2023-03-31-accounts

We are one full year out of the Covid-19 pandemic and continue to adapt to the needs of our families and the professionals who support them.

As we continue to secure the ongoing financial stability of the charity we are developing our professional services that support families as well as the NHS and the Education system. We have been accredited to run QbCheck – an ADHD assessment tool. Administered by clinical psychologists, this service launched in March 2023. A percentage of this income is being set aside in a discretionary fund to help us further support our most financially vulnerable families.

We have also been approved by Hertfordshire County Council to provide Alternative Provision Services which includes SEND tutoring, speech and language therapy, mentoring and therapeutic interventions. This has enabled us to scaffold the charity to move forward in the direction needed to support those young people with more complex needs and those waiting for special school placements.

As well as tenders from the Local Authority we have been supported by the National Lottery Community Fund, trusts and foundations, companies and individuals enabling us to grow our services and our impact and stabilise each department as we strive to meet an ever increasing demand. We have increased the SPACE team from 13 PAYE staff to 15 PAYE staff with an additional 5 selfemployed staff. We are passionate about employing not only parent/carers but neurodivergent individuals with a range of abilities and skills. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive and a Living Wage employer. Half of our team have a diagnosis or consider themselves to be neurodivergent and between them they are parents to 23 neurodiverse children. Their lived experience gives them a deep understanding and huge commitment to support our families. We also are hugely grateful to have the support of over 15 ad hoc support staff and regular volunteers.

The year ahead is another busy but very exciting one in terms of the development of SPACE. We are now in a position where regardless of whether families need light touch engagement or have complex needs involving multiple statutory and other services, we are able to deliver the end to end support they need.

With a clear plan, strong governance and the enthusiasm and dedication that our staff and volunteers bring every single day we will continue to develop and deliver services to be there when needed - empowering and supporting neurodivergent children and young people and their families so that they can thrive.

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Karen Spencer Clare Brillus
Nicky Chaperlin Lyn Heathcote Sharif
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Our activities programme makes experiences accessible to young people who would otherwise be unable to access them. These exclusive events are designed to enhance learning, social interaction, and physical activity for our children and young people.

We ran a whole host of over 20 different activities regularly across Hertfordshire from sports to creative activities. Siblings are welcome to take part, and many of the activities can be enjoyed by the whole family.

SPACE heavily subsidises the amount parents and carers pay to access these events in order to make them as accessible as possible to as many families as possible.

hours of group events and activites

events hosted in inclusive settings

bookings made by our families

Our event schedule includes online art, Lego, cooking, trampolining, driving, and aerial gymnastics! We've delivered inflatables, graffiti, outdoor play at The Patch, paddle sports, stand-up paddleboarding, yoga, pottery painting, quizzes and soft play. New activities added this year included Little City roleplay and Melody Monkeys for pre-schoolers.

Thanks to a partnership with Hertfordshire Libraries and Booster Cushion Theatre we were also able to make relaxed live performances accessible to our younger SPACE children. And, of course, we had a special Christmas show to top it all off!

of children and young people increased confidence

increased self-esteem

reduced anxiety

improved social and communication skills

have increased general well-being

of parents and carers feel less isolated because they are able to attend these activities with their young people.

We launched an ‘Introduction to…’ activities series to enable children and young people to gain the basic skills and confidence to be able to build towards accessing them independently - such as fishing and golf. Since we launched these in summer 2022, 80 young people have been introduced to golf and 40 to fishing.

We also launched ‘Life Skills’ events for our older young people, starting with an Introduction to Independent Shopping experience in partnership with a local ASDA.

There continues to be a big demand for participation in our programme of online and in-person therapeutic 1:1 activities which are specifically designed to increase confidence and self-esteem and help transition children and young people with SEND into our inclusive group activities. We further increased capacity this year by adding My Happy SPACE to the programme.

sessions of 1:1 therapeutic activities were delivered.

