& CHALLENGING ASPIRATIONS

Stephen was an enthusiastic rugby player and senior manager in?a well-known?food business. On the 4th of July (Independence Day, he says with a wry smile) 2008, Stephen's life would change forever.

Just after 18.00, he was riding his wife's motorbike, was involved in an accident and suffered life-changing injuries. It is a commonly used expression that rarely gives a picture of the impact on the individual. Many months Stephen spent on his back gaining intimate knowledge of his hospital bedroom ceiling in between bouts of excruciating agony and the indignities that go with being paralysed from the waist down.

It took time for Stephen to recover - as much as he ever would. Once he could, he started to build his career again, and in 2023, he was recruited by Footprints Conductive Education Centre as their Business and Charity Manager. A Nottingham-based charity providing Conductive Education to children living with mobility and communication difficulties across the East Midlands.

His input has been a revelation. The charity has a strategic plan to provide more support and services, and the first milestones have been achieved. Everybody involved, from the Education Team to the Management Team and the Trustees, is a team with a common purpose. The culture has changed, and when I visit the premises or call in my role as a Trustee, I can see the smiles on the faces of the staff or hear them in their voices.?Most importantly, the children we support and their parent's families are and will increasingly see the benefit of additional services Footprints is now providing, including family coffee events, sleep support and hydrotherapy sessions.

?IMPACT BIAS

Stephen is the best example of impact bias to which I have been close. Though he would be reluctant to admit it, I am sure some dark thoughts about his future went through his mind during those painful days in the second half of 2008. Sports, outdoor activities, the food industry, and perhaps even a career were memories. Yet here he is sixteen years later, leading a charity to a positive future and being an active foster parent for children with behavioural problems. He often appears in the media and is an after-dinner speaker.

Stephen often says people are not an inspiration, but the stories they tell are. Unusually, I'm afraid I have to disagree with him. He is an inspiration to the whole Footprints Team and I'm sure?everybody who knows him.

What is impact bias? It refers to the tendency of individuals to overestimate the intensity and duration of their emotional reactions to future events, both positive and negative. When people anticipate an event, they often imagine their emotional response to be more extreme and enduring than it is. I often see it in people who have lost their jobs, don't achieve the expected promotion, or don't receive the pay rise they believe they deserve.

It can happen in all walks of life, and for many of the parents of the children we support, the impact when they are born can only be imagined. The love, devotion, and attention these parents give their children is a joy. To see the effort they make to help the children reach their full potential is, at times, magical.

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https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7125855989936873472 and if you are interested in finding out more, please visit our website www.footprintscec.org or email us at

[email protected] . Footprints will always?be pleased to hear from?you.