Written by Ramandeep, Harry’s mother
Harry has been attending a youth club at the local YMCA for the last five years and last year, moved up to the group for older kids (aged 16+).
We have very few youth groups in Sutton Coldfield, even for young people without additional needs, so the YMCA is important for Harry and for him to do activities like his brothers would.
The group encourages the youngsters to decide their own activities when they are on site, but they regularly arrange days out to the cinema, the park, bowling, or lunch at a nice restaurant with their friends. The staff support Harry with travelling on public transport, using money and ordering food at the restaurant.
There are support staff who now know Harry really well (they have a low staff turnover which really helps) and they ensure that they ask him what he wants to do and how best they can support him. For example, Harry needs to stop and rest when going on long walks with the group, so they ensure this happens. They also know that he struggles with reading so when they take him and his friends out for lunch, they provide him with photos of the menu and read it to him so that he knows in advance what he would like to order. This means that he doesn’t feel uncomfortable or under pressure when he is at the restaurant.
When using public transport, the staff encourage him to pay for his own bus/train ticket and never rush him. He is getting more confident on the bus now and knows the routine of paying the driver and getting his ticket from the machine.
Harry is always encouraged to walk and sit with his friends and not with the support workers as he should be able to feel that he is with his friends and not a ‘helper’. This makes him feel the same as everyone else who is having a day out with their friends.
He feels included because the staff understand his needs, work patiently with him, give him lots of encouragement and support him in his decision making, while always maintaining his dignity. He wants to continue with the youth club for as long as possible as he has made great progress and has also made new friends there.