We were recommissioned by Hertfordshire County Council as a Short Break Local Offer (SBLO) provider. The children and young people who signed up to SPACE SBLO enjoyed group activities such as graffiti, aerial gymnastics and watersports and towards the end of the year an expanded offer which included 1:1 activities such as cooking, art, yoga, driving and mixed martial arts.

Families reported that this programme has a significant positive impact across multiple areas that affect the mental wellbeing of the children who have participated from the activities to date including an average of a

uplift in self-esteem

hours of SBLO activities were delivered.

boost in confidence following instructions

uplift in being happy to leave the house

We were recommissioned by Hertfordshire County Council by the Transforming Care Team to run Your SPACE – a social care project supporting some of the most vulnerable children in our community. This is a project designed to enable children and young people on Hertfordshire’s Dynamic Support Register (DSR) to access recreational activities to meet their complex needs.

Using a highly tailored, person-centred, therapeutic approach, since launch in October 2021 SPACE has received

referrals to date

hours of bespoke 1:1 activity respite has been successfully delivered to young people on the DSR with over

planned hours of delivery

Child E is 15 years old and was referred to Your SPACE while still in hospital. Child E was very anxious to go outside, and was fearful to be out in the community without holding her mother’s hand. The Your SPACE coordinator worked with Child E’s keyworker by attending meetings with key staff involved in her care to ascertain her exact support needs to access the community for the first time since her hospital admission. Your SPACE met with Therapeutic Hooves to communicate Child E’s complex needs and ensured that her first taster session was to take place at the same time as her day-release from hospital.

Child E’s sessions began with a visit to an indoor ‘hut’ to help with the anxiety of being out in the community, supported by a 2:1 staff ratio. After 3 sessions in the hut, Child E began to spend more time outside with the horses as her confidence grew. Child E wanted to attend regularly and did so over the course of 6 months, growing with confidence each time and becoming less and less anxious to go outside in the community. Over the course of her 48 hours of support, Child E no longer uses the hut as a safe space as she feels comfortable enough to be outdoors with other members of the community.

Child E’s package of support with Your SPACE is now coming to an end, as she has started volunteering with Therapeutic Hooves to gain employment skills and a sense of responsibility. Child E’s care team reports that she would not have had the opportunity to build her confidence and find her way from hospitalisation into early employment skills without the support of the Your SPACE project.

We were recommissioned by Hertfordshire County Council to run Lending SPACE - our community hub. It provides an inclusive environment for parent/carers to borrow toys, trial sensory items, and useful aids that can help empower and assist children with SEND. We are committed to providing emotional support to parent/carers, and have created a welcoming space where they can come to chat with likeminded people, browse through our selection of items, have a warm drink and allow children to play.

This year Lending SPACE supported loans of

-Lending SPACE parent

items from our library of resources.

Supportive Non-judgemental Welcoming

Safe

Empathic Friendly Inclusive

have been able to try resources that have supported their child’s needs

agree it provides a safe environment for their family to be themselves

have saved money by being able to try resources from Lending SPACE

We were awarded a Hertfordshire County Council ‘warm spaces’ grant for Lending SPACE for winter/spring 2022-23 which enabled us to temporarily add an additional drop-in session on Tuesdays and extend opening hours during the school holidays.

have gone on to buy resources for their young person that they originally tried at Lending SPACE

agree it contributes to their emotional well-being and support

We were recommissioned by Hertfordshire County Council to run workshops for parents and carers of neurodivergent children and young people, we also fund our own programme of workshops and courses.

During this period we ran a total of

We also gained CPD accreditation for our ADHD in Girls and Women workshop and will be rolling out additional accredited workshops in the future.

