Newsletter - April 2016

Newsletter - April 2016
Spectrum’s New
President
Spectrum has a new President.
Earlier this year the Bishop of
Truro, the Rt Rvd Tim Thornton,
took over from Lady Mary
Holborow, who fulfilled the role for
15 years in an exemplary way. The
occasion was marked by a
presentation of training certificates
to care support workers at
Rosewarne Manor followed by a
visit to our newest property,
Rosewin, which is just down the
road.
Speaking at the event, Lady Mary
said: “I have seen Spectrum give
such quality of life to people who
would otherwise be viewed just for
their condition rather than as an
individual person. I have watched
as staff and service users grow and
overcome any number of hurdles.
The work being done by this
unassuming charity is vital to the
lives of so many people and will be
felt well into the future.
“I have visited Spectrum’s
residential homes as well as Three
Bridges and met so many people
who have truly inspired me. From
the service users who battle against
so much each and every day to fulfil
their own dreams of going to
college or work and becoming
members of the community, to the
dedicated staff who invest so much
of their time and effort into making
sure each and every person
involved with Spectrum achieves
what they want to in life. I have
been very proud, fascinated and
humbled to be a part of this.”
Praising Lady Mary for her
dedication over the years and
welcoming Bishop Tim to the
organisation, CEO Mary Simpson
said: “We are indebted to Lady
Mary for the support she has given
us over the past 15 and without
whose influence facilities such as
Three Bridges would not have
happened. She spoke as one of us,
sharing our concerns, our hopes
and our achievements and
encouraging us to take pride in our
work and look forward to our future
successes.
“Although we are sad to say
goodbye to Lady Mary, we are
delighted to welcome Bishop Tim
who is keen to get to the heart of
the charity and help us support
more people with autism to fulfil
their own dreams in life.”
Bishop Tim said: “The first thing
that struck me about Spectrum was
that its service users were the
central focus of everything and
there was a real drive and passion
to help these people live the most
fulfilling and enjoyable lives they
possibly could.
“There is so much going on behind
the scenes but at the forefront of
people’s minds is creating a home
and an atmosphere where
someone can be treated as an
individual, not as a person with
autism, and that is wonderful to see
and to be a part of.”
With a desire to make a lasting
contribution to the wider
community, Bishop Tim is also the
national chairman of the Children’s
Society, supports Cornish
foodbanks and was joint chair of the
all-party inquiry into hunger in the
UK. He also has a seat in House of
Lords.
Finally, we are sad to learn that
Lady Mary has been recently taken
ill. From everyone at Spectrum, we
send her our wishes for a return to
good health.

Message from CEO
Mary Simpson
The Trustees and I are delighted that Bishop Tim has taken on the
role of Spectrum’s President. We had a fabulous day when Lady
Mary Holborow handed the role over to him. For over 15 years, Lady
Mary has been an exemplary President for the organisation, and she
takes with her our sincere gratitude for her support and keen interest
in our work.
In March, Bishop Tim visited Spectrum’s Trustees to talk about his
new role and our commitment to providing the best possible services
to those who are entrusted to the organisation. We all look forward
to his participation and welcome him as our new President.
Autism News
Understanding Autism
A Cornish photography student is
campaigning to break down the myths
surrounding autism with the premier of
two thought-provoking videos.
The short films have been created by
Lauren Reid who joined forces with
Spectrum to highlight some of the
misconceptions surrounding the
condition. The films feature Eddie
Callis and Kyle Coleman who talk
about their friendship and shared love
of art, music and performing.
The videos can be seen via
Spectrum’s Facebook page as well as
on a specially launched website,
Understanding Autism. They have
already been viewed more than 5,000
times.
Myths surrounding communication,
levels of IQ, friendship and emotions
are discussed by the two friends and
their families and the films also feature
music written and performed by Eddie
and Kyle.
Falmouth University student Lauren
created the videos as part of her Press
and Editorial degree. She first met
Eddie and Kyle when in Italy with
Volunteer Cornwall. She was interested
in their story and how their close their
friendship shattered one of the many
myths surrounding people on the
autistic spectrum.
You can read the full article and watch
the videos at:
http://tinyurl.com/jfmarez
Good News from the
Houses
Recently there has been lots going on
for three individuals we support. A new
chapter has begun in their lives,
supported by the dedicated team
members.
The time had come to move homes to
another of Spectrum’s homes in Truro.
For several months, they visited their
new home for evening meals to get
used to the new surroundings and to
meet with their two new peers who live
there already. The team members have
supported this transition with great care
to ensure visits went as planned. They
also extended the visits to include local
café visits with their new peers to
ensure all individuals could get to know
one another. Its been a little while now
and we are pleased to say that the
move has gone very well, the two individuals already living at the home, are
enjoying their new housemates’ company and those that moved in are benefiting
already. They have all coped well with the big change with one service user
already referring to his new home as the happy house! This is a great
achievement for all involved. Let's not forget the team members for their hard
work!

