Engage, Encourage, Enable
SHA has been supporting children with special needs for many years now and we have always strived to provide the best care and support possible. To us, this has also meant providing support to our children's families as well. At SHA we consider all of the SHA families to be part of the academy community and we want every member of that community to feel that they can come to SHA for any kind of help and support that they need.
As many of our SHA parents/carers know, SHA staff have always endeavoured to make themselves available to help wherever possible, whether that be by giving advice, extending support for the children during lockdown, or just being someone to talk to. We at SHA are proud that so many of our SHA parent/carers feel comfortable in finding support from SHA not just for the children but for themselves as well.
Therefore, we want to further extend the support that we can offer to our parent/carers and families by providing an official SHA Parental Support Service that families of our service users can tap into whenever needed.
The SHA Parental Support Service is a support group for parent/carers of SHA Service users. This service is designed to provide support, advice, information and community for the parents/carers/families of young people with special needs.
It is designed to be a community of SHA parent/carers and families that can all discuss, advise, support and encourage each other. It can be useful to have a community and support network of people in similar situations to help provide some advice, tips and understanding. SHA's role in this service is to provide the platforms for this network and community of people to be able to help and support themselves and SHA does this in various ways such as hosting an online forum, hosting in-person support group sessions, organising socials and providing training.
Online Forum
The SHA Parental Support Group online forum is hosted on the SHA website and provides an open and judgement free environment for parent/carers and families to discuss, talk, question, advise and help each other. Here important information and news can be posted, advice can be sought and people can discuss any issues, problems or questions they may have about raising a child with special needs in a place that is supportive, understanding and private.
Support Group Sessions
The SHA Parent/Carer Support Group is a group that meets regularly throughout the year at the Snooker Rooms venue to discuss things and chat about their experiences. This is a way for parent/carers and families to seek out the support they need in a safe and non-judgemental environment surrounded by understanding people in the same boat as them.
Socials
Respite is an important element of the SHA Parental Support Service. We look to organise fun and entertaining social events for group members to find respite from the day-to-day work of raising children and have some fun with friends. These social events are facilitated by SHA but are completely decided on by the parent/carers themselves and they can choose to partake in any activities that they so wish.
Training
SHA working in tandem with our training partners Helping Hands Training Specialists also has workshops and training sessions available to SHA Parent/Carer Support Group members. These training sessions include workshops such as supporting the siblings of a child with special needs, positive behavioural strategies and positive communication with children. These training sessions are available to all SHA Parent/Carer Support Group members and are designed to provide access to course material, strategies and techniques that were previously only available to social care professionals.
Family Days
Many of the children and young people that come to our snooker sessions are very excited and keen to show their parent/carers the new skills that they have learnt at SHA and relish the opportunity to play their parent/carers and show them how much they have improved their game. The SHA Parental Support Service hosts family day sessions where the parent/carers and families of our service users can come along and play with their children to spend some quality time with them and get to see first hand the amazing growth and skills they have learnt at SHA. These sessions are incredible fun for the both the children and their parent/carers and really help to maximise the sense of family and community that we strive for at SHA.
This service is facilitated by SHA but is managed and ran by the parent/carers themselves so that it can evolve and take the shape of exactly what this network and community of parent/carers and families need and want. We hope that everyone from an SHA family can find something useful from this service and really take ownership and benefit from the opportunity to share support, advice, guidance and encouragement.
To learn more about the SHA Parental Support Service click here: https://www.stephenharrisonacademy.com/parental-support-service
To join the Parental Support Online Forum click here: https://www.stephenharrisonacademy.com/groups