Resources
Courses
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For details of what is available in Bristol or BaNES, please look at the council websites:
- www.bristol.gov.uk/social-care-health
- www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/adult-social-care-and-health/adults-autism
Or contact Bristol Autism Spectrum Service, the autism service.
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Delivered by Bristol Autism Spectrum Service, the local autism services. Details of all the courses, and the dates, can be found on the South Gloucestershire Council website.As well as the Level 1 awareness training there are one day courses for Social Workers and those supporting, assessing and working more closely with autistic people.
An E-learning module from National Autistic Society Ask Autism package is also offered, free of charge, for those who want the introductory level, but can not attend the half day session. If an organisation has several staff who require training, bespoke sessions could be arranged. Please contact the training department to discuss.
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Autism Wellbeing CIC is a social enterprise that provides responsive communication support to autistic people and their families. To find out more about our work, please visit their website.
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A place of learning for people and carers interested in improving their mental health and wellbeing.
Bristol Wellbeing College offers free mental health courses, workshops and wellbeing activities across a number of locations in Bristol. These include assertiveness, resilience, building confidence, coping with anxiety and managing depression. We also offer a range of wellbeing activities including art sessions, walking groups and careers events. All our tutors are fully qualified, and many of them have their own experience on mental health services.
How to enroll:
Our courses, workshops and events are open to anyone currently using the Bristol Mental Health Service, or their carers. You can apply for a place online. If you have any queries about eligibility, please call us on 0117 914 5498.
Please visit Bristol Wellbeing College to take a look at courses.
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CVS South Gloucestershire Events: adult learning courses.
Please visit CVS South Gloucestershire page.
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The Curly Hair Project (CHP) is a social enterprise with worldwide appeal dedicated to supporting autistic females. Much of their training is also suited for autistic males. Find out more about them and what they do at the curly hair project.
Upcoming autism training opportunities and events can be found here. We have lunchtime webinars great for busy schools and professionals who want to learn more about autism, and team tickets are also available. You just watch and learn, and as it is a live training session with the opportunity to ask questions.
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The Wellbeing College offers a wide range of courses for B&NES volunteers that will help you to build your confidence and improve your skills in your volunteering capacity.There are also more groups and activities to be found in this great resource The Hope Guide. And do not forget Banes Talking Therapies also offer free courses to help with unhelpful thinking.
For more information on any of our courses please go to their website or call 01225 831 820. We also offer one to one wellbeing advice sessions to help point you in the right direction.
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The Wiggly Worm projects offer hands-on experiences and challenges in the world of food.They work with those in our society who are vulnerable, disadvantaged or seldom heard, and relish working with people who others find difficult to engage with.
See their website for more details.
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Our branch volunteers can deliver a one hour introductory talk on autism for those who would like to have some basic understanding. The talk is suitable for frontline staff such as shop workers or receptionists and could help them when they come into contact with an autistic person. To find out more, please email us at: avon.branch@nas.org.uk
Employment
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LD Awareness offer a bespoke employment support and job coaching support service to people with additional support needs. We are a “recognised, approved provider” of employment support in South Gloucestershire.We are an award winning business that offers Learning disability and autism awareness sessions in a group format, delivered by two fully qualified trainers who have learning disabilities and autism and Mat or Annie (LD Awareness Founders).
We also offer a Community Support service, supporting people with additional needs to access and connect with their local community on a one to one basis.For further information and details on how to make contact take a look at our website.
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Specialist Job Coaching support in the community, in education and in the work place.
Community Job Coaching
Supported employment is a specialist approach designed to support people with a learning disability and/or autism to get and keep a great job. Our community work is delivered by trained and experienced job coaches and funded by local authorities, individuals and families.
Supported Self Employment
Supported Self Employment offers an opportunity for people with a learning disability to use their skills, interests and aspirations to set up and run their own business. Our specialist Enterprise Facilitator works with individuals, their families and others that support them to establish viable enterprise with sustainable support.
Supported Internships
Supported internships are study programmes structured to achieve sustainable paid employment by equipping young people with the skills they need for work through learning in the workplace. We provide expert job coaching and programme management to supported internship programmes, supporting colleges to deliver great employment results for their internship participants.
In work support
Sixteen provides the key link between the job seeker and employment opportunity. The process starts with them getting to know the job seeker really well so they are well placed to ensure a good match between the disabled person and the employer. Once the job has been found, our team will support the new employee on site to learn and perform the job the effectively.
