2023 Summer Respite Holiday

Outcome

30 children/YP with disabilities/multiple ASN will have taken part in a Respite Holiday during which they’ll have engaged in interactive games, inclusive sports, 1-to-1 sensory, and day trips previously inaccessible. As a result,
children/YP will feel less isolated and more positive/resilient

Results

30 children/YP with disabilities/multiple ASN and 5 x able-bodied children were supported to access a fun Summer Respite Holiday during which they engaged in many activities incl., outdoor games, indoor activities/crafts, sensory play, swimming, crazy golf, tandem kayaking, etc.

By engaging in these activities, exploring/taking on new challenges independently, and receiving positive confirmations from peers/volunteers, children with disabilities/multiple ASN gained/improved their independence,
developed practical skills via play incl., social/communication, teamwork, and fair play; and gained confidence/
positive self-esteem.

Most importantly, the holiday enabled children that experience significant isolation/exclusion in the wider community to relax, simply be themselves, have fun, and build strong peer networks: helping them feel less isolated and more resilient.

Case study

The respite holiday enabled children to take part in a wide range of fun activities via which they could have fun, simply be themselves, build improved independence and friendships/networks, and more, all of which helped to
improve their overall health, wellbeing and quality of life. This included arts/crafts, teddy making, outdoor games,
sand art, messy play, swimming with water walkers, tandem kayaking, a boat trip, crazy golf, arcade games, Olympic games event, and rainy day indoor games that children were able to access for the first time in their lives and which they truly enjoyed.

“The holiday was just brilliant - It was so amazing seeing the children so happy and full of joy all the time and our
two had a blast doing all the fun activities provided.”

“My kids loved it from start to finish, we hardly seen them from day to day as they were out every day doing
loads of fun activities but they were so excited to tell me all about them at the end of each day plus they loved all
the yummy food and ice creams each day.”

Case Study: Charlie is 9 years old and has severe autism, learning disabilities, and significant medical conditions that impact his day-to-day life and has resulted in him being in and out of the hospital for the past 2+ years. Charlie can become overwhelmed, upset, and even aggressive when things are noisy and crowded in groups and, as a result, his mother was very nervous about joining our year-round group activities. However, Charlie’s mother was thrilled to see how much care and 1-to-1 support our volunteer Helpers provided Charlie during our club activities, helping him to adapt, better cope with changes, new environments, and loud noises, and positively engage with his peers and so, despite worrying about how he would cope in the caravan parks’ entirely new environment, especially considering how long they would be apart and engaging in their own independent activities, decided to take up the offer of coming along on our Summer Respite Holiday. As we do with all of the children we support that struggle with new environments, Charlie’s 1-to-1 volunteer Helper took him for a one-on-one walk first thing on day 1 to help familiarise him with the area and to get to chat/play with him in our sensory space away from the larger group to help him feel more comfortable and relaxed.

Although he did struggle slightly on the first day, Charlie’s mum P was absolutely thrilled to see how quickly he
adapted and how well his volunteer Helper was able to use her specialised training to help resolve potential
problems before they could arise, including organising several short-term ‘quiet’ times in our sensory space
during day-time activities that helped prevent Charlie from becoming overwhelmed and over-stimulated,
ensuring that he stayed relaxed, positive, and didn’t have a meltdown during the holiday.
This was the very first time that P was able to take Charlie and his brother on a family holiday, providing a unique
opportunity for them to get away from the day-to-day stress and challenges experienced at home, engage in a
wide range of activities that would otherwise be inaccessible because of Charlie’s significant needs and the
family’s financial disadvantage but which supported the children’s overall inclusion, development, and wellbeing,
and build stronger family relationships and support networks. Charlie especially loved the water activities,
specifically swimming, tandem kayaking, and the boat trip as well as crazy golf and the arcade games night. He
also really bonded with a 10 year-old boy that he had previously hung out with during a few club sessions but the
respite holiday gave them an opportunity to spend a lot more time together and P has said that they’ve since had
on-going play dates and have become very close friends over the past 3+months, which she is so pleased with
as Charlie otherwise struggles to make friends, helping support his overall social inclusion and longer-term
wellbeing. We’ve seen a similar trend throughout the wider groups we’ve supported via our Summer Respite
Holiday, providing evidence on how the Summer Respite Holiday supports the longer-term wellbeing of both
children and their Parents/Carer.

