To commemorate the end of her first full year as Chair of the NCT Board, we talk to Stephanie Maurel about what the last year has meant to her, what makes her tick and what the future holds for NCT.
I’m a big Strictly Come Dancing fan and there’s a video clip of my eldest that really tickles me from when I was sat watching the show! He comes into the room, starts dancing in front of the TV in his PJs and then runs off!
Spending time with my dog, Grimmy. I’m more of a cat person and never wanted a dog! However, that changed – when we got him from a rescue centre in Lockdown – since then he’s attached himself to me. He waits for me to come home and wants me to feed and walk him and he’s essentially become my dog.
Go somewhere cold and remote like The Antarctic or The Arctic. I once went to an Ernest Shackleton exhibition, at the Natural History Museum, where they mapped out his trip. Since then, I’ve been very interested in what it would be like to visit somewhere so isolated.
A word from Joanne Powell: ‘I’m very sad to be stepping down from the NCT Board after two and a half incredible years. Leading the charity through Covid was tough and I’m very relieved the charity is still standing. We had some tough decisions to make, but I really enjoyed being part of the team that managed through the pandemic, and I felt supported by some great colleagues. I’m taking this decision to spend more time on my work and family commitments. I wish Stephanie, Angela, and all of the NCT team great success as they lead the charity into the future.’
What stands out to me about our current Board is the vast range of experience – it’s a real strength. We have people who are experts in HR, Strategy Development, Finance & Risk and Practice which allows for such diversity of thought in the room.
Currently, we have people on the Board who are single parents, who can talk compassionately about baby loss and have come from a multitude of different backgrounds.
Everyone is very respectful of other people’s points of view and feel comfortable to challenge, disagree or to ask for more information.
It makes for a friendly atmosphere and I feel very fortunate to work with a genuinely nice group of people.
I also wanted to share that Joanne Powell, Antenatal Practitioner and Trustee, is stepping down from the board due to other personal commitments.
Joanne has been on the Board for three years and we’ve really appreciated all the hard work she has done, and valued her insight into our community, especially in Wales.
Listening to different points of view and allowing yourself to be checked and challenged. We need to make room for other people’s expertise and experience and make sure we never take them for granted.
I’m a stickler for time but I’ve learnt that sometimes you have to make space to discuss topics where important decisions are involved. If you have to squeeze other things and focus on one key thing, then that is okay.
Our creativity and innovation during the pandemic. For example, our Walk and Talks are absolutely amazing, not only because of the impact they have had on our community but also the sheer numbers and scale.
They’ve become a regular thing now, but we forget when they were first started up, everything was closed and heavy restrictions were in place.
Our courses had just gone online, our teams were under huge amounts of pressure and yet they still carved out time for creativity and innovation in response to need. We created that space to bring people together and I’m so proud of what we achieved.
Since lockdown we’ve run over 40,000 Walk and Talks – such a brilliant achievement – and over the past year alone 9,000 parents have been supported through the walks.
I’m really excited about NCT’s future – we’re expanding on a lot of the work taken up during the pandemic and looking at how we can be there to support families into the next decade.
We are future focused, and values led. We are building a new strategy to help us maximise our impact over the next five years – supporting even more parents than ever before. This strategy will be ambitious, inclusive, sustainable and challenging us to be better. It will supersede the Recovery and Renewal strategy which helped us manage and recover from the pandemic.
Crucially, we’ll be building on our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) work so we can reach all parents in need. We have done a lot of work over the last year to make our services even more inclusive, but we know we have more work to do.
We’ll also continue to strengthen NCT Antenatal – which we are very proud of. We review parent insight, feedback and experiences month on month to make sure we’re always meeting the needs of parents.
Our first cohort of students have just gone through our new education model and will go forward and strengthen our team of Practitioners.
Volunteering is also a Board priority. We’ll be looking at our strategy and engaging with our volunteers to make sure we are having the best possible impact and that everyone’s voices are represented.
It was a really challenging time for NCT, but we have come out a better and stronger organisation. It allowed us to go back to basics and focus on what parents are telling us and what subsequent actions would have the most impact on families.
We’re better equipped now to deal with the cost of living and the climate crisis. We have a great CEO, a dynamic Senior team and a passionate and committed community that every day give me joy and hope. It’s a good time to come in as Chair. The future is positive, really positive.
Read more about our Board of Trustees and leadership team.
You can find out about volunteering for NCT and see if there are free groups happening in your area on our local activities page.
