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Introducing our new autism/mental health project
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Funded by a four-year grant from Comic Relief, we are running a new autism and mental health programme working across West Yorkshire and Harrogate. Still in the early stages of its development, it will focus on partnerships and consultations, all with the aim of improving access to mental health services to autistic adults in the region.
The project will also offer peer support to autistic adults and training to groups wanting to provide autistic peer support across the region. It will work with advocacy and social prescribing services on improving access and services for autistic people.
It will run parallel to our Leeds Autism AIM service. Please click below to read more about the project.
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Video: Community Advocacy explained
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In the first of a series of videos we are making, one of our advocates talks about what their role involves and what their team does. Imogen Day, one of our Universal Advocates in the Community Advocacy team, discusses the ins and outs of her role.
Further videos will be published throughout the next few months about our Care Act, Health Complaints, IMCA and IMHA services. To watch Imogen’s video, please click on the button below.
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Leep1 secure Friendship Group and health/fitness project funding
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Our Leep1 team have secured funding to keep running their Friendship Group for adults with learning disabilities. It comes from The National Lottery Awards for All Fund. Since moving online during the pandemic, the Friendship Group has proved really popular. Between April 2020-March 2021, an average of 30 people went to each session.
In addition, Leep1 have also been funded to run a project jointly with People in Action around weight management. It is for a scheme to encourage healthy eating and exercise for adults with learning disabilities in Leeds.
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Free self-advocacy group sessions: Helping you to speak up
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This autumn, we will be running a series of free workshops on self-advocacy. They aim to help you to speak up for yourself, your rights and wishes. As part of our Self-Advocacy service, the workshops will cover different ways to self-advocate, as well as how to use our suite of self-advocacy tools.
The workshops will run in November, December, January, February and March and are all free to attend. At the time of writing, all workshops held in the new year will be face-to-face. Please click below for information on how to sign up.
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Out Spoken: First workshop dates confirmed
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The Out Spoken project, working with LGBTQI+ people who are also autistic and/or have a learning disability, is holding a series of online self-advocacy workshops this autumn. There are two different sets - one for LGBTQI+ autistic adults; the other for LGBTQI+ adults with a learning disability.
The project is led by our CHANGE team and Yorkshire MESMAC, funded by a grant for three years from the National Lottery Community Fund.
People taking part must attend all five sessions and live in the Leeds area. To read more or book a place, please click on the link below.
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Making Information Accessible: CHANGE's guide to their training sessions
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The CHANGE team have put together a guide to accompany their Making Information Accessible training sessions. It talks about how to use Easy Read images and write clear text, among other hints and tips.
CHANGE's next Accessible Information training session is on Wednesday 24th November and will be online. To read the guide and book a place, please click on the links below.
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AIM mark three years of Lottery funding
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This summer, Leeds Autism AIM marked three years of receiving funding from the National Lottery Community Fund. In that time, the service has:
- Run close to 150 Autism Hub sessions
- Supported 69 mentoring matches
- Produced 165 personalised self-advocacy resources
- Signposted over 800 people
- Delivered hundreds of one-to-one peer support sessions
Throughout the three years from June 2018, the AIM service has grown its staff team, with new and existing staff able to support more people. AIM have branched out with new project work during that time, with the Autism Health Access Project starting.
Huge thanks to the Lottery for all of their support over that time.
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Free advocacy training: Coming this autumn
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In November, we will be running free, in-person advocacy training sessions. These are for anyone working or volunteering with an organisation in Leeds that provides formal or informal advocacy for the communities they serve. Upcoming dates are as follows:
- Monday 29th November – Introduction to Advocacy
- Tuesday 30th November – Effective Advocacy and Negotiation Skills
- Tuesday 7th December – Introduction to Advocacy Specialisms
Times are to be confirmed, but the sessions will take place at Voluntary Action Leeds' office in Hunslet. For further info about booking, please click on the link below.
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Asking You! work on improving services
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Asking You! will have an exciting prize draw coming soon, it's a win-win! You can help improve services and potentially win a prize. More information will be coming to your inbox soon.
We're taking over the Council Chambers in UK Parliament Week on 2nd November, so tune in to hear the speeches or, if you have a learning disability, get in touch to get yourself one of the limited spots to give a speech and shape a manifesto for Leeds.
We had a great turnout for our June Leeds Learning Disability People's Parliament meeting and the co-designed t-shirts have been delivered to members.
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Big Leeds Chat comes back for 2021
After a year away due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Big Leeds Chat is back for 2021.
The project, led by Healthwatch Leeds and supported by a number of third sector groups, is going out on the road in September and October. Several different 'chats' about health, wellbeing and how the past 18 months have affected them will be held across Leeds.
For further information on a chat near you and how you can be involved, please click on the link below.
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Age UK Leeds' Digital Wellbeing Service
Our partners at Age UK Leeds are running a digital wellbeing service for older people in the local area.
Funded by a grant from the National Lottery Community Fund, it can help them by lending tablets, offering SIM cards to connect to the internet, accessing healthcare online and with staying safe during the pandemic.
For more info on how to access and refer to the service, please click the link below to read a PDF guide detailing what it offers.
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Leeds For All: Disability event this December
To mark International Day of Disabled People (IDODP) and Disability History Month, Forum Central and a number of partner organisations (including us) are holding an event in December.
Leeds For All will have a number of stalls and activities on offer in person, as well as a week-long programme of online and offline activities. We will be running some ourselves.
The event will be on Friday 3rd December; click on the link below for further info.
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