P said: “This has truly been an amazing experience. I can’t believe how wonderful and supportive the helpers are and they’ve really helped Charlie adapt and come out of his shell more. Both he and Andrew have made new friends and had so much fun with all the different activities. We’ve never had a holiday before and I’m just so thankful to SAMs for giving us this wonderful opportunity – it’s really made a big difference to us in so many different ways!!”

Outcome

25 Parents/Carers will have taken part in a Respite Holiday during which they’ll receive much-needed respite, spend time with their partner/peers, and build new friendships via engaging in previously-inaccessible parent only activities, helping them feel less isolated and more positive.

Results

22 x Parents/Carers of children with disabilities/multiple ASN benefitted from our Summer Respite Holiday. SAMs
provided children-only activities/outings each day, giving Parents/Carers approx., 6-8 hours of respite per day to
de-stress, relax, spent time with parents/peers and access spa treatments covered by SAMs. These opportunities/activities are a vital aspect of our Summer Respite Holiday and helped Parents/Carers feel less
stressed/hopeless, stronger and more able to cope with their caring responsibilities, and build positive friendships/support networks with peers. Helping Parents/Carers de-stress and feel more supported, in turn,
helped to further improve family relationships and wellbeing.

Case study

Testimonial from mum A who engaged in the Summer Respite Holiday with her husband and their 2 children,
both of whom have disabilities/multiple ASN:

“This has been the most brilliant experience and so much more than me and Ian could have ever hoped for. It’s been so amazing to see how happy the kids have been and they’ve loved all of the activities. I know that M* in particular has a lot of challenges but his Helper has just been amazing and so committed to helping him have the best time ever. It was just so great to see both the boys have fun and actually engage with their peers and make new friends and they were both so excited to tell us about their adventures at the end of each day. Knowing they were happy and well looked after let me and Ian truly relax and enjoy our alone time and the adult activities and honestly, the Parent Night Out is the first time in a very long time that we’ve been able to dress up and socialise with other adults. The spa treatments were also brilliant – I usually feel so stressed and full of anxiety and my mind is constantly busy but I genuinely felt calmer and more positive after the treatments plus it was interesting to learn about mindfulness. I had heard about it before but didn’t think it was for me; however, it’s a lot easier to do the little techniques they taught us than I initially assumed. All in all, we had the most amazing time and we really can’t thank you and the Helpers enough for giving us this brilliant experience; it truly has been one-of-a-kind.”

Outcome

25 Parents/Carers will have taken part in a Respite Holiday during which they’ll receive much-needed respite, spend time with their partner/peers, and engage in previously-inaccessible parent-only activities: helping Parents/Carers feel less stressed and better able to manage/cope with their caring.

Results

22 x Parents/Carers of children with disabilities/multiple ASN benefitted from our Summer Respite Holiday. SAMs
provided children-only activities/outings each day, giving Parents/Carers approx., 6-8 hours of respite per day to
de-stress, relax, spend time with their partners and peers in adult-only activities as well as receive wellness
treatments. These opportunities/activities are a vital aspect of our Respite Holiday and helped Parents/Carers feel
less stressed and hopeless, stronger and more able to cope with their caring responsibilities, and build stronger
friendships and support networks with peers. Helping Parents/Carers de-stress and feel more supported, in turn,
helped to further improve family relationships and wellbeing.

Case study

In a follow-up evaluation, Parent A recently advised that she had, to even her own surprised, continued to incorporate the simple mindfulness techniques that were taught as part of the pamper and wellness treatments
into her daily routine and that “I do actually think they’ve made a positive difference to my overall mental health
over the past couple of months; at least, they’ve helped me feel less overwhelmed and more recharged. So much
else has changed since the holiday too, we’ve really become closer to 2 of the families that were on the trip and
Ian and L’s husband hang out all the time and have even arranged lots of ‘boys only’ activities with our kids, who
have become so much more open and social. These special times have really been a blessing as the boys, Ian, and L’s husband have become a lot closer plus it lets me and L catch up and go into town together. We just feel so much more open and happy as a family. The trip is really like the gift that keeps on giving and we’ve continued to benefit from it. Thank you so much again for everything that you do for our kids and us.”

“I really feel so much more supported and like I’ve found a second family that I can turn to for advice, support, to
laugh with, or even just to have a moan. Although I’d met some of the other parents before, I feel like the break helped us to really bond and become close and their support has really boosted my mental health and even helped me be a better parent and partner. It might sound silly but I just feel so much stronger in myself and really can’t thank you enough for the many opportunities you’ve given to me and my children.”

