work, which recently led to the uplift of the clergy stipend.

In 2024, we supported almost 2,800 households, with more than 7,300 grants. The demand for our services has quadrupled in the past five years, and continues to grow. We're only able to walk alongside clergy and their families with your help.

If you can make a donation through the link below, to help us continue to serve the people who spend their lives serving others, it would be greatly appreciated.

Donate today

NOTES FOR EDITORS

Photo credits: Clergy Support Trust x Dan Foley Photography.

Clergy Support Trust is the largest and oldest charity focussed on the wellbeing of clergy and their families. The Trust, originally founded in 1655, provides confidential help for Anglican clergy and their families across the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man, and Diocese in Europe. The Trust are confidential, independent, inclusive, and impartial, and we support clergy from training through to retirement.