October to December 2016

PAN Newsletter 11

A friendly and welcoming support group based in run by Listen . Support. Empower. and for parents and carers of children with additional needs

Monthly Support Groups

Bolsover Fabulous Summer Fun! Wednesday - 12.30pm to 2.00pm Adult Education Centre, Castle Well, our summer activity programme has finished with everyone settling back Street, Bolsover, S44 6PP into school again. We’ve had plenty of activities to keep everyone entertained this GROUP LEADER: LISA WILDE summer, and have tried to make sure there was a mix each week of free and paid for events, as well as local and more further afield.

Chesterfield Some pictures are below, and the mix of events included a day with the mini zoo, Monday - 12.30pm to 2.30pm bowling, sensory swims, and visits to the Chestnut Owl & Otter Sanctuary, Crich Birdholme Children’s Centre, Church Street Tramway Museum, Cleethorpes and Cresswell Equestrian Centre. South, Chesterfield, S40 2TF GROUP LEADER: LISA WILDE

Clay Cross Friday - 10.00am to 12.00noon Children’s Centre, Market Street, Clay Cross, S45 9JE

GROUP LEADER: LOUISE SIDDALL One of our most exciting days out was when a group attended Lea Green Activity Centre, to experience the high ropes, low ropes, buggy driving and both the indoor and outdoor play areas. The staff were fabulous on the day, and we very much Thursday - 10.00am to 12.00noon hope to make this a regular feature in our summer holiday calendar. It was a great Dronfield Children’s Centre, Oakhill Road, opportunity for everyone to try something new in a very supportive environment. Dronfield, S18 2EJ GROUP LEADER: LISA WILDE

Matlock Monday - 9.30am to 11.30am Matlock Children’s Centre, Castle View School, School Road, Matlock, DE4 3DS GROUP LEADER: ANNA CASEY

Please feel free to drop This quarter’s newsletter is filled with lots of events leading up to Christmas, some in, or contact us if you lovely messages and updates, and the build up to our Christmas raffle fundraiser, we hope you enjoy reading it! would like more PAN HQ Team information Emily (Founder & Co-Chair)

CHECK OUR WEBSITE FOR DATES OR Lisa Wilde (Co-Chair) CALL US ON 07980 762778 Jayne Burton (Secretary)

Louise Siddall (Parent Support Co-ordinator)

October to December 2016 MEETING ROUND UP Christmas Raffle July to September Our main annual fundraiser will soon be upon us, and raffle tickets are now available! They are £1 each and available at groups, or by

For any members who missed a meeting, please see contacting Lisa Wilde. Please try and sell them far and wide as this is such a great event for helping support our activities throughout the the below for information/contact details for each of the speakers year.

Raffle prizes are still coming in, but include family day passes to Stuart Donohue – Specialist Disabled Childrens various attractions (local and national), meal vouchers for local Services - 01629 537604 restaurants, beauty treatment vouchers, and hampers. Janet

Stuart came to speak to members about the Harrison is kindly co-ordinating the raffle and is putting together changes in the service he works in, and how the some amazing hampers from items donated by group members. service can help families in many ways. He talked Please bring any items you are able to donate to your group! The about the criteria for accessing the service as well as raffle will be drawn on Tuesday 13th December at our……. specific ways in which they can help.

…!!!Members Christmas Lunch!!! Tanya Nolan – Derbyshire Healthwatch th Engagement Officer – 01773 880786 Tuesday 13 December at the Six Halts, Road, Clay Cross. The festive menu is available on our private facebook group, or by visiting Tanya works for the Derbyshire branch of the restaurant. Please let Helen Gough have your menu choices and Healthwatch, which is a national organisation who a £5 deposit as soon as possible so we can confirm numbers. Dress monitor health services and the experiences people have with them. Tanya came to explain how code is Christmas Jumpers!! Ho Ho Ho 

Healthwatch can be a valuable resource to our members as it has significant weight to help health Member Family Feature services to improve and to be held to account Janet Harrison, Birdholme Group where appropriate. If members have any Hi. issues/complaints they are welcome to contact I am Janet Harrison. Mum to four lovely children (5 if we include the hubby!) Tanya, and the organisation also do regular studies This is me with my 13 year old, Jannik. He has ADHD and ASD. on different areas of healthcare that they would like I am very proud of all he has achieved, including managing to settle into our opinions on. mainstream secondary school, a difficult task for any teenager.

I am a member of the Birdholme support group who have been a lifeline for

the whole family.

Creche Bookings

Louise Siddall is co-ordinating crèche requirements for all groups – please give her as much notice as possible (minimum 1 full week) to ensure a crèche can be arranged for your needs. The number to call/text is 07980 762778

JOIN US…….

