Tourettes Action has worked in England, Wales and Northern Ireland since 1981 and is the leading support, services and research charity for people with Tourette Syndrome (TS) and their families. The charity wants people with TS to receive the practical support and social acceptance they need to help them live their lives to the full. TS is an inherited, neurological condition, the key features of which are tics, involuntary and uncontrollable sounds and movements.

TS is a complex condition and a large number of people with the condition will also experience co-occurring features and conditions. It is estimated that TS affects one school child in every hundred and more than 300,000 children and adults in the UK live with the condition.

The charity’s main activities include:

• Providing help and support by phone, email, and online chat 
• Providing or facilitating a range of support activities including online and in-person groups, befriending, making small grant awards and organising workshops and activities including residential ‘Ticfest’ events to bring people with TS together to build confidence, resilience, and community 
• Providing educational support to schools, teachers, and parents 
• Running webinars, meetings, and conferences on topics of interest to people with TS and their families 
• Producing written and other published materials online to improve the knowledge and understanding of TS. Tourettes Action is the ‘go to’ organisation in the UK for authoritative information on TS 
• Advocating for those living with TS to the statutory authorities e.g. schools and the health service, together with advocacy using the press and via traditional and social media to improve the lives of those with TS 
• Encouraging and assisting research into all aspects of TS and disseminating the results as widely as possible. Managing and monitoring research projects into the treatment and cure of TS fully or partly funded by the charity’s grants