We Love Where We Work
Rosewin
Rosewin Is a single person children's service near Hayle. It’s
an active and vibrant house with lots going on. The service
user enjoys various activities and accessing Three Bridges.
"Rosewin is an amazing children's unit filled with fun and
games" - Amanda Blanchard
"Working as part of the team helping a child be closer to his
family is a rewarding feeling" - Jared Sanderson
"A brilliant team with an incredible child, never a dull
moment" - Vicky Palmer
"I choose to do extra hours at Rosewin to support the
amazing service user and I enjoy working with a supportive
team who have enabled me to progress my skills" - Jax
Three Bridges
Three Bridges held its first school disco
before the February half term. We are
proud and extremely pleased to say
that it was a success! Five of our
students attended along with two of
their siblings. Several of our staff kindly
volunteered their time to stay at school
to decorate the hall and prepare the
food. At 5pm, all the students arrived at
About Spectrum
Human Resources
The role of the HR Department
is to support and advise the
organisation on employee
matters.
This support and advice can
range from recruitment and
selection, working conditions,
welfare and support and
employment law.
Currently the HR department
consists of three team members:
Chris Simpson who is the HR Manager
and part of the Senior Management
team; Taya Atkinson, who is a Deputy;
and Julian Nicholls, who provides HR
admin support.
a hall filled with lights, balloons, bunting
and disco music. Rob Savage from The
Beach was our fantastic DJ for the
evening. He came prepared with
gadgets and music and provided
excellent entertainment. This was a
great opportunity for parents to
socialise and mingle with each other
and also with the staff and students.
There were some excellent dance
moves on show... and some
questionable ones from the staff too!
Following this success, we are planning
to make these social opportunities a
regular occurrence!
We would like to say a huge thank you
to the brilliant Rob Savage, the team
members and to all of our students and
parents who came along.
SERVICES UPDATE
Recruitment and Training
The HR Department has been
undertaking a massive surge on the
recruitment front and has engaged with
a variety of media to promote interest
in Spectrum. This campaign has been
extremely fruitful.
We have also looked at current trends
and have noticed a significant increase
in former team members returning to
Spectrum. We are delighted to see
them when they come to begin their
induction training.
Positive Behavioural Team
The PB team is currently looking at the
potential of computerising all the care
plans and house systems onto one online
platform. This exciting
development will make all the
information much more accessible.
This is all happening now because BT
has at last updated our broadband
connectivity which in turn has allowed
us to upgrade all our IT systems so
that everyone can benefit.
Operations
Congratulations to the teams at
Heightlea, Pendarves, Trefusis,
Tresleigh and Trewithen who have
recently received good reports from the
Care Quality Commission.
Welcome to Vicki Palmer, the new
Deputy at Rosewin.
Having overseen a successful
transition of service users from
Springfield to Heightlea, Janet Hurley
has now taken up the position of
Manager at Bawden Manor Farm.

Team Member Sories
Training, and Certificates Achieved
Over the past few months there have
been numerous team members who
have achieved qualifications through
Spectrum. These range from specific
training in Autism to Apprenticeships in
Health and Social Care. All induction
groups complete a level 2 certificate in
Introductory Awareness of Autistic
Spectrum conditions, which has visibly
benefited the organisation as new team
members have a good basic
understanding of ASD when they enter
the houses. Special recognition of
achievement over the past month goes
to:
Ryan Saltern and Rebecca Real
who have completed their Level 3
Apprenticeship;
Aaron Hawken, Claire Tidball and
Nicola Mason, who achieved the
ERR unit;
Maggie Saunders, who achieved a
Level 3 award in Education and
Training,
Mandie Ratcliffe ,who has passed
both English and Math’s Level 2
Functional Skills.
There are interesting developments
happening in the training department as
the training packages are currently
being reviewed. They will be updated to
make them more relevant and
interactive and to incorporate Care
Certificate requirements. In the next few
weeks, announcements will be made
about new dates for courses so that
team members and managers will be
able to book places. In the meantime,
the training dept. would kindly like to
ask that team members refrain from
booking onto courses until the new
dates are announced. We appreciate
your patience during this time.
Spectrum is a leading provider of
specialist care services for people with
Autistic Spectrum Disorders and
provides residential care for adults and
children as well as education and
outreach support.
For more information about Spectrum
and the support it offers to people with
autistic spectrum disorders as well as
their families and carers, visit
www.spectrumasd.org or log on to the
charity’s Facebook page at:
www.facebook.com/SpectrumASD
Contributions and comments from all
readers are welcome on autism related
topics. Please send your contributions
with any good, clear pictures to Gavin
Pedley
gavin.pedley@spectrumasd.org
or call 01872 278378
Spectrum
Sterling Court
Truro Hill, Penryn
Cornwall, TR10 8DB
United Kingdom
THREE BRIDGES
BREAKING NEWS!!!
Three Bridges Education Centre now has its very own
website.
To raise its profile, we need as many visitors to it as possible.
Please have more than one look at:
www.3bridges.co.uk
Phone: 01326 371000
Fax: 01326 371099
E-mail: enquiries@spectrumasd.org
Reg. Charity № 1026475
(Devon & Cornwall Autistic Community Trust t/a Spectrum)