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Transition to Employment Conference & Lots More...

Transition to Employment Conference - Tuesday 2nd April 2019 

Ramada Hotel Telford Ironbridge, Forge Gate, Telford, TF3 4NA.

This conference is aimed at families living within Telford and Wrekin with young people from Secondary school age through too 25, who are considering an employment route or aspiring to work through supported internships or volunteering etc. We have a very passionate National Speaker Barry Jones talking regarding Employment Opportunities and Positive outcomes, alongside local people with lived experience of support into work and working lives.

Department of Work and Pensions will be speaking regarding working-age benefits. There will also be many stalls from a large spectrum of local services highlighting what they can offer.

Lunch will be provided alongside light refreshments, if you have any dietary requirements please email elaine@podstelford.org no later than the 25th March. Tickets can be purchased with a small donation of just £1.

To book your place, please CLICK HERE

Information Shared To You From APPGA (All Party Parliamentary Group for Autism)

As you may know, this year marks the 10th anniversary of the Autism Act, as well as the next milestone for reviewing the autism strategy. To mark this significant moment, the APPGA is holding an inquiry that will consider progress made in the last 10 years, as well as exploring how services and support can be further improved for autistic people and their families. In order to build our understanding of what has and has not changed since the Act came into force, we are consulting with autistic people and their families, as well as holding evidence sessions in Parliament and organising focus groups with professionals and commissioners.

Public survey

As part of our inquiry, we are running a survey on our website, which seeks to find out more about autistic adults’, children’s and families’ views and experiences of support and services. This survey will also shed light on people's awareness of the Autism Act and the legal duties in place. The results from this survey will be part of the evidence going into a report, which will be published in September of this year and will set out recommendations to Government about what improvements need to be made for both autistic adults and children.

The survey will be open until Sunday 7 April, and we would like as many autistic people and their families to share their views so we can build a reflective understanding of peoples’ experiences across England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. While the Autism Act only covers England, we do also want to capture views from across the nations as this will help us in our broader campaigning work.

Review of the National Autism Strategy  

Dept of Health and Social Care have released their National Call for Evidence for the Autism Strategy (to include children and young people). This is the information:

"Today, with the Department for Education, we have launched a national call for evidence to inform our review of the autism strategy. The call for evidence is inviting views from autistic people, their families and carers as well as those of professionals. It is aimed at finding out what is working and where progress has been made and importantly where we need to push harder to transform the lives of autistic people, their families and carers.

The call for evidence can be accessed online at the following link https://consultations.dh.gov.uk/autism/2e4ae18d and is open for responses until 16 May 2019.

As well as the opportunity to give views online, we are working with organisations and networks, to organise face to face sessions with groups of autistic people, including children and young people.

We are keen to gather as many views as possible and would be very grateful if you could share the link via your websites, networks and social media.

Thanks to everyone who has helped to inform this work.

Kind regards
Kathryn Flynn, Mental Health, Dementia and Disabilities Directorate, Department of Health & Social Care"

The Sensory Touch

The Sensory Touch is a family run business which stocks a range of sensory-related products, including the range of Waterless No Rinse Shampoo and Waterless Body Wash from Dignity. Their extensive collection of products range from Sensory Toys, Seamless Clothing to LED drawing boards. To view their products in full, please visit their website: The Sensory Touch

MyFAM Easter Fayre

MyFAM Easter Fayre is being held on Saturday 20th April at Arleston Community Centre from 2pm to 5pm.

Easter Fun for all the family with free games and activities, including, Kids Stalls, Circus Workshops, Egg Races, Arts & Crafts and lots more...

PODS Forum Personal Budgets Meeting - Wednesday 27th March 2019

Book onto our Personal Budgets meeting, for families in receipt of a Personal Budget to meet and discuss any concerns you may have. It is being held on Wednesday 27th March from 9.30am-11.30am, at Brookside Community Centre, 96 Bembridge, Brookside, Telford, TF3 1NE.

To book your place, please click here

Come and join us at our New Look Family Groups throughout 2019!...

Friday 29th March 2019: Face 2 Face Family Group from 9.30am-11.30am
Dawley Town Hall (opposite Langley School/CAMHS) New Street, Dawley, Telford, TF4 3JR. ***SOLD OUT***

Sunday 31st March 2019: PODS Family Group from from 9.30am-11.00am at the Wacky Warehouse, Bridge Builder Pub, Wrekin Retail Park, Arleston, Telford, TF1 2DE. To book your place, please click here

Monday 1st April 2019: PODS Family Group from 10am-12pm at Admaston House, Admaston, Telford, TF5 0BN. To book your place, please click here

Thursday 11th April 2019: PODS/Face 2 Face Family Group from 7pm-9pm - DETAILS TO BE CONFIRMED.

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.