Free creative workshops for Bridlington young people with SEND
An event on Saturday will encourage them to take part in arts and crafts
Young people with special educational needs and disabilities in Bridlington are being encouraged to do arts and crafts.
Two free workshops are being organised to help them feel more independent when doing activities, share ideas, learn new skills and be creative.
It is happening this Saturday (19th March) at the Community Hub on Marshall Avenue and involves 'Hear Me Out', the young person's engagement group.
Parents are asked to pre-book the workshops and there will be free refreshments and lunch for all attendees on arrival.
Workshop 1: 11am – 1pm (food, cakes and refreshments included)
Workshop 2: 2pm – 4pm (food, cakes and refreshments included).
To book, contact Darren Clarkson, who is the Hear Me Out YPEG Co-ordinator, on 01482 275500 or email eastriding.ypeg@kids.org.uk
Amelie Beardsley is part of the group and explains why she likes being part of it so much: "We have made new friends and we do a lot of activities like arts and crafts to help us to express ourselves. It has helped us to build our confidence and work as a team to have our say about things that are important to us, like education and health. We make our voices heard with services to help them understand how to work better with young people with special education needs and disabilities."
Sophie Dixon is also part of the group and she explains why she likes doing arts and crafts: "I like it because it helps us to get creative and we can use it to get to know people when we make things together. It also helps you use team work as we can show each other how to do new things and learn from each other."
She has this message:
"It’s a nice calm activity and an easy way to start conversations with people you don’t know very well. It can also help you to feel calm which is good for your mental health."
Amber-Louise Cantwell is part of the group too and explains the benefits of doing arts and crafts: "It makes your mind flow with ideas and it’s quite therapeutic - it helps your senses in a nice way as it is tactile. It can help us to share our ideas about things that matter to us in a fun way and help us to bond with each other. We also learn new skills and this can help us to feel more independent when doing activities, as we don’t need as much support."
The three of them had this to say to other young people about the group and what activities they do.
Amelie said: We do fun activities like crafts and even get involved in radio. We are even going to be taking part in a music video! We also get to take part in national projects and meet other young people from different parts of the country.
Sophie said: "You can form new friendships with people in the group and it can help to boost your confidence. We have a lot of laughs and fun together. We in all in this together and everybody respects each other."
Amber said: "Come and give it a go because we get to work on projects that matter to us, like taking part in the Ofsted SEND inspection for East Riding - where we got to talk to the inspectors to share our feedback. We help to make services think ‘oh yeah, if we did things this way it would be better for young people with special education needs and disabilities."
Kira Louth, who is also from the group, said: "Activities at Get Creative! were really fun and I liked the sensory room because you could do colouring in pictures. I enjoyed helping out with the day and meeting new people.
"I enjoyed the DJ workshop and the helpers were nice and funny - I felt like I was part of a team"