Believing in the power of the future

JUGGLING two jobs can, at times, be quite tricky.

On the one hand I am running the NCTJ journalism course at Highbury College in Portsmouth, and I am also involved heavily in work with the body which oversees the training of journalists in the UK as the chief examiner for sports journalism.

Then I'm trying to balance that demanding role by working for the charity Hearing Link, promoting the awareness and use of hearing loops nationwide as part of the campaign, "Let's Loop the UK".

These are two very different subject areas, but I love having that diversity. A friend of mine asked last week if I missed the day-to-day routine of the newsroom, working to deadlines for the web and print. There are times, I'll admit, when I do miss being at the heart of the news agenda.

But I feel now that I have the perfect balance. With the teaching, I am working with the journalists of tomorrow, sett these young students on the path to a future career in media with the right disciplines and structures.

It is incredibly rewarding and I have two excellent groups of students who are fun to work with and who each offer tremendous amount of promise.

And then on the other hand, I have the charity work. Talk about a feeling of self-worth, this job has it in spades.

Last week I made a flying visit to Belfast to speak at a conference organised by Hearing Link at the stunning Titanic Museum. The setting was amazing. Our conference room was a replica of the inside of the Titanic ballroom complete with a tumbling wooden staircase.

Several of the Hearing Link team were there, so it was good to catch up with them. We are looking to establish a loop project in Northern Ireland in 2015 which I am very excited about. Because of the community nature of Northern Ireland, get it right and the project will flourish, deliver it wrong and your name will be mud.

I spoke at this workshop in Belfast about the loop campaign and the impact it has been having already. The progress is immense, with six projects hearing loop projects operating up in the UK, several more in the pipeline, and last week the Government praised the scheme in Swindon as a model of good practice for disability issues.

Back in Belfast, during the session one hearing aid wearer in his thirties spoke movingly about his experience. His sister was sitting alongside on the platform, and his mother was also in the audience where she was moved to tears as this brave soul spoke about the depths of despair he had reached with his hearing loss.

For 10 years he had become isolated, often spending long periods in his bedroom and frequently distant from his family. His was a life being wasted. Then the sudden death of his father changed perspectives. The family came together in grief, and in that coming together this young man came to terms with his hearing loss.

He went on to enrol on one of Hearing Link's self management programmes, understanding how to cope with hearing loss, employing some of the strategies to deal with day-to-day life, and empowering his family to work with him.

This little caterpillar became a butterfly who is now flourishing and to hear this man speak was both inspiring and emotional. He came out with this wonderful line that working with Hearing Link had given him "the power to believe in the future".

I've now signed this chap up to work with me in Northern Ireland next year since he is a technical expert on hearing loops.

It is an unusual marriage of journalism and charity work, but it is a perfect partnership and one I hope will last for a long, long time.