There is generally no charge to employers for in work support. For further information and details on how to make contact take a look at our website.
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The main objective of Step and Stone is to act as a bridge between education and employment/meaningful voluntary work for young adults with a learning disability, so we offer training in transferable baking skills but also in more general ‘employability’ skills. Since starting in late 2016, two of our young bakers have moved on to paid employment (with support from the DSA’s WorkFit programme) and another is in the process of transferring too.
Another objective is to try and change perceptions surrounding learning disability through baking some really delicious, award-winning ‘lavosh flatbreads’ which are beautifully packaged and sold in delicatessens/fine food shops and at farmers’ markets and food festivals. You can have a look at our website and our Facebook page for more information.
Please do contact us if you would like to come and see what we do.
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Supported internships at EDF Energy, Atkins Global and other employers. The person managing this programme is Oli Sandell if you would like to call and talk about this further you can do on: 07837 555329 or email.
National Star
For information on what they can offer, see their website.
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The West Of England Works project is an exciting partnership which aims to help unemployed and economically inactive people in the West of England find employment.
Led by Weston College, the partnership includes a range of voluntary and community organisations based in Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset. It will support at least 1537 young people and adults into gaining employment through a community-based support programme. Between them our partners have specialist skills in working with those from a BME background, NEETS, carers, ex-offenders, those with disabilities or long term health issues and those with a history of substance misuse.
Details on their website.
Housing
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We are a community based social housing provider operating in the West of England. As well as providing homes that are affordable in terms of rent and running costs, we also provide a range of care and support services to help individuals get the most out of life.
As one of the largest providers of housing support services in North Somerset we provide housing and housing related support to around 12,000 people. This might be for people with learning disabilities, people who are recovering from drug or alcohol dependency, young people making their way after a childhood spent in and out of care homes, people with mental health needs, those who provide unpaid care to friends or family, people who need help with their finances and support to get their lives back on track or older people who need some help to continue to live independent lives in the community - to put it another way everyone who, at some time in their life, needs a bit of help.
We work in partnership with a range of organisations to deliver these services, reflecting the reason we have ‘Alliance’ in our name. We also provide home care services ranging from shopping and cleaning to personal care. Find out more about us and what we can offer you here on our website.
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South Gloucestershire Council have produced information giving advice on housing, to people with learning difficulties and their carers. Their easy read booklet can be found on the council’s website. This information may also be helpful to those who need support but who do not have a learning difficulty and those who live in other areas.
Healthcare
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Hospital passports
The National Autistic Society and Mencap have hospital passports, which you may find helpful when visiting hospitals or attending other health appointments:
The Mencap link also provides access to the charity's Coronavirus Grab & Go form, which it recommends that autistic people and/or people with a learning difficulty use alongside its hospital passport.
Hospital Passport for autistic people
A project at Bristol Autism Spectrum Service (BASS) has helped develop an Autism Hospital Passport with the autism liaison service at Southmead. This was due to a lack of widely used passport across the region that was not aimed at people with learning disabilities. This development involved a lot of input from service users at BASS either through focus groups or individually.
They are now being used across hospitals in Bristol, North Somerset, South Glos, and Bath and North East Somerset (BANES). BASS have run workshops for clients to assist them to complete them and can assist people one-to-one.When completed, as well as giving people both hard copies and digital copies of their passport they also provide people laminated walled sized cards to show to a professional and prompt them to contact BASS for an electronic copy of the passport. They are currently being flagged by the computer systems at Southmead and the Royal United Hospital should someone with a passport present there too.
For details on BASS, go to their website.
Books
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Independent publishers of accessible books that make a difference. Recognised as the leading publisher on Autism and Asperger syndrome, they publish in a range of areas including social work, education and arts therapies. Their books are for parents, professionals, academics and the general reader. Please vist Jessica Kingsley's website.
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A refreshing, stylish, light-hearted yet true-to-life approach to disability.
Using personal experience as the foundation, Hannah Ensor's stickmen products: stickers, keyring cards, books and more, help tell the reality of a differently normal life without a trace of pity. "So many things relating to disability seem aimed at people with no sense of style or humour. Afraid to admit difference or totally boring about it. Let us face it, life with disability is full of humour, where conventionality is a myth, political correctness is an accident, difference is normal and life is eternally absurd."
Click here to link to the page showing products designed for autistic people. Please vist Stickman Communications website.