Conference presentations from Dr Pooky and Jo Bradley are below
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The Hugs Foundation

SEMH support alternative provision

February Half Term 2020 Activities:

Monday 17th February - Pony Fun Day

Thursday 20th February - Farm Fun Day

£30 per person, per session. Full details in the flyers below

We are an equine rescue and rehabilitation charity with a youth services team who provide alternative provision for children and young people with mental health difficulties who are perhaps struggling to access mainstream education. We are based on a farm with a wide range of animals (horses, sheep, pigs, ducks, chickens, goats, dogs, cats, guinea pigs and a rabbit). We provide an intervention/support for our clients which is tailored to suit their individual needs and targets. We use a lot of animal interaction and outdoor activities which can benefit the children in various ways. Currently we have clients from the age of 5 years old, right up to students in college. We support students who display challenging behaviour within their educational setting, students who are struggling to develop social skills and students who find regulating their emotions tricky, or young people struggling with anxiety. We work closely with the team at their schools to provide the most beneficial input to enable them to best achieve their targets. We offer one to one sessions or group sessions.

Our sessions are tailored around each individual and what they feel comfortable doing. Some children enjoy mixing with other clients, others prefer being one to one, we are very flexible. At the end of each session we fill out feedback forms with the students to gauge what they enjoyed/didn't enjoy/whether they've learnt anything/what they'd like to do next time etc. We have been able to help so many children already who have positively flourished in a setting that allows them to escape the demands of the educational environment.

Session fees are £25 per hour per head. Sessions can be booked in weekly blocks (i.e. 6 weeks, 8 weeks etc) with view to extending or left open for however long the student requires the input. Sessions can vary in length, depending on the individual child. We can do 1-hour sessions or longer. We usually suggest no longer than 4 hours as it can be challenging to maintain concentration and attention for this length of time. For sessions that extend over the lunch time period, children can bring lunch with them. We have a 'classroom' area which we base ourselves in, or in the warmer months we can have picnics outside with the animals. We do ask that any children attending have an adult with them (either a TA or a parent or similar). We also ask that a referral form is completed by school or the parent prior to any student starting with us which provides us with as much background information as possible so that we can offer the most effective support.

Contact details:

Dawn Nicholas, Youth Services Manager

Mobile: 07948404986

Email: dawn@hugsfoundation.org.uk