SAVS Quarterly Newsletter Apr-Jun 19

EVERYONE HAS A RIGHT TO A SOCIAL LIFE AND BEING
ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN THEIR COMMUNITY
Friendsandplacestogether is a
small non profit making charity
that has been running since
2012 but became a recognized
registered charity in 2014. Since
early 2019 with support from the
lottery we have had a venue in
Victoria shopping centre on the
Topfloor units 13,14. The aim of
the charity is to seek friendships
for isolated and vulnerable
disabled people within our
community. Primarily this service
has been offered to people aged
13-25 but we are looking at what
our community needs.
Friendships are important to
people with a learning disability,
however people with a learning
disability tend to have fewer
friends and fewer opportunities
for socialising than the general
population.
Almost 1 in 3 young people with
a learning disability spend less
than 1 hour outside their home
on a typical Saturday (Mencap,
2016). Recent research from
Scope has also uncovered that a
shocking 85% of young disabled
adults from the 18-34 year
old age group feel lonely. As a
result, over half of working age
disabled people who have felt
lonely in the past year said they
experienced depression (62%)
and anxiety (58%); and half (49%)
experienced stress (Scope.org.
uk. 2018).
Friendsandplacestogether
facilitates friendships by working
with the families and schools/
colleges to seek ways of building
active friendships. We meet
with the families to look at their
needs to enable not only short
breaks for the parents/carers
but for the service users to share
time together whilst working on
their skills to be as independent
as possible. We enable our
service users and their families/
carers to feel confident, safe and
socially included.
So far in 2019 we have supported
our service users by taking them
to places like Stubber’s, Center
Parcs, we have been on holidays
such as Turkey and Ibiza, days
out such as Harry Potter world,
Chessington, Go Karting, we
also support birthday meals and
clubbing nights or simply support
dog walking or a visit to the
cinema with a friend.
Our service is unique and
bespoke to each family that the
charity supports as the needs
are very different and we aim to
deliver to our vision statement
that everyone has a right to a
social life. We are innovative and
creative, warm and friendly and
very open minded to deliver to
each individuals aspirations.
Our youth group is taking part in
the Southend Carnival Procession
on the 17th August so look out
for us and give us a wave. We
are also planning a fashion show
in Victoria shopping centre in
September with the support of
the retailers within the shopping
Centre to give our young people
the opportunity to walk the
catwalk. In November 2018 we
held our very first charity ball
and this really raised the profile
of the charity so this year we are
holding our 2nd Charity ball on
the 19th October at the Park Inn
as we rely largely on grants and
donations to continue our great
work. We are really excited and
looking forward to a fantastic
evening with the resident Park
Inn DJ Paul Gee.
Our aim is to extend this
wonderful service and to
continue growing lifelong
friendships.
www.savs-southend.org | info@savs-southend.co.uk | 01702 356 000
SAVS Newsletter 19/20 Q2 | PAGE 5