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July News...
PODS Family Group with BEAM (Mental Health Support)
Wednesday 17th July 2019 at Hollinswood Community Centre on from 9.30am-11.30am
Come along to our PODS family group, open to all parent carers and wider family members living in Telford & Wrekin. Its your chance to have a say in a non-judgemental, supportive environment and most importantly have your voice heard! Help support us to develop and change services across Telford & Wrekin for the better.
We have invited BEAM mental health service to this session to learn about what they offer via their drop ins, how they are working with schools and what their plans are over the Summer Holidays.
To book your place, please Click Here
Stomp and Stamp
The STOMP and STAMP programme of work is about making sure children and young people with a learning disability, autism or both are only prescribed the right medication, at the right time and for the right reason. A leaflet for families of children and young people with a learning disability, autism or both who may be prescribed (or are prescribed) psychotropic medication has been put together, to help them ask questions about their care and be more involved in discussion. To read the leaflet in full, please click here: Stomp and Stamp Leaflet
SEN Magazine - July Newsletter
In July's edition of the SEN Magazine Newsletter, you will find articles on, Stress Busting Family Days Out, a Story by a Mum about Isolation and more. To read those articles and the Newsletter in full, please click here: SEN Magazine - July Newsletter​
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
A request for involvement in the the fetal alcohol spectrum disorder quality standards guideline committee is shared below, if you would like to have a discussion about this please inbox us through PODS Facebook Page.
Members are needed to join the fetal alcohol spectrum disorder quality standards guideline committee. They are looking for people who have an understanding of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and the issues important to patients. This understanding could have been gained through personal experience you have of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder as a parent, relative or unpaid carer of a child or young person, under the age of 18, who has experience of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder or as an advocate, volunteer, or officer of a relevant charity or organisation. To find out more please Click Here
Genetic Diagnosis Information
One of our Parent Reps who is involved with the SWAN network, has shared this information about Genetic Diagnosis, please let us know if you'd like us to put you in touch. The following link, contains information on What Getting a Genetic Diagnosis Means. For most families getting a diagnosis remains just as important to them as their child grows up. Without one families can struggle to access the right support.
Funky Friday
The next Funky Friday Disco is being held on Friday 19th July from 7pm-9pm.
PODS Fish & Chip Night Incorporating our AGM and an Update on CareTech
Thursday 11th July 2019 from 6.30pm-8.30pm at Randlay Community Centre Hollinswood and Randlay Parish Council, Randlay Avenue, Telford, TF3 2LH
Come along to our Fish & Chip AGM, find out what PODS have been up to over the last year and what is to come in the future. Your chance to ask us questions about the things that matter to you.
Hear an update on Short Breaks and the latest information from CareTech about what is happening to our respite services.
A choice of either Fish & Chips or Sausage & Chips for both children and adults, please email elaine@podstelford.org with your choice once you have booked. To book your place, please click here
Weekly Update from Jayne Stevens (Participation Co-ordinator)...
Hello - did you pop and say hello to us over the weekend when we had our stall at Oakengates Carnival and Hollinswood Fun Day - a great couple of days sharing news about our charity, blowing bubbles and raising money to support our families through the summer :) Not even the rain on Saturday spoiled the fun for everyone involved in the parade. Thanks to all our volunteers again (see separate posts on our main Facebook page for photos and tags).
Last week we had a Joint Commissioning meeting - this is bringing together health, education and social care to discuss how services can be jointly commissioned to meet the needs of families, and also to look at where any duplication is taking place and to highlight gaps. A couple of key issues we are looking at via this meeting is around Positive Behaviour Support and Wheelchair services. I attended a workshop/conference in Bristol on Tuesday with our local Healthwatch Telford team - this has been instigated to develop stronger working relationships between Healthwatch and Forums - some really good examples and definitely work we can do together - especially around mental health services and conversations are currently underway to get meetings set up. Healthwatch have specific statutory duties too, and that will help us to achieve some of our goals. Straight back from Bristol into a Trustee Meeting and a conversation about our AGM that we are incorporating into the family group later this week (Thursday Night!). On Wednesday we did some work with the Early Years team around Action Planning and SEND - looking at key work areas including Parental Engagement and Joint Working and also understanding the MDA process. On Thursday I was able to attend the Virtual School Conference which is led by the council and works with all "Children in Care" - lots of the discussions were also relevant to children who are vulnerable and that includes those with SEND too. The presentations were very interesting, especially around the new OFSTED framework which is less about attainment and data and much more about how ALL pupils access high quality education. A great presentation from a local lady, Sarah, who has developed a programme called 'Calm Brain' which we understand is used in a few primary schools in the area. We will share more information and inks to this through our Facebook posts and e-bulletins soon.
Continued thanks to my parent reps and parent carers who are part of meetings, workshops, events, attending family groups - continued involvement is what will make Telford a better place for our children and young people.
Best Regards and Thank you.
Jayne (Participation Co-ordinator)
Come and join us at our New Look Family Groups throughout 2019!...
Thursday 11th July 2019: PODS Fish & Chip Night Incorporating our AGM and an Update on CareTech from 6.30pm-8.30pm at Randlay Community Centre Hollinswood and Randlay Parish Council, Randlay Avenue, Telford, TF3 2LH for full details including the link to book your place please see above.
Wednesday 17th July 2019: PODS Family Group with BEAM (mental health support) from 9.30am-11.30am at Hollinswood Community Centre, 7 Downemead, Telford, TF3 2EW. To book your place, please click here
Friday 26th July 2019: PODs Face 2 Face Dawley Family Group Craft Activities from 9:30am-11:30am at Dawley Town Hall (opposite Langley School/CAMHS) New Street, Dawley, Telford, TF4 3JR. To book your place, please click here
Sunday 28th July 2019: Wacky Warehouse July Family Group 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
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.