What do we deliver?

Referral criteria

We have the following criteria to be eligible for support:

• Families who have a child aged 0-15 years with conditions such as: cerebral palsy; epilepsy; autism; or another chronic disability related to a neurological condition
• Children who are hospital in-patients, and their families - admitted under any paediatric team. Clinicians should be confident that the child is sufficiently medically well for the social prescribing intervention to be appropriate at that time.
• Living in the North East/North Cumbria area.
• Children and their family are willing to consent to both the intervention and the evaluation.

Support process

Once a family is referred, they will be assigned a dedicated link worker who will provide direct support. The first meeting will usually last approximately one hour and will include:

• Gaining all appropriate consents to participate, and confirming communication preferences
• Risk assessment
• Conducting an initial consultation with the family, including completing a Wellbeing Star™ assessment with them. This will help us to understand the family’s need, start to identify opportunities to support them, and collect baseline data.

Support for the child and their family will then be tailored to the needs of the family. As with all social prescribing, the focus is on ‘what matters to you’, so action planning and goal setting is guided by the child and their family.
The support we provide might include:

• Getting involved in local groups and activities
• Identifying appropriate support groups
• Making lifestyle choices
• Finding relevant information
• Help with gaining confidence
• Getting more active
• Help with healthy eating and cooking
• Accessing specialist services and support
• Help developing positive relationships
• Help to access support in school

Support will be provided for up to six months. A Wellbeing Star™ will be completed at the end of the support, to measure changes in wellbeing.

Click here to find out more about how we’re evaluating our impact or here for how to get involved.