About Mobility Teams

Mobility Teams are the heart of Guide Dogs. The teams work closely with our service users and supporters, while at the same time garnering support and understanding about the issues and barriers preventing greater mobility for blind and partially sighted people.

There is no typical day within a mobility team. You could go from a meeting with a local authority to secure a service delivery contract, to a press conference to raise awareness about attacks on guide dogs, to hosting a fundraising dinner in the evening.

The mobility team includes experts on fundraising; building relationships with organisations to influence their policy and decision-making; campaigning; media relations; attracting and developing volunteers; assessing peoples’ needs; training guide dogs and their owners and training children and adults how to make the most of their limited vision to get around using services like My Guide (sighted guiding pilot) and new technology.

Every member of the team works together to make sure they are linking up and delivering the best outcomes for blind and partially sighted people. A dedicated support team works with everyone to ensure the smooth running of the team in terms of finance and administration. Even though there are experts every member of the team is responsible and contributes towards shared targets, whether for fundraising, volunteer retention or service delivery.

Some of the team are based elsewhere in the community, either within other charities’ offices in neighbouring towns and cities or working from home. They come in for regular team meetings so they can keep in touch with the rest of the team and pass on any information or opportunities they have picked up while working with partner organisations or the people they are training.

Mobility Teams are brand new to Guide Dogs. This is our vision of how we believe they should work. Everyone at Guide Dogs is responsible for making this a reality, not just the Mobility Team but also colleagues in the Central Office and other Mobility Services bases.