The Back-Up Trust

Back-Up is a dynamic national charity working with people paralysed through spinal cord injury to rebuild self confidence and independence. We offer peer support, challenging outdoor activities and integrated events.

We organise a varied programme of activity courses throughout the year, which integrate spinally injured participants and able-bodied volunteers. These act as a catalyst which can totally change someone's
attitude to disability and enable them to focus on how much is possible.

Whether you are spinally injured yourself, have other experience of spinal cord injury or are completely new to all this, we hope you will get involved.

Why does The Back-Up Trust exist?

3 people will be involved in accident today in the UK, which will leave them permanently paralysed and disabled through spinal cord injury. It can happen to anyone at any time.

Adjusting to a new life in a wheelchair is a struggle for anyone and the mental effects of spinal cord injury can be as devastating as the physical, with suicide rates 5 times the national average. To date there is no cure. Paralysis is permanent.

What does The Back-Up Trust do to help?

Back-Up does not think it is enough to tell a newly paralysed person what they are still capable of. We provide the environment, support and opportunity for people to prove it to themselves.

Back-Up's year round programme of activity courses and events are not disabled holidays, but challenging, integrated courses for able-bodied and spinally injured people.

The courses give people back the self-belief, motivation and independence, which spinal cord injury takes away. The results are inspirational and life changing.

"The course opened my eyes to what I could do and gave me a lot of self-belief.
I learnt to give anything a go and not to let my injury beat me - it is a good ethos to have." Ben.