Thursday 30th November 2023 saw London Borough of Sutton (LBS) host another highly successful Preparation for Adulthood (PfA) event for children and young people aged 14+ in the local area. Over 200 young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) visited the event which took place at the Sutton Life Centre across two sessions. The event was an opportunity to learn more about what support and services are available locally linked to the 4 key PfA topics:
- Supported employment
- Independence
- Community inclusion
- Health and wellbeing
Over 50 different services, organisations, community groups and charities from across the borough took part in the event, which created a fantastic atmosphere and a real buzz.
Following on from the success of Cognus Therapies’ interactive shopping and budgeting stall from the 2022 PfA event (you can read more here: Therapies Post 16 team hosts interactive shopping and budgeting… – Cognus), the team consulted with young people locally and decided to take a slightly different angle this year to focus on activities of self-care and the resources needed to complete these more independently. Following an initial workshop with young people hosted at the Sutton Civic Centre, visual schedules were selected for each of the following activities of self-care:
- Washing hands
- Washing face
- Brushing teeth
- Washing body
- Washing hair
- Putting on deodorant
The Cognus Therapies team were supported to set up their stall on the day by a young man named Harry who is educated locally and who volunteered his time to help. He estimated the prices of all toiletries and produced the price labels for the stall. Thank you, Harry for all your help and enthusiasm!
Young people attending the event were invited to borrow £2, select a visual schedule for their chosen self-care activity, experience the toiletries on display in whatever way was meaningful for them (look at them, touch them, read the packaging, smell the product) before role-playing the process of using money to purchase the item/s. You can see the therapists modelling this process in a short video here: https://www.wevideo.com/view/3286633429
Kieran Holliday (Acting Strategic Lead for LBS) gave the following feedback after attending the event: Another resounding success in my view (and not just my view either – the feedback has been really positive from a variety of different sources!). I had a great morning at the event and I know others did too.
The Post 16 Therapies team are already thinking of ideas for next year’s event to make it even bigger and better. If any local providers would like to get in touch to donate or sponsor the event, please contact ashlea.stephens@cognus.org.uk or niamh.murphy@cognus.org.uk to discuss.