The last 12 months have been an ambitious and exciting time for Shift.ms. We’ve welcomed more than 4,300 new members to our vibrant and diverse digital community of MSers, meaning we now support over 60,000 people across the UK and beyond. Every MSer brings their own unique experiences and contributes to Shift.ms’ powerful model of giving/receiving peer support. We’re so grateful to our incredible 300+ Shift.ms volunteers (100% of whom have MS), who have contributed 4,684 hours over the past year towards our work.
Over the last year, we’ve made significant progress in our ambitions to modernise our digital platform, to create a multi-faceted one-stop solution for MSers that will address all their emotional, social, and health knowledge needs. The basic infrastructure of the ‘Shift.ms mobile app’ was built over 2023/2024, which was entirely co-produced alongside a team of MSer volunteers, has now launched to our community; and our aspirations to develop and embed a range of innovative new features are well underway. We truly believe that this evolution in our service model will transform the way MSers connect, support one another, and access much-needed tools to help them take control of their own health.
During 2023/2024 we launched a range of MSer-led health content resources, with invaluable input from multiple healthcare professionals, providing relatable and credible information that empowers health knowledge and informs decision-making. This has included our ‘Womanhood’ series, covering a wide range of topics related to MS and women. Combined, our health content has been viewed an incredible 821,300 times over the year.
Our vital 1-to-1 support service “The Buddy Network”, targeted towards vulnerable MSers facing a frightening new diagnosis or other major personal challenge, has gone from strength-to-strength, reaching 213 more MSers over a 12-month period. The outcomes of this service are truly life-changing, as more experienced MSers who have navigated the same treacherous path, support their peers at a time of immense vulnerability; helping to rebuild their confidence, resilience, and wellbeing.
But none of this would have been possible without the support of our trust and foundation investors, corporate partners, individual supporters and fundraisers. They have shared our vision and commitment to improving the lives of MSers, and enabled us to carry out our crucial work - with demonstrable impact, outlined in this report. On behalf of Shift.ms and the countless MSers we have supported over the past 12-months, thank you for your kindness, commitment, and generous support.
Shift.ms is powered by MSers at every level of the organisation. I’m so proud of the continued collaboration of our staff team, trustees and volunteers, who work tirelessly to create and sustain a safe space for MSers to connect and learn from each other.
Watch this space over the next year, as our new platform evolves to fully meet the needs of our community, and we develop plans for an exciting new project to combat the severe threats to mental health faced by many MSers.
We can’t wait to see our community grow and develop even stronger connections, and look forward to continuing to partner with you to achieve life-changing outcomes for MSers.
- George Pepper, CEO, co-founder and fellow MSer
