Short Break Stories

OUT & AWAY

A story by SNAP

We have delivered both weekend trips away and Out & Abouts (Saturday or Sunday outings and activities) offering opportunities to socialise and have a lot of fun!

SNAP provide leisure and recreational opportunities for young people in the Inverness area who all have a learning disability and additional support needs.

 

 

What OUT & AWAY did

We delivered: 23 x 6 hour breaks and 4 x 48 hour breaks. For our 6 hour breaks we accessed such activities as, Snow White on Ice, Rock pooling at the beach, cinema, BBQ's, Pamper Parties, Art Days, Christmas shopping and tea, Disco's Seal spotting, Treasure Hunts, Games nights, Come Dine with me, SNAP'S Got Talent, Ten Pin Bowling etc.

For our weekend breaks we, went to a bunkhouse in Tore, A lodge in Aviemore, a holiday house in Granton on Spey and a hostel in Ballater where we took sole occupancy. All weekends were quite different in feel and activity dependent on the young people we had attending and what their preferences were. On the Ballater weekend, it was high energy and we went through to Aberdeen all day and spent the evening watching the musical Wicked.

The Aviemore and Tore weekends were active and outdoor for most of the weekend, forest walks, nature hunts for squirrels and other wildlife, rope skills and a laser tag activity were just some of the highlights.

The Boat of Garten weekend was a much more chilled out affair, it was an all girls group that attended. They went to the wildlife park but the focus of the weekend seemed to be very much on beauty treatments and a very sociable catch up for everyone with so much laughter and fun, the girls delighting in the fact that they could spend time together.

We were told by our carers that they spent their time, mainly having a break themselves, catching up on lost sleep, having the joy of being able to relinquish their normal routine and a different focus, even for a few hours, helps them they have told us. A large proportion of our carers spent their time with their other children, other family members and friends. Some have been able to take up hobbies or activities that they don't ordinarily get the chance to.

We have recruited a new Deputy Team Leader to work alongside our current Team Leader (she also took on the Team Leader role while our T/L was on maternity leave) We have also enlisted 4 relief Team Workers and 5 new volunteers .

One of our attendees 'A ' who has profound learning difficulties and medical needs, has for the past few months found it increasingly difficult to go out in the community with anyone other than her mum and dad. Her current main care giver has increased her support to 2:1 as they see it because of the negative behaviours she exhibits. This has had a very direct effect on her parents as the increased staffing has further reduced the number of hours of respite and as a result further increased their own input into her care.

Her care provider has also removed the option to transport 'A', because of the risks of behavioural issues. 'A 'can no longer be transported unless by parents so therefore her opportunities to socialise have lessened further. She is a young lady who loves to be with people.

We have been able to offer the family regular Saturday breaks and also took their daughter away for a weekend. We have taken her 10 pin bowling, to a 21st birthday party, a Christmas meal and disco etc, where she has been part of the group with just 1:1 support and no incidents. This has provided much needed respite for the family and we feel has been a very positive input to the family's life as a whole. We have also been an advocate for the family at Social Work Meetings being able to illustrate a very different side to A's character and behaviour.

The highlight for us on one of these weekends was seeing the beaming smiles of both mother and daughter as they said goodbye to each other as the weekend began

We have a large proportion of our over 20's age group that are socially isolated, where the carers are tasked with trying to create a social life for their young people, in order to fill that gap.

'B' is an energetic young man with ASD and ADHD who is extremely sociable but has limited social outlets, he comes from a busy single parent family and has 3 siblings - all girls. When 'B' comes to SNAP he immediately reconnects with his peer group and has a close friendship with 2 of the other boys who attend, they are very physically active and never stop talking which is lovely to see. I

It is obvious to all what an extremely important outlet this is for 'B'. It also gives his carer important free time, she has developed a new hobby - running, which she says has given her some of the only 'me' time she has.
'C' is a lively young lady who is on the Autistic Spectrum and has associated learning difficulties, her mum finds it exhausting at times to firstly keep her daughter safe but also to keep her engaged in activities without support.

We have taken her daughter away for 48 hour breaks and offer a 6 hour break every 3 weeks at weekends. Her mum says each and every time that she so looks forward to this time, she really gets a chance to re charge her batteries, catch up on her sleep and just generally relax and de- stress safe in the knowledge her daughter is really enjoying herself also.

What SNAP has learned

We see that even though we try to offer services to as many people as we can, there is a never ending demand for more services and so many people that we still want to reach.

We have learned that we just need to keep going and do the best we can. We want to continue to invent new ways to include as many young people as we can, but still keep our service personal.
Top tips SNAP's top tips for an organisation that wants to run a similar project
Tip 1:
Variety is the Spice of Life!

Be creative and inventive in the range of activities and breaks you offer, make it appealing and exciting to the people you are aiming it at, listen to them.

Some of the best days that we get feedback on are not the expensive trips to cinema or days out, much though they are loved, but ones we create and develop ourselves, sometimes using themes from tv programmes or films that are relevant to our age groups, or interests that members of the group have.

We have created SNAP's Got Talent, SNAP Bake off, created our own mini music festival, had a sushi making day, all of which are still talked about and have had such positive spin offs to other activities.
Tip 2:
Create a close knit team of staff.

We have a diverse mix of staff, different age ranges, ethnicity, career paths, paid staff and volunteers where everyone has an input and we all have a clear common goal, encouraging, empowering and enriching the lives of our young people who attend trying to interject as much fun and humour into everything we do
Tip 3:
Flexibility!

Plan as much as you can, as far in advance as you can, but be flexible to change. Some of our weekend breaks can be organic in nature and unfold, change and develop into something amazing if you go with the moment and work with the group you are away with, just trust in your team and have the confidence to do it