Northumberland Neuro Support Service

Northumberland Pre-diagnostic Support Service

This is a FREE service to all families in the area with a Northumberland post code whose child or young person (up to the age of 18 years) is currently on the neuro developmental pathway for assessment.

Included in this service:

A targeted range of soundbites/podcasts are available on request to listen to at your convenience (they last 10-15 minutes each and are accessed via a secure link). Topics covered include (but are not limited to)
- - - Clothing sensitivities
    - Personal hygiene (washing, toothbrushing and hair grooming)
    - Struggles with eating
    - Morning preparations for school
    - Settling back into home after school
A monthly peer support group called “Toby’s Take A Break” at Toby House. Times and dates will be available on website and Facebook page shortly.
We offer a rolling programme of free targeted pre-diagnostic webinars. Please click on Events and Training page on our website for information. To be updated shortly.
Specialist Family Support sessions providing advice, strategies, suggestions and resources, along with signposting to other relevant services. This can be delivered face to face at Toby House or in outreach locations such as Family Hubs or via Zoom or telephone call or email to suit your needs. Sessions are followed up via email including information and resources discussed and a subsequent appointment can be offered thereafter.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS PRE DIAGNOSTIC SERVICE IS JUST SETTING UP SO WE ARE WORKING ON THIS AT THE MOMENT. IT IS TO BE UPDATED IN DUE COURSE.

Welcome to Northumberland Autism Post Diagnostic Support Service in partnership with CYPS (the Children’s and Young People Service), HINT (High Incidence Needs Team – autism service) and Early Help (including Early Help First Response).

The components of this service offer provided by The Toby Henderson Trust are outlined below.

The Team can be contacted by email at Northumberlandpds@ttht.co.uk or telephone 0300 365 3055.

Northumberland Post Diagnostic Support for families

We provide specialist family support sessions for you, whether your child has been diagnosed recently or in the past. These sessions are tailored to meet your needs and can be either face to face at Toby House or out in the community in locations such as your local Family Hub. They can be via Zoom or telephone or even simply via email. We have an increasing presence out in the community in a variety of locations offering regular support group sessions in locations such as Abbeyfields School, Morpeth, the Berwick and Prudhoe Family Hubs and Swansfield School in Alnwick.

If you live in Northumberland and want to find out more about this service, please feel free to drop us an email to book a family support appointment so we can discuss it in further detail. Email: Northumberland PDS@ttht.co.uk

Northumberland Support Group – Time to Talk

We run a face-to-face monthly post diagnostic support group at The Toby Henderson Trust in Bedlington. This group is for parents/carers only of children and young people of ALL ages. There is no obligation to stay for the full session but it would be appreciated if you could let us know you would like to attend.

The group is free to attend and is for parents & carers who live in Northumberland and their child has a diagnosis of Autism. This diagnosis can be either recent or historic and is a relaxed and informal opportunity to come along and meet and chat with other families as well as our experienced family support team. There will also be a range of Toby House resources and details of forthcoming events on display that may be of interest. For future dates and booking form for our TIME TO TALK sessions, please click here

Post Diagnostic Direct work with children

We are able to provide a number of appointments to children and young people as part of our Northumberland Post Diagnostic Support offer. This direct work allows us to tailor individual sessions to meet your child’s needs. This can be working with the under 5s (who are possibly pre-verbal) and the family are looking for support to address their communication needs, both verbally and socially.

We also offer short programmes of intervention entitled ‘Neuro Cubs’ and ‘Neuro Bears’ aimed at ages 5 – 12, to explore what it means to be autistic. For our slightly “older” young people, we can work directly with teenagers who are looking to understand what their autistic diagnosis truly means for them.

For more information, please email Northumberland PDS@ttht.co.uk

Webinars for Families

We have an ongoing programme of FREE webinars via Zoom. Targeted subjects covered can include Toileting, Understanding Autism and Managing Meltdowns, to name but a few. One of our families recently said “Thank you so much for today’s session, I’ve been to training days before but this was amazing as I felt it was very tailored to the possible struggles our families may be facing! I will definitely be trying out the strategies you suggested as it made so much sense!!”

For further information about topics covered and when they take place, please click on the following link which will detail all webinars together with booking instructions. All of our webinars can be accessed here.

Recent visit to Stead Lane Primary School

The NPDS team recently attended a coffee morning at Stead Lane Primary School alongside other professionals from across Northumberland.

This event provided parents and carers with the opportunity to learn about available services and discuss how numerous resources can support their families. It was valuable for families to engage with staff, explore the support options available and consider how these can be tailored to meet their individual needs.

Feedback from families

“We felt very at ease and felt like we were able to open up and talk to staff, it was nice to feel heard and listened to. We felt welcomed into Toby Henderson, it was nice to come in and feel like that”.

* * * * * * *

“Many thanks for giving us the time today – apologies I talked nonstop. It is not often that we get someone to listen to us, and give us advice on what we might work for our specific circumstances. Thank you for all the resources. I had a quick look and they look fabulous”.