StartHere was founded by Sarah Hamilton-Fairley, previously founder and Chief Executive of Whitewater; a small but highly successful communications agency that specialised in writing and designing brochures for the voluntary sector. In 1992 Sarah gave birth to very sick, premature twins. Despite her in-depth, professional knowledge of the voluntary sector, it took Sarah months to find the specialist organisation that offered exactly the emotional, practical and professional support she needed. That organisation, The Multiple Births Foundation, was based only three miles from where Sarah lived, yet there was nothing – no person, system or service – to help her find the support she needed in this time of distress. The twins survived and Sarah vowed to end the unnecessary suffering that results from a gap in the information chain between people who need help and the organisations that provide it. StartHere was born.

Initially StartHere only covered medical conditions and support for carers. After an early trial at the Whittington Hospital in North London in 1999/2000, users overwhelmingly reported that StartHere was a fantastic concept, but did not go far enough. Users said they needed information on a much wider range of issues. If, for example, a carer was looking after someone who was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, StartHere could put them in touch with the national and local Alzheimer’s support groups and national and local organisations that could provide support to them as carers – but they might also need information on sheltered housing, employment rights, incapacity and carer benefits, living aids, wills or arranging a funeral. Life, the user research clearly pointed out, is not divided into arcane silos and therefore for the StartHere service to be truly valuable it had to break through these barriers.

The charity therefore took the bold decision to expand the StartHere service to cover the range of social issues for which an individual might need support across the whole social spectrum including health, housing, education, employment, benefits and welfare issues.

StartHere believes that the only sustainable and most effective way to help the most vulnerable in society is to help them to help themselves. This is precisely what StartHere aims to do thereby making a vital difference to some of the most socially excluded people across the UK.