Health Equals ‘Work and Health Inequality’ Spokespeople Programme

Health Equals’ new campaign will support small and medium-sized businesses to better understand how they can support employees with health-limiting conditions to stay in work. 

We’re looking for people across the UK who are living with an ongoing health condition and have experienced the challenges of staying in work, balancing work and health, or leaving work because of their health to become spokespeople for the campaign and share their stories. 

Whether you’ve been supported to stay in work, struggled to get the support you needed, or had to leave work because of your health, we want to hear from you. 

What you’ll get from the programme

As part of the programme, you’ll take part in our six-week training programme supporting you to develop the communication skills and confidence to tell your story and advocate for better working policies that support people with health limiting conditions. We’ll cover developing your story for written communication and being on camera as video content is central to this campaign.  

While there may be opportunities for media engagement, a key focus of this programme will be supporting participants to contribute to a series of short-form content pieces from Health Equals. This content will bring the campaign narrative to life through lived experience and practical insights. 

This content may include 20–30 second videos exploring topics such as:

• The impact of leaving employment
• The difference a supportive conversation can make
• The role of workplace flexibility and adjustments
• The realities of managing an ongoing health condition while working

To participate in this programme, it’s important you have a strong interest and desire to be a spokesperson and participate in the creation of content around health inequalities. We’re interested in spokespeople with existing experience of media engagement, but this isn’t essential as you may have other experience that is relevant.

Who we’re looking for

We’re looking for people of a range of ages and backgrounds who can paint a picture of their journey in living with a health limiting condition whilst being employed. You may be affected by: 

• Long covid, chronic fatigue or pain or other energy limiting conditions
• Musculo-skeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular or endocrine & metabolic conditions
• Neurological conditions
• Mental health conditions
• Any other ongoing or long-term health conditions that affect your ability to work or manage your health alongside employment 

We are particularly keen to hear from those who:   

• Have experienced positive support from their employer that has helped them to stay in work. This could include flexibility to attend medical appointments, changes to working hours or patterns, reasonable adjustments, changes to their role or responsibilities, or other practical support.
• Have experienced challenges in getting the support they need to remain in work and can share the impact this has had on their health, wellbeing or working life.
• Have experienced a change in their employment because of their health, including reducing their hours, changing roles or leaving employment, and can talk about the impact of this experience.
• Can reflect on what made a difference. This could be a supportive conversation, a particular adjustment, understanding from a manager or colleague, or another form of workplace support.
• Are interested in sharing their experience publicly and contributing to short-form campaign content, as well as potentially speaking to the media about their story. 

Programme commitment

Between 1 October and mid-November 2026, we’ll offer you 10 hours of workshop training made up of 5 x 2–hour online workshop sessions, plus two peer networking sessions.

We require you to attend all programme sessions.

Session dates will be as follows: 

How to apply

Please apply using our online application form.

The deadline is Tuesday 8 September 2026. 

We’ll be carrying out 20-minute, informal interviews over the phone on 17 and 18 September to find out why you’d like to be part of the programme. We will share all interview questions in advance. 

Any questions?

We are hosting a Q&A session for prospective applicants on 2nd September from 10:00 – 11:00. If you are interested in attending the session, please register your interest and you will be sent joining instructions.   

If you’d like to ask any questions ahead of applying, get in touch with Paula at paulas@mediatrust.org.  

Accessibility and support

We want to ensure this programme feels supportive and accessible to everyone taking part. If you have access needs, caring responsibilities, concerns about technology, or anything else you’d like to discuss before applying, please get in touch. We’ll do our best to support you.