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Podcast Episode 51. At some point in all of our journeys, we need support. Some of us find it in family and friends, others look to support groups. In this week’s podcast, Elaine Kelly, who runs a support group, talks about how support groups can help when maybe others around you simply don’t get it.

Elaine explains how her support group is run and what she believes is important to consider to provide a supportive and welcoming environment. She reveals how support groups can help against isolation and also make people aware of organizations and resources they can use.

Elaine also addresses why some people don’t seek out support groups and explains how for many people they are only used for short-term support and for others provide a long-term space to share.

Sharing our knowledge and experiences makes all of us stronger. It doesn’t have to be in a support group setting, of course, but wherever we do it we are making the journey of those following us that little bit easier.

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Podcast Episode 52. Rather than waiting until we have to act the better option is to start exploring what is already out there and start actively working towards creating solutions. This is exactly what this week’s podcast guest Mike Sweeney is doing.

Mike talks about the various projects that he has become involved in as he looks towards finding a community for his son Dustin to live in when he is ready for independent living.

Mike talks about how he has moved from thinking of housing as being the most important focus of his efforts to the realization that work would as he puts it “changes peoples perspective”.

He also discusses how the system in the USA is changing towards young people with additional needs being given more control over their own futures through what is known as self-direction. Mike also reminds us how important integration is in terms of ensuring that our young person with additional needs can have an independent future even when we are no longer around.

Although Mike’s journey is not a unique one, there is much to learn from the way he is navigating his way through the challenges. Listening to Mike’s story will help you as you plan ahead for your own son or daughter’s future independence.

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Podcast Episode 53. Getting to know any young person is the essential first step in understanding what they need when it comes to helping them achieve greater independence. This is the core ethos of this week’s podcast guests Trudy and Darren Dzirasa-Payne from Impacting Lives.

Impacting Lives provides housing and associated support services for young people with additional needs.  What they focus on is providing services that work for the individual and balance this with running what is a business by keeping their costs under control through the use of technology and keeping administration costs low. This combined with clear processes helps ensure they can provide what is needed by the young people they support whilst continuing to run a sustainable business.

There is no doubt that services that provide accommodation for young people with additional can often have a bad reputation. impacting Lives and Trudy and Darren show that the residential care home model can be less about the home and more about the care. It ultimately comes down to the core values of the organization.

Whatever the individual solution that works for our young people it is reassuring to hear about organizations like Impacting Lives, and people like Trudy and Darren, who are driven by a greater purpose to help change the lives of individuals and ensure they live the kind of lives they desire.

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Podcast Episode 54. All around us are people working in their local communities to make the lives of young people with additional needs better. This weeks podcast guest Sue Clark is one of these people. Sue talks about her work with Pegasus Playscheme which is located on the south coast of England.

Pegasus Playscheme provides activities for young people with additional needs in the summer over a 3 week period. The purpose of this is to help young people participate in independent activities and provide a place where they can meet their friends and even make new friends. Pegasus aims to reduce the isolation that many young people can experience.

Sue explains not only the history of Pegasus but provides from her own experience practical advice and insights into how to set up a similar scheme, which could provide a social outlet for young people in your own community.

Sue also discusses the practicalities of fundraising and the logistics of running a scheme like Pegasus. Sue provides a great example of what can be done by a few people with dogged determination and perseverance. Sue says every town needs a Pegasus but as she is also happy to say she learned while she was doing. Sue reminds us its the getting started that is often the most daunting thing, but the rewards are well worth overcoming the fears.

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Podcast Episode 55. The use of virtual reality and virtual worlds can be used to change the future for our young people and just how this is happening is the topic of this episode.My guest this week is Dr. Nigel Newbutt who is researching how virtual reality and virtual worlds can be used to help young people with additional needs access and manage real-world situations that they often find overwhelming.

Nigel explains the work he is doing to develop programs which can be used to help develop employment skills, prepare young people for social situations and provide a way to rehearse situations which could otherwise be overwhelming without a prior opportunity to experience what the encounter might be like.

This is the first of a two-part episode and in the next episode, Nigel talks about what the future of virtual reality might look like and also addresses some the concerns that people have around using these types of technology.

The work being done by Nigel is helping make these technologies accessible and relevant to our young people enabling them to develop specific skills in a controlled way which can then hopefully be translated to make their real-world encounters much easier.

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Podcast Episode 56  What might be the future uses of virtual reality, and how do we need to manage this to stop potential dependence on technology? These are the main themes of this episode.

In part 2 of this interview Dr. Nigel Newbutt, who is researching the uses of virtual reality and virtual worlds, talks about what the future uses of virtual reality might be and how it could be used to help young people with additional needs live more independent lives. He also addresses some of the concerns that have been raised about the use of these types of technologies.

The future uses of virtual reality are exciting but, as Nigel cautions, we need to remember that it is simply another tool. We will need to make sure we monitor its actual effectiveness to ensure it has the desired impact of helping our young people develop the skills which will enable them to live more independent lives.

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Podcast Episode 57  Days out and going on holiday is an important part of family life, but when a young person has additional needs they can be much more of a challenge. How to make the process easier is the focus of this podcast episode with Lizzie Murphy, from A Curious Journey, offers some tips and ideas on travelling with children who have additional needs.

Lizzie talks about the importance of preparation and making sure that everyone understands what is going to happen, and preparing for the unexpected. She suggests some useful tools which can help manage expectations. Lizzie also discusses practical ways to prepare for each journey, including talking to airlines and researching what destinations are already able to offer in terms of assistance. As she highlights, there are tools out there already which can help make the whole experience much easier for parents and children.

The benefits of having new experiences are obvious in helping build a young person’s confidence and social skills, as well as creating family memories. However, we can all sometimes feel overwhelmed by the preparations needed and its reassuring to know there are proven approaches to dealing with many of the issues that arise.

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Podcast Episode 58  Any journey is made easier by walking with others. That is the focus of this episode – the impact of collaboration with, in this case, the theater as the space where the collaboration starts

In this episode, Katie Sweeney, a parent and board member of the CO/LAB Theater Group in New York, talks about her individual journey and the role musical theater has played not only in her life but also her son’s life.

Katie talks about CO/LAB and how they help young people with additional needs change the way they see themselves and, through reaching out to the wider community, change the way others see them as well. Here collaboration is about bringing people together and using everyone’s individual strengths to create something more than one person alone can create. Katie also talks about the wider impact that finding and building a collaborative community around her son has had when it comes to planning and imagining what the future might be like.

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Podcast Episode 59  Accepting ourselves and being more kind to ourselves are the themes in this episode. Anna Pinkerton from Kindness Incorporated talks about her personal and professional journeys and how she has combined them to help her daughter build the life she wants.

Anna shares not only the journey she has been on with her daughter but also how that has crossed over into her professional life. She shares her thoughts around why we aren’t kind enough to ourselves and the long term impact that can have on our lives.

Anna also suggests ways we can help our children learn to be more kind to themselves as well as how and why we need to all start with genuinely liking ourselves.

Listening to Anna might just help you analyze how you feel about yourself and whether you need to change the message you tell yourself.

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Podcast Episode 60  For most of us being part of a community is essential for our wellbeing and often starts where we live. This week’s guest is Jillian Copeland from Main Street, an organization not just building a community but actually building the space where that community can grow and thrive.

However, as Jillian explains, Main Street is much more than about building an apartment block where people with and without additional needs will live. Main Street is about creating opportunities for independent living, for work, for socializing and for learning from each other. The best communities are those where everyone feels an equal part of that community and Main Street is certainly creating that kind of community.

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