Forum Events
Southampton Parent Carer Forum runs several different types of events throughout the year.
There are two key focuses for these:
1. Opportunities for peer to peer support for parent carers.
2. Opportunities to collect feedback from families about what is working well for them and what isn’t going so well for them.
Coffee Mornings
We run regular coffee mornings at a few great cafes across the city. There is always plenty of hot drinks and cake!
At these coffee mornings we provide a safe space for you to vent or share your struggles with other parents. You can come and just listen too. Sometimes just listening reminds us we are not alone. It can be really useful to hear advice from others about how they overcame some tricky situations.
SEN family fun day
We are holding a SEND Family Fun day in April.
We have loads of different entertainment for the children and young people eg Crazy Creatures, Crazy M, Unicorn, bouncy castles, Board in the City, sports activities, Tribe stage school creating imagination monsters, various mascots, face painting, glitter tattoos and more.
For the adults we have a number of service providers coming eg Re:minds, Yellow Door, Saints Foundation, HAF programme, Autism Hampshire, Guide dogs, SENDIASS, Portage and more.
Swimming
We regularly book Oaklands and Bitterne Swimming Pools. Families can come along with their children including those with SEND and their siblings and enjoy a relaxed fun pool session. We often have various floats and toys out. At Bitterne the flume is open. Music is turned off and staff keep additional noise to a minimum where safe to do so. After the pool session we provide drinks and snacks, while the adults have the opportunity to chat to each other and share feedback on local services with us.
Inflatazone @ Testlands
Children and young people loved this event. The children and young people were able to move around freely between different bouncy castles and enjoy themselves, while the adults were able to speak to each other. Peer to Peer support is so important.
At the event we also collected some feedback on specific topics which was invaluable for us to work out the priorities for the forum.
We plan to run more sessions at Inflatazone.
Board in the City
We hire the function space at Board in the City. The staff there are amazing and several are neurodiverse. We find the teenagers really enjoy speaking to them as the staff help teach new board games or are there just in the background supporting them.
Parents can either join in games or just chat and get some valuable peer to peer support.
We will cover the cost of your entrance and first non alcoholic drink.
Attending events to raise awareness
We attend events in Southampton to raise awareness of the forum.
We often chat to families and also other professionals to raise awareness of the Parent Carer Forum.
We created over 5,500 beat the blue bags which nurseries, schools and local organisations gave out to parent carers.
Events in the planning stages
Sleep workshop for parents
Anxiety workshop for parents
Internet safety and keeping children safe online
Softplay for young children
Laser tag session for teenagers
Summer Holiday events eg City farm, Soft play, picnic