Our Impact

We regularly capture the impact that Shared Reading has on readers and volunteers, on children and adults, in prisons, in health and social care and in the community. These stories inspire us to do more to help people build deeper connections with each other, and themselves.

• People feel more connected to others.

• People experience improved wellbeing.

• People have a greater sense of purpose.

• People have a better relationship with literature.

Shared Reading in the UK ...

• 19,500

  readers a year

• 500+

  volunteers

• 350+

  regular weekly activities

Our readers told us...

during Feedback Week Spring 2022 …

• 95%

  Shared Reading makes me feel better.

• 95%

  I look forward to the group as an important event in my week.

• 94%

  I feel like I belong in this group.

In the criminal justice system...

Reader staff run Shared Reading groups in prisons, approved premises, high-security psychiatric hospitals, secure units and community justice initiatives. 

Our readers told us during Feedback Week (2018 – 2019)…

 

• 82%

  that hearing other people’s views helps them think differently about things.

With children and young people...

The Reader inspires a lifelong love of reading through one-to-one and group experiences, plus training for families and people who work with children, to support them to nurture reading for pleasure.

Participants in our First Page project (2019) said…

• 98%

  that the session was good for their family’s wellbeing.

• 97%

  that the session had made them want to spend more time sharing stories with their child.

Shared Reading volunteers say...

Our community-led model means that Shared Reading has a ‘double impact’, benefitting our volunteers as well as our readers.

• 90%

  ... it has given me a sense of achievement

• 92%

  ... would recommend volunteering to others

• 85%

  ... it has given me a sense of purpose

Want to be part of the story?