Bolster reflects on their 20 year journey and learning
Bolster Community is currently in its 20th year, celebrating two decades of impact and dedicated service. Founded by our tenacious CEO Jacinta Linden, over the years we have undergone a couple of refreshes in terms of naming, but at heart our mission has remained constant. We were formally constituted as a Community Health Alliance in 2004, embarking on a mission to collaboratively support local parents, children and seniors – and our recently launched 5-year Strategic Plan (2025-2030), has reemphasized our ongoing commitment to working alongside children and adults to strengthen connections and improve health and wellbeing – with our ultimate vision being a connected community where every person, regardless of circumstance, has the opportunity to thrive.
What difference have you made in the community?
Over the years we have helped countless families and adults who have needed support – and success for us has been seeing those parents, children and individuals thrive.
Our growth highlights our ambition to better support those in need exemplified recently by our most recent 5-year funding award from the National Lottery Community Fund N.I. which has enabled us to extend our Autism Connect pilot programme to include Armagh and Banbridge, and reach even more young Autistic Adults who otherwise would not have any support, connections or social outreach.
Similarly, funding from the N.I. Housing Executive has enabled us to support vulnerable adults who may be at risk from losing their tenancies – very often the Social Kitchen may be the only contact these people may have, so to say it offers some a lifeline is no exaggeration.
Through our Building Futures partnership with WOMENSTec and Women in Business, we have engaged over 230 women in Newry, Mourne and Down alone – helping them find renewed purpose, acquire new qualifications and reengage with work or further education opportunities. And through our Home to Hospital service, we have provided rurally isolated seniors with a service to attend out of area hospital appointments, making what can be a very stressful time, that bit kinder and more manageable.
To be here 20 years on, supporting such a wide cross section of our community achieve better health and wellbeing is perhaps more than our CEO and Founder Jacinta had ever envisaged when she initially started a health alliance back in 2004 – however, here we are 20years on, our staff has tripled in that time – and most importantly we are committed to keep going, as the needs around us only seem to keep growing.
What motivated you to join NICVA?
We joined NICVA because we are stronger together. The Voluntary and Community sector supports some of the most vulnerable and underrepresented people in our society – yet all too often, we are asked to do more with less.
For us, being part of NICVA means a shared commitment to community, fairness, and opportunity. It’s how we make sure the voices of those we support are heard – loud and clear.
How have you benefitted from NICVA membership?
Being a member of NICVA has been instrumental in our organisation’s development. From the very beginning, NICVA has provided support, guidance, and training that helped us grow and build solid foundations.
In our early days, we benefitted greatly from the governance support provided by Denise Copeland. Her expertise helped us establish strong structures and good governance practices, giving us the confidence that we were setting the right course for the organisation’s future.
As we grew organisational capacity, Leeann Kelly provided guidance in amplifying impact and encouraged us to keep developing evidence to shape our future plans.
Right from the beginning of Bolster, 20 years ago, we benefitted from our NICVA membership by accessing excellent training services delivered by Sandra Bailie & Roisin Kelly, as we stretched as an organisation both Sandra and Roisin put us through our paces helping us make sense of strategy, planning, policy and capacity building. In more recent times, Roisin and the wider training team have provided many opportunities for our staff to build their management skills.
The high quality and accessibility of NICVA’s training and development opportunities have made a real difference to our team and our work. They have allowed us to bring fresh ideas and strengthened leadership into the organisation, helping us adapt and thrive in a changing environment.
Beyond specific support, being part of NICVA’s wider network has helped us stay informed on sector developments, connect with other organisations, and be part of a collective voice advocating for the community and voluntary sector in Northern Ireland.
We are deeply grateful for the role NICVA has played in our journey and look forward to continuing this valuable relationship.
How can people support you?
Please be a champion for Bolster Community – you can support our Social Enterprise via our evidence-based programmes (e.g. FRIENDS Resilience programmes) which we can deliver in a variety of settings and offer WHO evidence-based interventions for children (and their parents) who may be struggling with emotional regulation, resilience and anxiety.
You can also support us by making copious repeat orders of our Acorn Scents – they are in the words of an infamous Instagram personality “Delicious”, so go to https://acornshop.co.uk. Acorn candles, wax melts and diffusers not only to provide work experience for our fabulous Bolster Buddies, but the proceeds also support Bolsters charitable delivery of services.
