1

Welcome

Contact Ealing Office Newsletter March 2020

Address: Contact Ealing, St. George’s Community Centre,

8-12 Lancaster Road, Southall, UB1 1NW.

Telephone: 020 8571 6381 Email: ealing@contact.org.uk

Please see an update on how we at Contact Ealing will support

you throughout the Corona Virus crisis inside this newsletter

Our helpline Freephone: 0808 808 3555

9.30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday-Friday; free from UK landlines and UK mobiles

Facebook: facebook.com/contactfamilies (Response within two working days)

Twitter: @contactfamilies (Response w ithin two working days)

Email: helpline@contact.org.uk (Response within 10 working days)

2

Corona Virus Update—Contact Ealing

Dear Contact Ealing families,

We were about to send out this newsletter today when everything changed

after the new advice issued by the national government last night. We

received instructions from our head office that all staff are to work from

home until further notice.

All office based meetings, workshops and family events are post-poned until further notice.

However, we are very aware how worried everyone is, and that for families with children with disabilities these are particularly anxious times. So we will continue to support you, but in different ways:

Our individual advice will continue either vie telephone or skype. If you have never used Skype before, it is free and very easy to down-load. You can continue to ring Selina on 07395913573 or Brigitte on 07908 826948 to make an appointment for an advice session.

Our group sessions will also continue, but in a different, online format. We are sending out a survey with this newsletter to find out which way works best for you (Webinars, Facebook live streams or Question & Answer sessions).

The IT Training sessions are postponed and we will aim to re-schedule them for the autumn term.

This week’s Parent Support Group on Carers’ Assessments will take place in an online format next week Monday 23rd March at 10.30am. We will send you the link to log in via email and group call.

Please remember you can always access our national helpline on

0808 808 3555

We decided to still send out this Newsletter because there is a lot of infor-

mation in it on changes here in the office, on our friends and partners and

our plans until May. We will update you on details about each session and

trips as soon as we can.

3

Contents

1. Office Updates

2. Drop In Sessions in spring 2020

3. Parent Support Sessions for different community languages

4. New: This Newsletter’s Ealing Artist, featuring George Goodlake

5. Autism Parent Group

6. IT classes and Parent / Carer Support sessions

7. Our Family Trips in the April holidays

8. P.E.S.T.S. Early Years Support Group

9. Fledglings

10. Contact Ealing Steering group

11. Contact Ealing Membership Form

1. Office Updates

There have been a number of changes in the

Contact team.

We have sadly said good-bye to Alamara Awan in

October 2019 and Warda Mohamed, our Family

Workers, in December 2019. We would like to

thank them for their work with us and wish them

every success with their future.

We have been very fortunate to be able to recruit Selina Eshun as Family Worker since then.

Selina has started in January and some of you may already have met her or spoken to her on

the phone. We will recruit one more part time Family Worker over the next few weeks so that

you can continue to receive the advice, information and support you need.

The team has also said good bye to Helen Jackson, who left the manager post at the end of

January. We would like to thank Helen for all her hard work for Contact and wish her all the

best for her future endeavours. My name is Brigitte Bistrick-Bryan and I am the new Manager of

Contact Ealing. I started the role at the end of February and am very excited about this

opportunity to work with the fantastic team here.

With all these changes, we are very glad to have Satvir Birk who is providing the experience

and continuity we need for our work here at Contact Ealing. All three of us are excited about

increasing our support sessions and services for our families. You will see in this newsletter

that we are re-launching our Autism Support Group and also continue to offer parent support

4

sessions in various community languages together with our friends at ISAID, the EPCF

and P.E.S.T.S. Our trips and family outings will continue over the holidays ahead.

There will be one other new addition to this Newsletter. We would like to give some

of our amazingly talented young people in Ealing the opportunity to display their art

work to our members and friends. Our first local Ealing artist, George Goodlake, has

kindly allowed us to include one of his cartoon drawings on page 5. George is 22

years old and an illustrator and cartoonist.

If you know a child or young person with special needs living in Ealing who would like

to show their work in one of our next newsletters, please do get in touch with us at

ealing@contact.org.uk.

We look forward to meeting many of you over the next weeks and months.

With warm wishes

Brigitte, Satvir and Selina

Satvir is our Parent Advisor and Inclusion Coordinator. She

organises our events and trips as well as workshops. If you want to

book any of our events, please contact her on

ealing@contact.org.uk or ring on 0208 5716381.

Our family worker Selina is available to give information and advice

regarding your child’s condition, about referrals to specialists and

works closely with local statutory and voluntary services. She can

support parents with applications for DLA/PIP, grants and benefits.

5

Family Outings/Parties 2019

It is already March 2020, and our Anniversary Party and events of the last year

feel like a long time ago. For those of you who were able to attend our Party on

the 7th December in celebration of Contact’s 40

th Birthday, we hope you all had a

wonderful time. We would like to thank Santa for taking his time to visit us during

his very busy time of year. We would also like to thank all the volunteers who

helped on the day.

Here is what you had to say.