In total we had

bookings from parents and carers. Our workshops and courses have a big impact on the parents and carers who attend them and on their children and young people, including:

Increased confidence: are more confident when talking about their child’s neurodiverse condition

workshops and

Increased ability to advocate: are more empowered to advocate for their child at their school/setting

Improved skills: use our tools and strategies at home

courses designed to support parents and carers better understand and support the needs of their children and young people. All of our workshops and courses were delivered online.

We ran workshops on

different topics throughout the year and, based on feedback from our families, expanded our range of training topics to include workshops on What is Neurodiversity?, Navigating the SEND World Post 16, ADHD in Girls and Women, Understanding Behaviour as Communication, Autism Plus – Co-occurring Conditions, Tourettes and Understanding Specific Literacy Difficulties.

More empowered: are better able to prioritise the needs of their child

Increased understanding: better understand their child’s neurodiverse condition

Improved relationships: have improved family relationships

As well as being commissioned to deliver training in schools and settings we launched our Neurodiversity in the Workplace training programme and were commissioned to deliver this to a number of businesses across the UK.

This programme is designed to promote an understanding of how neurological differences, such as Autism and ADHD, may affect professionals in their place of work. It highlights the importance and advantages of a neurodiverse team, and the reasonable adjustments that a workplace can make to support their team.

We ran two conferences in Autumn in partnership with the ADHD Neurodiversity Charity attended by over 100 parents, carers and professionals. The parent and carer conference was packed full of practical insights and strategies for supporting emotional regulation, executive functioning and sensory integration at home.

Education professionals attended a twilight conference on how to support neurodiversity through the key stages. This programme had a specific focus on practical strategies for supporting the difficulties some neurodivergent children and young people experience with executive functions to help them learn more effectively, achieve their potential and enhance emotional resilience.

of the professionals who attended said they would attend another SPACE conference.

In its second full year of operation, our SEND Family Support team supported 977 families with tailored and bespoke family support. With statutory services continuing to face severe capacity challenges and families often waiting months, sometimes years, for help, diagnosis and support, our family support service has never been more needed or in demand and the support required is increasingly complex. To meet this need, in September we re-structured the service to enable us to take on formal case work and home visits alongside our email, telephone and face-toface appointments and support.

The first contact is often emotional and can be tearful. Families can be isolated and feel desperate, seeking help and advice with no one else to turn to.

As with all our services our bespoke family support is needs-led and no diagnosis is necessary. Parents and carers may self-refer and may also be referred by their school or setting, social worker, GP or other healthcare practitioner. The SPACE team also actively monitor our closed Facebook support group and reach out to parents and carers where there is clear need for more bespoke or intensive support and advice. Our family support team has extensive lived experience as well as in depth knowledge of Herts statutory & community-based provision.

families supported

individual advice appointments on the telephone

face-to-face appointments

home visits

appointments supporting and/or advocating with other professional stakeholders across health, social care and education

In response to an increase in demand for Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) support and advice through our family support service we launched regular dedicated EHCP surgeries. Parents and carers can book a face-to-face appointment at Lending SPACE to get support in making an initial EHCP application. This is non-legal advice and the surgeries are free for families to access. To date they have been fully booked with waiting lists.

• Practical advice, including help with paperwork and claiming the benefits they are entitled to

• Support to navigate the pathway for Autism & ADHD diagnosis Information & signposting to additional services Emotional support and a listening ear

• Advice and suggestions on supporting and modelling interactions, interventions, and strategies

Child A’s family were signposted to the SPACE SEND Family Support Service via the Lending SPACE team. Mum was struggling with how to help her son and understanding what he was trying to communicate.

Help to understand and support behaviours

• Advocacy to ensure the family’s specific needs are understood

• Making direct referrals & following up with agencies to access support required quickly, whilst ensure the family remains at the centre of all planning and decision making

• Support at meetings with other stakeholders including school and Child In Need Meetings

The SPACE SEND Family Support Worker looked at the behaviours Child A was displaying. He was pointing to different things in the cupboards and mum was showing him different items. Child A would become distressed and throw objects that were in reach before throwing himself to the floor.

