Hello %FirstName%
March News...
Moving and Handling Service
Please note this IS a self-refer service – there was a bit of confusion last week regarding this, which has now been clarified.
A new service has been commissioned to support parent carers of children and young people. A “Moving and Handling Family Carer Advisor” is now available and you can self-refer to this service on 01952 607783. The new service description is as follows: “Could your handling tasks be made easier when you are caring for child or young adult at home”
Ask yourself the following
• Do you get problems with back or shoulder strain?
• Are you struggling with a particular transfer - for example helping someone stand up or rolling someone in bed?
• Do you have an existing injury which is getting in the way of your ability to care?
• Do you have moving and handling equipment in your home that you are struggling to use?
• Has the person you are caring for deteriorated and become more difficult to handle?
We offer free one to one home based assessments by a moving and handling advisor which can include:
• Advice and practical input given.
• Individual assessments in the home
• Practical ways to help prevent injury
• Information and advice about back care
• Suggested and possible provision of equipment
Jill Tiernan, Commissioner responsible for this service writes “This will help your confidence in handling tasks and improve your own physical wellbeing. As part of the home assessment with the Parent Carer and young person , a moving and handling comfort scoring sheet will be completed prior and post intervention. This helps to demonstrate the value and impact of the assessment. We see this role as an important part of improving the well being of parent carers and carer in general. Jo Britton Asst Director of Children and Young People is keen to see this role develop which is great news”
Games Night at The Wakes
The Wakes at Oakengates have started up a Games Café at The Wakes that will run on the first Tuesday of the month. Families can come along between 3.30pm-7.30pm to suit them - its free to come along. We are trying to encourage families to do things together and for people to mix with others socially in the community. They have a range of board games and are seeking more donations of course. There is someone offering to teach people chess to anyone who is interested (no cost) with possible of taking part in competitions. If you are interested give them a call for a chat, or check out their event listing on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/897043530473910/
Planning Tools Workshops***Places Still Available***
We are organising a Planning Tools event for you that will provide information and 'Tools' to help you plan the support around your child - whether this be across Health, Education or Social/Community Care. This is family led 'person centred thinking' that will help us to share life planning tools that will support your whole family, build up resilience, challenge perceptions, help support positive risk tasking and using your experiences and influences to support your child/young person living in their own community.
We have asked Kath Bromfield from Rotherham to facilitate these workshops for us who is very experienced in delivering work around these tools and has used them personally and succesfully. Kath has previously presented this information at an InControl Conference that I attended and also to our Parent Rep team.
A workshop will be available aimed at families WITHOUT a personal budget on 21.3.18 but if you are unable to attend on 21st then you are more than welcome to join us on 22nd. Please click on the links below to book your place:
Wednesday 21st March Workshop, aimed at families WITHOUT a personal budget: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/planning-tools-workshop-without-a-personal-budget-tickets-43702805267
Thursday 22nd March Workshop, aimed at families WITH a personal budget: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/planning-tools-workshop-with-a-personal-budget-tickets-43703265644
These workshops are only open to families only in Telford & Wrekin. VENUE to be confirmed.
Refreshments and Lunch will be included free of charge - please advise any dietary reqs.
Flexible Scheduling Study, University of Birmingham
A new research project is being conducted at the University of Birmingham, under Dr. Kate Woodcock, which is looking to recruit parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Prader-Willi and Fragile X Syndromes.
In brief, the project is looking at resistance to change and what underlies the development of this resistance. Evidence suggests that those who have quite restrictive routines at primary school age may display more challenging behaviours due to resistance to change when older. The current study aims to develop and test the feasibility of a flexible scheduling intervention to help parents introduce more flexible routines for their children with ASD to help prevent resistance to change developing.
To ensure that the intervention developed will be acceptable for all stakeholders, parents will help the researchers develop this approach through taking part in telephone interviews and focus groups to help develop the criteria for the intervention. They will then be trained in the approach and implement the intervention at home for up to 4 weeks. Each stage can be completed remotely, over telephone or webinar. They are currently recruiting participants who have a child with ASD between the ages of 5-12 years.
For more information about the study, please see the video on the following link: http://www.katewoodcock.com/flexible/
Weekly Update from Jayne Stevens (Participation Co-ordinator)...
Weekly RoundUp after Mother's Day (Mum's Day in our house)... Last week we had our Admaston Family Group where we started making plans for our celebration year - so put the 6th August in your diaries and look out for more updates on our Annual Picnic in the Park. We held our Ops Meeting too which brings all our paid employees together and the head of our fundraising team. On Tuesday I attended a SEN Law Conference in London - very interesting speakers from IPSEA, Local Governmetn and Social Care Ombudsman, OFSTED, Department for Education, Solicitors, and Judge Jane McConnell from the SEND Tribunal - we were given a 200+ page conference document so will try and get that summarised into something more readable. The most important element of this was the news around Tribunals and the powers relating to recommendations under Health and Social Care elements as part of a 2 year trial (Link is here:) https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/686902/SEND_Tribunal-single_route_of_redress_national_trial_guidance.pdf
Back on home ground we've been working on the workshops for Planning Tools and these are booking up well - just a few spaces left so please check out the links for these.
On Thursday it was International Women's Day and hope that you managed to celebrate at some of the events that were happening locally and those at The Wakes? It was also Autism West Midlands Shropshire Conference which we went along to - great to see their work and hear from a lady who received her diagnosis in adulthood - very empowering and also a great background to understanding the 'need' for a diagnosis to help access services and also to provide answers to oneself.
Our Thursday evening Family group still remains popular with a few families who really benefit - we are going to continue with these evening groups alongside the Pirates & Princesses one.
Friday we met with the Assistant Director responsible for Governance, Procurement and Commissioning - first time we've met and we were able to give an overview of our work and share the importance of the voices of families relating to services. A conversation around Independent Living and supported housing was held and also transport was mooted so we will be following these two areas up in due course - there's been much conversation taking places on this regionally and nationally so it was inevitable we would soon be having conversations locally...
Thank you for taking the time to read my update and hope they are useful?
Come and join us at our Family Groups...
Wednesday 21st March 2018: Your Voice + Family Resources from 9.30am-11.30am at Hollinswood Community Centre, 7 Downemead, Telford, TF3 2EW.
Friday 23rd March 2018: Your Voice + Family Resources from 9.30am–11.30am at Dawley Town Hall (opposite Langley School/CAMHS) New Street, Dawley, Telford, TF4 3JR.
Monday 26th March 2018: Your Voice + Family Resources from 5pm-7pm at Pirates and Princesses, Unit 17, Cedar Court, Halesfield 17, Telford, TF7 4PF.
Monday 9th April 2018: Your Voice + Family Resources from 10.00am–12.00pm at Admaston House, Admaston,Telford, TF5 0BN
Thank you for reading our latest bulletin.
Kerrie Seagrave
Project Administrator on behalf of PODS Parent Carer Forum.
We hope you enjoyed reading our latest e-bulletin - we hope you continue to find it useful. If you have any suggestions to make it better feel free to let me know.