On Wednesday, 20th September, a group of members from the SpLinter Group traveled down to Hexham to take part in a meeting to launch a new project to help neurodivergent people access information and local services more easily in the North Northumberland district.

Also involved in the project and present at the meeting were volunteers from two local charities, Adapt (North East) and Northern Butterflies, as well as representatives of the Northumberland County Council.

Julia Lyford from SpLinter Group kick-started the meeting by welcoming everyone and outlining the goals of the meeting. She explained that whilst much has been done to improve the range of services for young people in Northumberland with learning disabilities, autism, and mental health conditions, it is becoming increasingly evident that these services can be very difficult to find and access for some people. Indeed, it can actually be a very confusing process when trying to access support, an activity or service at a time and place when you need it.

What we need, Julia continued, is one easy place to get up-to-date information. To make things even simpler, it would also be great to provide people with the opportunity to meet up in person locally, so that they can exchange ideas and work out what services might be most helpful to them. Unfortunately, at the moment, it seems many people are blocked from accessing certain services that could be very beneficial to them, purely because they don’t have a “label” which enables them to “tick all the boxes”. Typical examples include autistic people not being able to access a particular service which could be useful to them because they don’t have a learning disability. Or, someone might not be able to access a supported internship programme because they are over 25 or don’t have an Education Health Care Plan. Indeed many mainstream services for work, housing, training and health say that they are autism-friendly when they are clearly not quite there yet!

Keen to get started on the new project, attendees set about discussing what gaps there are currently in the information they need when looking for support. Top of the list were difficulties finding information on how to live independently in your own place, social activities and groups, managing money, accessing benefits, looking for work and training opportunities, transport, and mental health support. More personal advice on understanding yourself better and managing relationships was also very difficult to find.

There then followed a discussion on how to collect the information and present it in an easily accessibly format to those who need it. Research would be required to find out how other organisations manage their information and present their services to the public.

Summarising the key objectives for the new project, Julia highlighted the following points:

• Create an information hub online.
• Have three bases around the county where people can call in.
• Have neurodivergent people in each base helping to get the information together.
• Offer people an individual meeting if they want it.
• Link to advocacy offered by co-workers at Adapt NE and elsewhere.
• Keep in touch with each other in a peer network and a network of organisations.
• Collect information from people we support to make the case for better services.

Asked what she thought about the meeting, SpLinter Group member, Laura Jeffreys, said “This first meeting was a great way for us to share our experiences and brainstorm ideas for the the project, especially the information hub. It was also a wonderful opportunity to network with like-minded individuals from other support groups in the area. I’m really looking forward to working on this project and making new friends along the way! The staff from the community kitchen at Adapt NE were especially friendly to us and the food at lunchtime was delicious! “

So, lots of food for thought for all our members….if you have any ideas of you own for the project, please let us know by commenting below. Or, if you would like to get more involved in the project yourself, please contact us here.