Support For Parents & Carers
Local support for parents, families and carers working alongside Autistic individuals.
People supporting Autistic individuals
An important part of what we do, is to provide advice and signposting to the families, carers, guardians and appointees of Autistic People in the Lincolnshire region, there are many groups who do fantastic work supporting and guiding families and professionals as well, we do work with them whenever we can.
We work in partnership with a range of support groups who help Autistic individuals of all ages along with any parents and family carers in lots of different ways. Some of the main ones are listed below, but there are lots more who are maybe smaller and more local. For information about these contact Lincs2Advice who might be able to help.
Local Support Groups
All local support groups for parents, carers and guardians of Autistic Individuals.
PAACT (Parents and Autistic Children Together)
PAACT is a Lincoln-based support group for families with Autistic children and young people. We are a friendly, informal, non-judgemental group. We aim to help family and friends to access advice, support and activities in the local area.
What we offer parents:
- Support meetings in Gainsborough and Lincoln
- A closed Facebook and email group for support and advice
- Playroom for hire (by hr, max 2 families)
- Games Console Room for hire (by hr, max 2 people)
- Sensory Room for hire (by hr, max 2 families)
- Subsidised activities throughout the school holidays for members
- Parent and Professional workshops
Chair of PAACT – Gordon Forsyth
Secretary – Charlotte Owen
GAIN
Grantham Autistic Information Network (GAIN) supports families with children on the autistic spectrum in Grantham and beyond.
Telephone: 01476 600 074
Postal Address: GAIN Grantham, c/o 9 Eskdale Road, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, NG31 8EP.
Family Services Directory & SEND Local Offer website
Family Services Directory
The Family Services Directory (FSD) is a site for all families and contains a wide range of information including childcare, local and national support groups, schools, Children’s Centres, activities and Children’s Services teams. The Local Offer for families with children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) aged 0-25 sits on the FSD site and includes additional information for young people and families about the services available in Lincolnshire.
The Family Services Directory is on-line at: https://www.lincsfamilydirectory.org.uk/kb5/lincs/fsd/home.page and although the SEND Local Offer is on this site, users can navigate directly to the Local Offer area via: https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/send-local-offer
If you need help with finding services, call the Family Information Service on 0800 195 1635 Monday to Friday 8am-6pm or email fis@lincolnshire.gov.uk
Moving On and Preparing for adulthood
Moving On and Preparing for adulthood
Leaving full time education can be worrying for most young people, but for young people who have special educational needs and/or disabilities it can be a very difficult time. Parents and carers can also find this to be a difficult time.
There are many uncertainties about where to go for support and information in order to make informed decisions to help secure a bright and happy future.
To download the Moving On and Preparing for adulthood guide for parents, please click the download PDF button.
Moving On and Preparing for adulthood
Essential Information for parents/carers of young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) when moving into adulthood
Leaving full time education can be worrying for most young people but for young people who have special educational needs and or disabilities and their parents/carers it can be a very difficult time, filled with uncertainties about the future, wondering what opportunities will be available and where to go for information and support to make the right decisions for a good future life.
Raising aspirations and planning for the future needs to start at an early age in order to help young people reach their goals. Often young people with SEND experience barriers to aiming high, taking risks and achieving what they want in life. This could be through lack of opportunities, too much focus on care and support needs, a lack of self confidence or maybe because the young person’s dreams have always been thought of as ‘wishful thinking’ rather than something to really aim for.
The information in this guide will help the parents/carers of young people with SEND to support them in planning for the future, making decisions about where to live, what to do in the day, how to spend leisure time, to sort out money matters, and will signpost to further information and support services.
The Transitions Pathway
The Transitions Pathway
The transitions pathway was designed and co-produced with children and young people in accordance with the SEND Reforms. It focusses on young people ages 14-25; at a time when they start preparing themselves for making important choices beyond school, for the future.
The transitions pathway will link to the EHC Plan for those who have one, building on existing EHCP outcomes, with the focus on preparation for adulthood.
The pathway is designed to move away from an educational focus with a person centred approach to enable children and young people to have better life outcomes including:
- good health and wellbeing
- meaningful employment
- friends
- independent living and housing
- relationships
- community inclusion
Other groups offering specific support
The Lincolnshire Carers Service
Carers are entitled to get help to support them with their caring role and they can access this through the Lincolnshire Carers Service which is delivered in partnership by charity Carers FIRST and Lincolnshire County Council’s Customer Service Centre (CSC). Professionals, as well as carers themselves, can refer into the service, where someone will talk to the carer about their caring role and find out what support there is for them, including advice around any additional financial help they may be able to access, providing information which will help them to manage their caring role or just a friendly listening ear to offer emotional support.
Carers FIRST provides a community based service offering a wide variety of information, face to face carers assessments, help with accessing benefits and 1-1 support. The charity also offers practical and emotional support including social and support groups which run throughout the county each month.
To find out more about the support available to carers in Lincolnshire or to refer a carer to the Lincolnshire Carers Service, please phone the Lincolnshire Customer Service Centre on 01522 782224. To find out about support available for young carers or to refer a young carer, you can talk to someone at Lincolnshire Young Carers by phoning 01522 553275.
For more information about Carers FIRST, please visit www.carersfirst.org.uk
Circles of Support
A Circle of Support is a committed and informal group of people who meet regularly, aided by a network to help someone achieve their personal goals in life. The “Circle” acts as a natural support network around that person, and this “focus person” is in control in deciding who to invite to join the “Circle” and where to direct the “Circle’s” energy.
Circls of Support is a free service available to children, young people and adults with a diagnosis of Autism or Learning Disabilities. They will also work with Schools. The project is open to all and they have gone into schools to work collectively with staff and children and young people where they are planning something specific. They do not have age or time constraints and will visit and work with children, young people and families for as long as it is required.
Other Resources
Shine
Shine is an award winning network of people and organisations involved in or with experience of mental health and mental ill health and distress. We think we can do a lot to put people in touch with each other, and to help them work more closely and effectively together.
This site is designed to help make that happen providing a place where people can exchange information about themselves and what they do.
Virtual Autism Hub
We offer non-clinical community support for autistic people of all ages and their parents/carers. We have provide information, guidance advice and practical input, including signposting to local and national autism support groups and services as well as to a range of more generic guidance (such as DLA and PIP). Support is provided via email and over the phone. We can also provide some face-to-face support , for example attending first meetings with families, if required. We operate an open door policy – no referral is necessary and you can step in and out of our service as you need it. You DO NOT need a diagnosis to access our service.
We are open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.
Further details of our service can be found on our website: Virtual Autism Hub :: Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Trust (lpft.nhs.uk)
Our phone number is: 01522 458588
Our email is lpft.virtualautismhublincs@nhs.net
Join The Lincolnshire Autistic Society Today!
LATEST NEWS
Held annually in the autumn for parents/guardians, carers and those who work with children on the autism spectrum.
Supporting neurodivergent children and families with Empower Hours, Life Skills, Parenting Support, Soft Play & a bookable Sensory Room.
Welcome to the brand new Lincolnshire Autistic Society website for 2024, brought to you by our friends at in2pcs Online Development.
