Summary
Fun with Friends provided families of a child/ren or young person ( 3 -18) with additional support needs the opportunity to participate in a weekly family play session on Thursday evenings, and access to a programme of highly subsidised outings suitable for the whole family to enjoy. Thursday evening sessions were held in Motherwell. The project was designed to reduce isolation and enable friendships and peer support to flourish amongst participants, both children and carers alike.
What Fun with Friends did
Through the Fun with Friends project, PlayPeace delivered a regular weekly family play session in a community centre in Motherwell. This session offers a wide variety of options for play including a sensory station, bouncy castle and musical instruments as well as more active toys.
The Thursday evening play session served for newer participants as an introduction to PlayPeace and to get to know other families, often resulting in their participation in the other aspect of the project, the subsidised outings programme. We delivered sixteen outings during the project, thirteen of these in school holidays which families find particularly challenging when the kids are missing their routine and the structure of school. We provided bus transport to the outings to minimise cost to families.
Outings included trips to the seaside, Blair Drummond Safari Park, Winter Wonderland , an inflatable park and the Awakening disability friendly music festival held in Falkirk. The music festival was a particular highlight last year, as it was a unique first for many of the families and the children and young people's response to the music was a complete joy to see. Other successes were in seeing the welcome extended to new participants , often joining us on recommendation and word of mouth from participating families.
What PlayPeace SCIO has learned
During the past year we learned that in order to cope with the growing number of families coming into our services and associated administrative work, we needed to strengthen the efficiency of our processes so we have subscribed to a booking platform which provides a user friendly booking system and supports us managing demand, including the ability to keep waiting lists.
We were able to profile our project by attending a number of community based open days and chose to attend these in areas of multiple deprivation which resulted in some of the new families attending from these areas.
How PlayPeace SCIO has benefitted from the funding
The grant gave our relatively new charity confidence to pursue dedicated funding to work with the parents and carers as an additional aspect to our services which resulted in us being awarded Carer Breather funding for two years.
We also set out to grow our communication channels and now have a website for the first time, this is continuing to develop but sets out our values and services menu to families as well as linking directly to our booking platform.
Project Outcomes
Outcome
50 children and young people with complex additional needs will have had fun experiences and tried out new activities informed by them and their families .
Results
This outcome was achieved fully with the number of participating children and young people above the expected target. We delivered fifty weekly Thursday evening family play sessions, which provided a structure to the week for families and attracted new participating families, many on the recommendation of others.
Children and young people enjoyed a wide variety of activities including sensory play, music workshops, smoothie making and active play. We delivered sixteen highly subsidised or free family outings, the majority in school holidays which families describe as particularly challenging.
The outings enabled families to try out destinations previously unknown to them such as adapted cycling, snow tubing and attending a music festival. The fun times were captured on each occasion by a photographic record with many families choosing to share their photos of the day on our private Facebook page ; and comments were posted on this page with feedback from the children and young people, alongside parents and carers.
Many comments on the outings programme centred on the supportive approach taken which gave families confidence to come along to places they would not have ordinarily thought would be possible for their family .
Case study
N who is a lone parent provided the following case study, in her own words. "My family and I recently became quite isolated and have not many people around us who can help out on a regular basis. My children are aged 12 and 14 with autism and I simply don't have enough hands, time or strength to cope with them out of the home. The long summer holidays were looming and I didn't know how I would get through them alone. In stepped PlayPeace. Firstly by providing a weekly and school holiday timetable that was tailored ideally for our children. But then to be able to offer me support from the team and other parents to ensure we have had lots of fun, taking part in activities we have chosen. PlayPeace is a lifeline to us during these times to be able to attend, not worry about driving and have the company of other like minded adults to result in a great experience. I am so grateful for this help but especially for making it possible for my children to access opportunities to help them thrive and allow me a chance to enjoy being with them "
Outcome
65 parents and carers will have accessed regular opportunities to have a break from their caring roles by participating in the programme of weekly family activity sessions and in regular family outings
Results
This outcome was fully achieved with parents and other carers highlighting the benefits of being able to relax and chat to other parents at the weekly session or on the outings, friendships developing and parents arranging to meet outwith the family play session, and more parents joining and contributing to the peer support mechanism we have in the online Parent Group .
Case study
Family C were not involved in any social or community activities as a family prior to becoming part of PlayPeace. Both parents have health issues and they have two teenage boys, the younger with autism and the older ADHD. They have embraced the opportunity to take part in the outings offered and provided the following insights.
"What PlayPeace offer is so inclusive for our family. The outings allow us to spend time together exploring new places and activities. The highlight for us is knowing that support and assistance is available when required which helps create a relaxed environment for us to try new places. We mainly use the bus so our fun starts then, rahther than issues travelling and finding suitable parking. Our children love seeing familiar faces and being part of the group. As parents, support is there for us too. It's peace of mind knowing that being part of this gives our family the chance to have trips during school holidays which really helps break up the long time away from school. A huge thank you from us , we feel so blessed to be included."
Outcome
40 families with children and young people with additional support needs will report having more social connections as a result of the short breaks activity
Results
This was achieved with more than forty families taking part, and parents in particular acknowledging the positive impact of having a place to go ( the weekly family play session) that feels safe, welcoming and inclusive for them and their children. Participating children and young people irrespective of their levels or abilities in communication ( some of the children are non verbal) are visibly delighted to see their familiar friends and equally in welcoming new friends .
The outings are organised in such as way as to maximise social connections and interaction within the families, for example by liaising with venues to arrange a dedicated space for the group to gather together for lunch and to leave belongings, by arranging aspects of the outings ( eg tractor ride) as a whole group and by setting up a PlayPeace "camp" for families to return to and meet at eg at the music festival. Building the sense of community and encouraging peer support has fostered friendships outwith the short breaks which families report really important to them.
Case study
Parent C began attending the weekly family play session in January with her daughter age five, who is non verbal with a diagnosis of autism. Previously her daughter did not attend any social opportunities outwith school. C reports that she feels able to relax in the company of the other parents who have been so welcoming , and the environment supports her daughter to have the freedom to be herself. C feels that there is no judgement from others if her daughter behaves in ways that are unusual , and this has built her confidence in considering taking her daughter out to places that she would not have ventured to before coming to the group. She is keen to learn more about the outings programme as having met other families she feels more open to the possibility of trying days out with her daughter , in a supportive environment.