An interview with Dr Nicola Stock, Centre for Appearance Research
Charities supporting people with visible differences have made huge strides in awareness and advocacy. But to truly reach every community, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) must sit at the heart of everything they do.
As the VTCT Foundation moves into its final legacy phase, one of its ambitions has been to help organisations embed EDI into their overall strategy to increase their reach amongst underserved communities. In doing so, we want to ensure everyone with a visible difference – regardless of their background or culture – feels seen, heard and supported
Representation matters: inclusive support that builds trust
When CAR’s Dr Nicola Stock received a small grant from VTCT Foundation’s dedicated EDI funding stream, the goal was to for Appearance Collective members to benefit from this new research into current barriers and the practical steps recommended to overcome them.
Speaking at the 2025 London Showcase, Nicola explained that the first phase had involved interviewing 16 Appearance Collective charities to build a clearer picture of the sector’s status quo. Over four months, she explored how organisations currently approach EDI, from policies and staffing to what’s working, what’s proving difficult, and where more support is needed.
Through these conversations she learned that, while most organisations recognise the importance of improving accessibility, the majority are still at the early stages of their EDI journey. Common themes quickly emerged, with limited resources, a lack of confidence and uncertainty about where to begin holding progress back for many.
Turning evidence into everyday action
In analysing the interview feedback during the second phase, Nicola was able to identify three main areas for action – knowledge and engagement, accessibility, and representation. Using these themes, she converted her core learnings into seven evidence-based recommendations to help charities make progress, regardless of their size or structure.
The overarching message from her report is that, whilst EDI may be a complex area to address, small steps can spark big change. And it’s vital that organisations engage and make a start. Helpfully, the report also includes anonymous case studies to share best practice examples.
Understanding who you are reaching, and – crucially – who you are not, is the first step to building services that provide psychological support for everyone affected by visible differences. What’s more, when communities see their stories, images and cultures reflected by the organisations offering help, barriers fall, access widens, and more lives change for the better.
The report’s seven recommendations are:
- Increase cultural competency by engaging with relevant training.
- Build community networks by connecting with community leaders, participating in cultural events and activities, connecting with other charities to share learning and enlisting the help of clinicians to raise awareness of charity services.
- Understand the population’s support needs and preferences by engaging in conversations and/or formal research.
- Increase representation across the organisation through proactive efforts and open calls to diversify member stories and imagery, and by improving recruitment processes.
- Improve accessibility by reflecting on EDI principles when organising events and considering language translation and interpretation opportunities.
- Develop organisational strategies to incorporate actionable EDI goals throughout the organisation.
- Measure progress and impact by collecting robust demographic data.
Each individual action is simple and achievable. Put together, they have the potential to create a roadmap for a more inclusive future where EDI isn’t a checkbox, but a living part of how charities connect, communicate and care.
ADVICE & CONSIDERATIONS
- Start with what you know – and what you don’t: Collect and review basic demographic data about who engages with your charity. Knowing who you reach is an important piece of the puzzle as it can help reveal which groups you may be missing.
- Make EDI everyone’s job: Improving diversity and life experience amongst your staff can inspire more diverse ways to help members. Appoint team as well as community champions, and incorporate inclusion goals into everyday planning, not just one-off campaigns or annual strategies.
- Build cultural confidence: Invest in short, focused training sessions that explore bias, language and representation. Even half-day workshops can shift awareness and behaviours to improve your organisation’s support provision.
- Strengthen local links: Partner with grassroots groups, community leaders and faith organisations where appropriate to reach new audiences, better understand cultures, and learn what authentic representation and support looks like.
- Reflect the diversity you want to welcome: Audit your imagery, case studies and channels. Build trust by showing real people from varied backgrounds, ages and identities so potential beneficiaries see themselves reflected.
- Remove hidden barriers: Different audiences digest information differently. Review your resources and content for accessibility, make material available in different styles, from translated or audio options to more easily readable formats or graphics to help more people feel included.
- Share learnings, not perfection: Celebrate small wins, talk openly about what hasn’t worked yet, and encourage peer-to-peer learning across the sector by sharing best practice with fellow Appearance Collective members.