 Monthly support groups (£2 to non-members)  FREE Use of crèche facility at support groups attended (£5 to non-members)  Discounted Family Activities  Siblings Support Group Membership is £24 per year or £15  Quarterly Newsletter for 6 months  Support/Info pack Membership forms can be  Discounted workshops downloaded from our website  Discount with ROMPA  Access to our Members only area on website  Access to our private Facebook page for discussions  Members only Sensory Swim Sessions

Payment can be made at our groups or via paypal to [email protected] October to December 2016

EVENTS… ‘Kidz to Adultz’ North Large free event supporting children and young adults with PAN Parent Social Events: (Members only) disabilities and additional needs. At EventCity, Manchester,

th Christmas Shopping Trip – Monday 28th November , Thursday 17 November 2016, 9.30am – 4.30pm. Product 1 0am, Meadowhall Shopping Centre stands to look around and free seminars on 15 different topics including Personal Budgets, reducing the stress of air Christmas Lunch – Tuesday 13th December, Six Halts at travel and sleep support strategies. For more information Clay Cross contact Disabled Living on 0161 607 8200 or

PAN Sensory Swim Dates: (Members only) [email protected]

th Saturday 12 November 3-4pm Derbyshire NHS Training – Learning Disability Health Sunday 27th November 5-6pm Action Plan Awareness Training. A free course to help Saturday 10th December 3-4pm understand the LD Health Action Plans which are part of the LD annual health check with your GP. 10th November 1pm – 4pm, Kingsway Hospital, Derby. To book call 01773 882501 DPCV Event: or email [email protected] Resilient Parent Training & Meet the Professionals A Reconstruction of the Sensory World of Autism – Thurs 3rd November, , 10am – 2pm Monday 23rd January 2017, 12 noon – 2pm, at Sheffield Thurs 17th November, , 10am – 2pm Autism Research Lab. A free talk by Dr Olga Bogdashina, Weds 9th November, South Normanton, 6pm – 9pm previous president of the Autism Society. You can book Spireite-Ability Sports Programmes through www.eventbrite.co.uk Inclusive Multi-sport club, Tuesdays 5.30pm – 6.15pm (5- Play Session for SEN children - Chuckles Play Centre, Clay 11yrs) or 6.15pm – 7pm (12-18yrs) at the HUB, Proact Cross – 9.30 – 11.30, last Sunday of each month Stadium, £2 per person, call 01246 264030 to book Relaxed Cinema Screenings – Cineworld Chesterfield – The Junior disability football, Wednesdays 5.15 – 6pm (5-11yrs) first Sunday of each month, starting at 11am or 6pm – 6.45pm (12-18yrs) at Queens Park Leisure Centre, £2 per person, call 01246 2640300 to book. SEN Family Swim & Play - Little Swimmers, WaterMeadows, Mansfield – monthly session for special Disability Opportunities in Sport – Learning Disability needs families, 7-8pm on the following dates: October 8th, no Basketball Sessions, Tuesdays 5pm – 6pm, all ages welcome, need to book. For more info call Kathryn Brown on 07825 £2 per session, Chesterfield College 396378

A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU

Back to School for some of us was met with excitement and the last of the endless cries of " I'm bored"; for other of us it was met with trepidation and fear. Fear that our kids may not get the support they need, that the school won't understand how special our kids are and what measures to put in to place to ensure they get the best first start they can.

For some of us the stress and worry was about just getting them there. My son has a sensory issue with the material used in school uniforms, the synthetic in the shirts and ties especially are the most challenging he describes it as it feeling like a thousand knives on his skin. The school can only give him so much leeway in regards to the uniform as their position is that they do not want to see him targeted, for example they will allow him not to wear the tie but insist he must wear a white dress shirt. I was free to go ahead and find an alternative, something that took me all summer as my child was not willing to risk the feel of the material when trying to find the alternative. I only managed to find one the day before school was to start, a linen white shirt that my child could bare to wear on however it was too big for him. Out of sheer desperation, I reached out on Facebook for help to find someone who could as soon as possible modify the shirt as he was expected to be at school the next day. I expected close friends and/or family to come to my call and help so imagine my surprise when approximately an hour later I get a call from a PAN parent who was in Spain with her family and saw my cry for help! She offered me services when she returned, or if I could not wait that long she would put a call into her employer and beg a favour and I was to take the shirts to him and he would modify them immediately. I was overwhelmed by her kindness and care she showed me, a virtual stranger and simply because she as a parent of a child with additional needs understood how hard we struggle at times and with one fell swoop removed a huge stress from me and was the sole reason my son went to school feeling comfortable and confident. Parenting Additional Needs members are a valuable resource and not because of what they can offer but the support, caring empathy , understanding and dignity they give. That small act of kindness and generosity meant more to me and my son and achieved more than anything any doctor, professional or worker has done for him in a year, so from my family to yours, Thank you so much Nicola Johnson and Chatsworth Tailoring, from Chesterfield group member Andi Melo

October to December 2016

First ‘Take 3 Parenting’ Course Graduates ! This summer saw the first of our parents complete the Take 3 Parenting Course, delivered by our own trained facilitators, Emily & Lisa. The course consisted of 6 modules, discussing many aspects of parenting children and young people who exhibit challenging behaviour. The modules covered topics such as setting effective boundaries, active listening, the importance of self-care and helping young people enter the adult world. Each candidate was given a file with a variety of hand-outs to keep for future reference, and the course was a great mix of practical activities, focussed discussion and taught aspects. There were small tasks to be completed at home between sessions, with the aim being to improve difficult situations at home relevant to each family. Successful graduates of the course received a certificate, shown below with Emily & Lisa. Future Take 3 courses, as well as ‘Take 3 Part II’ for those who complete the initial course, are planned for 2017, with dates to be released shortly, so keep an eye on the newsletter and facebook group!

We’re on the Web!

Visit us at: www.parentingadditionalneeds.org.uk

PAN Phone: E-Mail: 07734 083223 - Jayne Emily Brailsford: 07734 083208 – Lisa [email protected] .uk Jayne Burton: Lisa Wilde: 07980 762778 – Louise [email protected] [email protected]

Thank you to the organisations who have granted funding for the support we are able to provide

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