“The friendly staff, circus, food, cake and face painting went well.”

“I liked everything and the children enjoyed it a lot”

Do you require an appointment?

If you would like to book an appointment to seek advice, information or need support filling in an application form, then please contact the Southall office by telephone on 020 8571 6381. Please ask for Selina Eshun to arrange an appointment. You can al-

so contact us by email at:

ealing@contact.org.uk

6

Advice Sessions (no need for an appointment)

We will aim to run these sessions as Question & Answer ses-sions online. If you do not have access to facebook, please ring

us for individual advice.

Wednesday 25th March - Times From 10:30a.m. - 12:30pm.

Wednesday 29th April - Times From 10:30a.m.—12:30p.m.

Drop In Sessions in Community Languages with EPCF & partners

These sessions will take place as online sessions via Zoom. If you need help ac-cessing the software please ring us and we will take you through it. You can ac-

cess Zoom meetings on your phone as well as any tablet or laptop.

Parent Support Session in Punjabi, Hind, Bengali:

Thursday 2nd April 2020 at 10.30am

Parent Support Session in Somali:

12th May 2020 at 10.30am

7

This is where we would like to showcase local Ealing Artists from our SEND

Community. Our first contributing artist is George Goodlake.

George is 21 years old and a passionate cartoon artist. This drawing is Manga inspired.

8

To celebrate World Autism Week ( 30th March - 5th April), we are re-launching our

monthly Autism Support Group. In the meetings we will focus on different issues

that arise when you have a child with Autism, including topics such as understand-

ing Autism, behaviour that challenges, education, diagnosis, independence and

others. We aim to offer these sessions in different venues across the Borough and

to include a visit to the Springhallow Café before the summer holidays.

Our first meeting will now be a virtual meeting via an online forum on:

Monday 30th March from 10.30am 12.30pm

We will send you a link to log in shortly before the date. At this first meeting we will

explain Autism support in Ealing schools, the options available to you and general

support available.

Future meetings of the Autism Support Group:

Wednesday 22nd April, 10.30am -12.30pm

Thursday 7th May, 10.30am12.30pm

Wednesday 10th June, 10.30am—12.30pm

Tuesday 7th July, 10.30am—12.30pm

To book, please call Satvir Birk on 0208 5716381 or email ealing@contact.org.uk

Our Autism Parent and Carer Support Group

Would you like to become a Contact Volunteer?

We want to continue to offer more support and activities and need some help. Are you able to

help out in the office one morning a week? Or do you speak one of Ealing’s community lan-

guages and would like to help us support parents who struggle with English? Or maybe you

would like to come along to our trips and help families on the day? If you are, please contact us

on ealing@contact.org.uk or ring Brigitte on 0208 5716381. We look forward to hearing from

you!

9

IT Classes and our regular Carer

Support Sessions:

Information and Technology Classes: A course of 6 classes at beginner level - delivered in partnership with the Adult

Community Development Academy

Sessions 3-6 are now cancelled. We aim to re-schedule them for the

autumn term.

Benefits Advice / Carers Needs Assessment

Date: Monday 23rd March 2020 from: 10:30am onwards.

This will be our first advice session delivered online. We will send out a link for

parents to log in over the next few days.

Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independent Payment

with Colin Morris from the DWP

Date: Wednesday 1st April 2020 from: 10.00 a.m. To: 12:00 p.m.

We are talking to Colin about being able to deliver this session online. We will

send out details closer to the time.

10

Trip 2: Hanwell Zoo

Sorry, this trip has been postponed. We will let you know the new date in due

course.

April Holiday Events

Trip 1: London Museum of Water & Steam

Sorry, this trip has been postponed.

We will let you know the new dates

in due course.

11

Booking Form –Trips 2020

Please fully complete this form, sign and return to Contact Ealing, St Georges Community

Centre, 8-12 Lancaster Road, Southall UB1 1NW or email at: ealing@contact.org.uk. We ac-

cept online payments via our just giving page (see details on next page).

Please tick as appropriate which trip you wish to attend:

The London Museum of Water & Steam

Hanwell Zoo

Total cost: £

Name of parent attending the trip:_______________________________________

Second parent/Carer, if attending:____________________________________

Full address:

_________________________________________________________________________

Postcode: __________________________________ Email: ________________________

Home tel: __________________________________Mobile: ________________________

Religion _________________________Language: ______________________

Ethnicity :____________________

Are there any wheelchair users attending these trips? ____________

Do you require the help/assistance of our volunteers during the events?__________

Total number of people attending trips ___________

Please complete this booking form and return back to the Southall office by 03/04/ 2020.

Name of YOUR child/

sibling

Gender

M/F

DOB/Age Disability if any School

12

Online Payments: We accept online payments via our just giving page.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Contact-Ealing

Please leave your full name and the amount you have donated

This money will then be transferred to the Ealing Office Office.

C

Terms and Conditions

These trips are for Contact Ealing registered members. Please send your pay-

ment with your form. We will notify you if you have a place at any of our

events. Extended family and friends (non registered members) may attend

only if there are spaces. Priority will be given to parents/carers and their dis-

abled children.