Support to access the wider SPACE offer

The ‘SPACE Hertfordshire’ private Facebook Support Group enables parents and carers to get peer-based support from other families in Hertfordshire. It is the biggest online SEND support group in the county with over 7.6k members and brings parent/carers and professionals together to share experience and support, increase understanding and reduce social isolation.

During the year we had over 2,000 members post on the group which includes sharing successes, asking questions, looking for advice or simply looking to offload, and over 28,000 supportive peer-topeer responses.

We identified his sensory needs by working together to complete the SPACE Sensory Profile and introduced activities to meet these needs.

Our analysis of his non-verbal behaviour enabled us to develop a plan to support Child A’s communication. We created a visual choice board, which was modelled to mum by encouraging Child A to use the board to begin to make requests.

Mum and Child A are using the visuals consistently. Mum reports the visuals are helping to reduce frustration. But also, are helping with Child A’s speech. He is beginning to repeat back the word on the visual and is sometimes saying the word spontaneously.

The family enjoyed some days out and had a successful holiday.

Child H was displaying difficult, dangerous, and controlling behaviours in the home. Mum was unable to get H out into the community, other than their local coffee shop. Child H wasn’t accessing any additional support in school. The relationships within the family home were breaking down. Child H was awaiting an autism assessment. The family accessed support from their school’s family support team who subsequently referred them to us.

Supported mum over the telephone and email on a regular basis as this communication best suited mum’s work commitments. This included emotional wellbeing support for her.

Mum attended many workshops and courses with SPACE to build up her understanding.

Mum spoke with school about reasonable adjustments, to make the mornings easier, which has made a substantial difference.

Child H’s two siblings are starting to have moments of shared enjoyment with Child H.

Child H’s behaviour is less controlling, she has fewer outbursts and is beginning to communicate her difficulties with mum.

Provided visuals to support transitions, processing and to reduce verbal communication as we identified this often caused behaviours to escalate.

Shared strategies to help de-escalate and manage challenging behaviours and meltdowns.

Worked on strategies to access the community with step-bystep suggestions to engage Child H at her pace, including the Hertfordshire STEPS approach.

Worked in partnership with the school family support team and liaised with paediatrics regarding concerns/difficulties.

Mum was able to implement a lot of strategies and suggestions given, which reduced lots of difficult behaviours and home life become more enjoyable for the family.

Mum felt more confident in managing the situations and felt empowered.

Intensive Family Support CHEXS Team (Hertfordshire HABS County Council) Families First Integrated Services for Partnerships Learning (Hertfordshire PALMS County Council) CAHMS Special Needs Health Other statutory services Visitors including the NHS Health Visitors Police School Nurses Schools (Public and Social Prescribers Private sector)

Our three in-person support groups that run monthly across the county in Croxley Green, Welwyn Garden City and Hoddesdon, provide safe, nurturing environments for parents and carers to connect, share experiences, and access valuable resources. As well as providing practical peer-based advice and support their primary purpose is often to support the mental health and wellbeing of these caregivers. During this period we have had

This was our first full year of running Starting SPACE, a two-week group programme led by our family support workers for families with children 0-6 years of age. These are families that are often particularly vulnerable, just starting out on their special needs journey. The support they need is often particularly focused on emotional support as well as practical.

parents and carers book on to these groups.

The impact on the mental health and wellbeing of parent/carers who attend the support groups is clear.

The group has a positive impact on my mental health

I feel less isolated by attending the group

I feel heard and understood by other people attending the group It’s helped me feel more confident in my ability to cope with challenges related to my young person’s neurodivergence.

Families have been supported through the Starting SPACE programme this year.

We were proud to once again run the annual historic Ware Duck Race working with many community partners including the Amwell Rotary Club, Hertford Canoe Club and local Yarn Bombers raising £2,182.40.