Outcome

30 children/YP with disabilities/multiple ASN and 25 Parents/Carers will have taken part in a Respite Holiday during which they’ll engage in positive activities outwith their community, develop new friends/support networks and skills, and feel more supported: improving their resilience and wellbeing.

Results

Our Respite Holiday enabled 30 children/YP with disabilities/multiple ASN and 22 Parents/Carers to engage in fun,
inclusive activities that are typically inaccessible due to their support needs and financial disadvantages, offering
unique chances for families to relax, have fun, and enjoy each other away from the day-to-day stress/pressure/responsibilities at home: helping families feel happier, more positive about their future, and build
improved family relationships.

5 able-boded siblings also took part, offering unique chances for able-bodied and disabled children to engage in
fun, integrated activities: strengthening bonds between siblings and improving their attitude towards each disabled child, e.g., reducing jealousy/frustration possible felt due to all attention being on the disabled sibling(s). This together with the family-wide activities offered each evening helped improve inter-family relationships and enhance the support structure for each disabled child: helping them thrive.

Case study

“We can’t believe how much fun our kids had, making new friends and being included in everything. As parents we got to enjoy breaks every day whilst still being part of key activities, even if it did mean being soaked during the Sports Day – such great fun! James loved the caravan and the outside space with all the toys and games just outside for him to play with. He truly loved everything, especially making new friends. Cannot thank the volunteers enough for all they did. What an amazing group of young people who gave up their time for us. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for this amazing trip!”

“We had an absolute ball this week. My boy loved all the activities and getting time for ourselves was a real treat. Loved the respite time, the massages, the smiles on all the kids faces every day, the way the volunteers did so much for us, the safe spaces around the caravans, the chilled areas like the cinema for popcorn and a movie, the walks, the silly sports day. It was so much fun from start to finish. I don’t know how the volunteers do it but they made everything work so well and the kids had the best time ever. Brilliant, just amazing.”

“What an incredible break! Cannot thank SAMs enough for all that they do for us. They are special, special
people. Thank you so much for giving us this amazing experience!”

Case Study: J*, JJ*, and their parents S* and A* first joined our group a few months before the Summer Respite Holiday. J is 8, highly autistic and has sensory impairments whilst his brother JJ is 6 and has ADHD and learning disabilities. Whilst the family had previously attempted to go on a family holiday once, this ended in disaster and
the family went home early as J could not cope with the new environment, changes, and noise/crowd. Because of
this, the boys’ parents had essentially given up on having a family break prior to joining our group and therefore
were, like many, initially nervous about coming along on the Summer Respite Holiday when we invited them; however they decided to take a chance and join us both because they had become very confident in our ability to
work with their children, and J in particular had become very close with his volunteer Helper, and because the
parents were in desperate need of a respite break as, in addition to their caring responsibilities. S had recently
lost both of her parents and A had a health problem that caused him to be hospitalised for a couple of months,
leaving them stressed out, depressed, and completely drained. Although J had a very difficult start on day 1 and
had a meltdown almost immediately upon arrival to the park, his Helper was able to set in place a care strategy
that we had developed prior to the holiday, which help him relax, better cope with and become more comfortable
within the new environment, choose and become familiar with activities before they started, and enabled the
Helper to resolve issues before they could arise. As a result, J and JJ were able to adapt and positively engaged in
a wide range of fun activities with their peers, although J’s Helper incorporated several brief ‘quiet time’ breaks in
both the sensory room and their own caravan during each daily schedule so help prevent him from becoming
overwhelmed/overstimulated. The structure of the group activities also enabled their parents to check in on them
during the day, especially during the activity transition periods, whenever they felt necessary. Though they did
this a couple of times on day 1 and twice on the morning of day 2 to check up on in particular, seeing how well
the boys were doing enabled their parents to truly take advantage and maximise the respite given. They in
particular enjoyed chatting with and sharing their experiences with other parents and felt that this had given
them “a lot of new tips and strategies to try at home.” They both, like many other parents, also especially loved
the pamper and wellness treatments we provided for each parent/carer, with these helping them to de-stress,
feel restored and recharged, and experience a significant boost to their overall mental health and wellbeing. The
family also really enjoyed the Olympic Games and Pizza and a Movie family activities provided, with A noting that
our family activities helped them feel closer to their boys again and not just solely focused on the carer/cared-for
relationship roles. Overall the family had a wonderful break and each family member gave us positive feedback
regarding the holiday’s set-up and focus on integration, the type and range of activities provided, the significant
support given by our volunteer Helpers, and the positive outcomes they experienced as a result of this unique
project for families affected by significant childhood disabilities.