In 1986 Bernadette Cleary was asked for help by a friend whose 12-year-old daughter had terminal cancer and wanted to die at home rather than in hospital.

Initially working from her kitchen, Cleary raised the money needed to fund the training of family support workers to help other families at their time of greatest need and so began, Rainbow Trust Children's Charity.

Today the Surrey-based organisation has six teams of support workers in nine locations across the UK, providing emotional and practical support at home, at hospital and in the community to families who have a child with a life threatening or terminal illness.

Rainbow Trust supports the whole family, including parents, carers, the unwell child, brothers, sisters and grandparents. Any family can receive free support from the moment of their child or young person's diagnosis. In the six months to this January it supported 845 families, including 180 new referrals - an average of one new family each day, helping them in whatever way they needed.

People genuinely care about and support each other at Rainbow Trust and go the extra mile to get things done, and the leadership team ensure they have the support they need from professional development to emotional and practical help.

Chief executive, Zillah Bingley, introduced weekly coffee mornings where staff can meet on an informal basis for a coffee and a chat. The human resources team has also launched a monthly HeRe to help session, which is open to all staff.