Established a SPACE community allotment, which is dedicated to creating a safe and sensory-friendly environment for families to come together and grow their own produce. We recruited a team of dedicated volunteers to help transform and maintain the space as a welcoming outdoor haven.

Collaborated with local supermarket, ASDA, to design an independent shopping experience for our young people to build upon their confidence by providing a supportive and neurodiverse-friendly framework.

Partnered with Hertfordshire Fire Service and Therapeutic Hooves, a local charity, to organize and execute Hertfordshire Fire Station’s first inclusive open day.

Came together with Hertfordshire libraries to encourage neurodivergent families to feel welcome and at ease using their local library. Planned and implemented with the library a series of Booster seat theatre fun sessions for families hosted within the library.

This year, we regularly attended group meetings and conferences to give a voice to our community and ensure their needs are met.

• Early Years Network meetings Early Years SEND Conference DSPL meetings Cluster meetings

Our efforts extended to supporting the Autism in Schools Outreach Programme, as well as working alongside a local primary school on the Young Dragons apprentice scheme. This involved developing a business plan and generating funds from initial seed money.

The team have visited Family Centres, Homestart sessions, schools, colleges and play groups to speak with staff and parents about SPACE and offer support to individuals experiencing challenges.

We take pride in being an active member of our community. By participating in SENCo forums, we ensure that schools are aware of SPACE and can direct parents accordingly. We attended information stands organised by the local authority, DSPL’s (Delivering specialist provision locally) community halls and local businesses such as Tesco and we delivered presentations to Rotary clubs, Citizen Advice Bureau, community interest groups, and local residents groups to provide the local community with information about SPACE and neurodiversity.

To build on collaborative opportunities to support our community, we also attended events organised by other community interest groups and charities.

This year we made it easier for people to access our Lending SPACE resources. Our outreach work enables us to deliver our support further afield and reach more families and professionals so that they can in turn, recommend us to parents/carers who need us.

Where we can, we offer deliveries and collections in order to make sure our service can be as inclusive as possible.

deliveries and collections to

different areas, these areas included Cheshunt, Hertford, Hoddesdon, St Albans, Waltham Cross, Watford and

www.spaceherts.org.uk

Occupational Therapists, Visual Impaired and Hearing Team, School Family Support, Hatfield SEN Support Group and

We also extended our outreach area meaning we were accessed by more services including

Oxley Family Centre, Selections Centre Hertford , Family Support at Local Children's Centres.

We also completed

visits to SEND nurseries - Daisychains and Carters Sunflowers to reach parents and carers and had contact with further services with a view to outreach.

As the year progressed the changes in the economic climate became more evident and the impact of the cost of living crisis became progressively more of a challenge for our fundraising and for our supporters. We were particularly grateful to those who fundraised and supported SPACE during such financially uncertain times.

Martyn Oakley took to the ring to take part in a white collar boxing event and raise money for us because of his direct experience of the impact our services and support can have.

Luan Pope completed the 50k Thames Path Challenge in memory of a dear friend. His wife and daughters chose SPACE for the support they have received.

raised money for us at their Jubilee street party celebrations. They hosted a raffle and an auction and donated to SPACE in support of one of their neighbours.

A big thank you as well to Asda, Tesco – Groundworks UK, Floradio radio and Amwell Rotary along with community groups across Hertfordshire including local churches and schools, all our individual fundraisers and their supporters, and our individual and regular donors for their generous support.

ran a fun and friendly sparring event for all ages which raised over £600 for SPACE and created a huge amount of awareness in the community.

The Brad’s Annual Christmas Lights raised money and awareness and also brought extra Christmas joy to those who donated to their appeal.

Reduction in social isolation of vulnerable families through:

• Bespoke carefully orchestrated social opportunities and activities, online and in-person, throughout the year for children, young people and the whole family to attend.

• Monthly support groups promoting and facilitating a peer support network. Online community support through a closed administrated Facebook Group and Public page.

