Greenwich Mencap
Key Facts
Location
Project Criteria
Contact
Lara Rowlinson
Email
Project funding
£106,544
Funding round
We are using the grant is to recruit a 'Parent Services Manager'(PSM) to provide support and advice to parents and carers on the emotional and social needs of their young people with learning disabilities. The PSM offers sensitive, non-judgemental and empathetic support using his/her experience in learning disabilities and autism in a programme that delivers:
Individual Consultation Work (15 Families per week): Individual therapeutic work for the parents/carers and the young people as well as some joint sessions. These sessions foster a greater understanding of individual communication and enable families to strengthen their understanding of the young people's responses and expressed needs. Parents will be helped with communication tools and behaviour plans as well as encouraging them to try out new opportunities and ideas. Parenting a young person with complex needs can be a real challenge and this project will support parents in having an understanding of different approaches and strategies to parent their young people, particularly promoting positive and active relations.
2 day workshops (6 per year with 20-30 families each time): These provide learning disability awareness training for parents and carers and cover topics such as Communication, Understanding and Managing Difficult Behaviour in Young People with Learning Disabilities, Understanding and Managing Difficult Behaviour in Young People with Autism, Strengthening Parenting (How parents and couples support each other).
10/15 week parenting programmes (10 Parents per group): The 10 week rolling programme on positive parenting of young people with learning disabilities covers behaviour, sexuality, substance misuse, communication, sibling rivalry while leaving space for parent led sessions on topics of importance to them. A 15 week programme is run weekly for parents with learning disabilities and provides us with a much needed opportunity to strengthen support for parents with learning disabilities.
Weekly Drop In (5 parents per week): Continuous support for parents (with and without learning disabilities) who care for young people with a learning disability.