If you are unable to attend any of the events you have paid for, please let us

know as soon as possible so that we can offer your place to another family.

Parents and carers are responsible for their children at all times. Families

should be prepared for events and accidents and bring appropriate/spare

clothing, footwear for their child. Parents will also be responsible for providing

their child with refreshments.

By filling out your details on the booking form, you understand and agree to your de-

tails being entered onto the Contact database. Your personal data will be held and used

in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and GDPR, and will not be shared with

any third parties for commercial use. It will only be used by Contact for the purpose of

informing you about news, information and events. Normally we will contact you by

email however we may also contact you in writing. We would also like to contact you

occasionally, by post or email and text message about opportunities with Contact to

support families of disabled children. This could include information about our cam-

paigns and fundraising. We won’t overwhelm you with lots of information that you

don’t want. If you are happy for us to do this please tick the box below.

□ I am happy to be contacted about campaigns and fundraising

You can amend or remove your details or change how we contact you

whenever you wish by contacting Contact at: ealing@contact.org.uk

13

Information on our friends and partners in Ealing.

P.E.S.T.S. are running regular play sessions for children with special needs aged 0-5 in

Windmill Children Centre.

14

Fledglings– Contact’s new online shop

Contact Website

www.contact.org.uk

To help parents find the advice they need quickly and easily please take a look at our Contact website. We have the following tools on the website which you may find useful.

Our Common Questions tool which will help guide you through our online education and learning Infor-mation (and benefits, grants and money from 6 April) Turn2us

Online benefits calculator, offering independent information on benefits and other financial help you might be entitled to as a parent of a disabled child

Turn2us online grants finder to find out if your family can apply for a charity grant

Live Chat from our website helps you find information on your rights to services and support

Our library of podcasts available on our website

Keep up date with the latest developments by signing up to our What’s New e-newsletter including de-tails of online Q&A sessions focussing on key issues and concerns with tips and advice

With over 450 practical products to choose from. Now open for business, our online shop is full of aids and equipment designed to make life a little bit easier and more ful-filling for you and your child. This includes our best sellers like swimwear and accesso-ries, cutlery, continence products, toys and learning resources - all of which have been specifically designed for children with a disability or special educational need.

The website address is: www.fledglings.org.uk

15

Have Your Say

Why not join our Contact Ealing Steering Group

At Contact Ealing those of you who are registered as our parents or carers can help

make decisions such as which activities/trips, workshops and events you would like

us to organise for you and your children/young people.

Our Steering Group Meetings take place approximately every 6 weeks and are held

at our Southall Office. Times will be from 10:00a.m. to 12:00p.m. and refreshments

will be available. The date for the next meeting is:

...

We do seek your views by asking you to complete the trip/event and workshop

evaluation forms so that we can plan the things that you would like and feel are

important for you and your family but there is nothing like meeting you in person

and listening to your views and ideas.

If you would like to attend the meetings please contact us by telephone or email to

confirm that you will be attending.

Telephone: 020 8571 6381 Email: ealing@contact.org.uk

Thank you to everyone coming to our Celebration of International Women’s Day! It was

great for the us all to meet members of our Steering Group as well as many parents.

16

Main Carer’s Name:

Signature: (verbal consent can be given if GDPR statements have been read)

Date:

Mobile number:

Home number:

Email:

Full address:

What support group would you like to join with us? Carer’s support group □ Early years support group □

Date of Birth of main carer:

Nationality:

Ethnicity:

Religion:

Language:

Marital status: □Divorced □Married □Separated □ Single □Widowed

PART TWO – INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR CHILD/REN (please continue on a separate piece of paper if necessary)

Full Name of child:

Date of Birth:

Disability:

Full Name of child:

Date of Birth:

Disability:

Full Name of child:

Date of Birth:

Disability:

Full Name of child:

Date of Birth:

Disability:

PART FIVE: PRIVACY NOTICE

At Contact we are committed to protecting your privacy. Whenever you share personal data with us we aim to be clear with you, and not to do anything with your data that you wouldn't reasonably expect us to do. We will never sell your personal data to other organisations and will only ever share it in appropriate, legal or exceptional circumstances. We will only send e-newsletter and marketing communica-tions to those that have explicitly stated that they are happy for us to do so via their preferred channel(s) (e.g. email, SMS, phone) or where we have a legitimate interest reason for doing so. These communications include information about Contact's services supporting families with disabled children, and offers and information about how you can become involved, including fundraising, campaigning and volunteering. https://contact.org.uk/privacy

ARE YOU HAPPY FOR US TO GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU?

By email □ By post □ By phone □ By SMS □

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE FROM US? Tick the box selecting what you would like to receive from us:

Campaign updates about opportunities to take action on the big issues facing families □ (email only)

Fundraising updates about opportunities to support our work □

Office Use Only: Discussed Privacy Notice □ Consent Recorded □

Entered on Database □ Groupcall registered □

Please only fill this registration form if you haven’t registered with us yet or would like to update your details.