• Bespoke online and face to face support, guidance and signposting including home visits from our Family Support Team.

• Raising the profile of the charity and awareness of families’ needs within the local community and helping to shape future provisions.

• Supporting local businesses and services to promote inclusion.

Improving and advancing the knowledge, understanding and skills of parent/carers and professionals.

• Online and in-person monthly support groups which may be attended by a guest speaker/ service operating in the field of Special Educational Needs and disabilities (SEND)

• Themed Conferences for both parent/carers and professionals delivered by SPACE and experts within that field.

The direct beneficiaries of the charity are Hertfordshire families with children and young people on the autistic spectrum and/or ADHD and other neurodiverse conditions either with or without diagnosis. Other beneficiaries include the wider community, extended families and professionals also working within the SEND field. The beneficiaries of the charity are in direct keeping with the charity’s aims, objectives and constitution.

The section of the public that can benefit are not unreasonably restricted by geographic location. Although the organisation is a Hertfordshire-based charity as stated in the constitution, the trustees considered the following to ensure maximum accessibility.

• All support groups are not geographically restricted to the area they are hosted in. The support groups are spread over various Hertfordshire locations and on various days and times to maximise accessibility.

• There are online support groups that remove geographical restrictions completely, giving access to all of Hertfordshire.

• An appropriate video conferencing platform has been selected that supports a wide range of hardware, including mobile phones. The platform does not have a high barrier to entry from an account, pricing, or accessibility perspective.

• The organisation is mindful to hold events and socials in a variety of Hertfordshire locations subject to venues, opportunities, and cost implications.

• Online and in-person workshops and courses on a variety of topics throughout the year.

• Sharing information and resources through a variety of mediums and organisations.

• Forging links with other service providers, organisations and charities to educate and instil confidence in working with families that have children and young people with SEND.

The public benefits of the organisation closely reflect and adheres to the charity’s Aims, Objects and Constitution. The trustees ensure the charity remains focused on these principles in all decision making.

The charity benefits are balanced against detriment or harm. The trustees are fully aware of the need and demand from the public on the charity’s services therefore the charity must grow to meet this demand. However, the trustees must ensure this pace of growth is realistic and not be in detriment of the team and volunteers running the organisation. SPACE Registered Charity England and Wales no: 117 2178 Supporting Families in Hertfordshire - Autism ADHD and other Neurodiverse Conditions.

People in poverty are not excluded from the opportunity to benefit.

• There are no joining, membership or subscription fees. All support groups, online community and face to face support are free. All online activities, courses and workshops are free and involve no travel costs. All projects that have received specific funding are offered to families at a nominal charge, this is to ensure their commitment in attendance. The charity subsidises activities wherever possible to maximise accessibility. Larger events and conferences carry a charge to attend. The trustees will investigate whether this can be offered as concessions in relation to poverty in the future.

Any private benefits are incidental.

SECTION A INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT

Registered charity number: 1172178

Charity’s principal address: Unit 5 The Maltings Business Centre

Stanstead Abbotts Ware, Herts SG12 8HG

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity: Lyn Heathcote Sharif (Chair) Mark Wilson (Treasurer) Dr Sharmishtha Sarkar Donna Chamberlain Victoria Kemp Polly Kerr

Type of governing document: Constitution SPACE is constituted by CIO with voting members other than charity trustees. The trustee selection method is elected by trustees and voting members.

Financial review: Statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

Reserves are held exclusively for the furtherance of the Charitable Objectives. None of the Charity’s reserves may be paid or transferred directly or indirectly by way of dividend, bonus or otherwise by way of profit to any member of the Charity. The Charity will hold a minimum of 4 months in way of reserve.

Declaration: The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above - signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

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Lyn Heathcote Sharif Mark Wilson
Dr Sharmishtha Sarkar Donna Chamberlain
Victoria Kemp Polly Kerr
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