The COVID pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental health and well-being of parents and caregivers of neurodivergent children and those with additional support needs (ASN) who are already marginalised and now face an increasing lack of appropriate services to meet their needs, as well as increased difficulty in obtaining those services in the first place. COVID restrictions have exacerbated social isolation among families with neurodivergent children. This is negatively impacting not only the parents but also the mental health and wellbeing of their neurodivergent children and siblings due to the knock-on effect. The grant will be used to support the delivery of the neurodivergent parenting programme. Our neurodivergent parenting program is being written in response to the desperate pleas from parents who currently attend our regular support group. The program will be delivered in 10 sessions covering a range of topics that aim to inform, educate, prepare, and support parents at the start or already on their neurodivergent parenting journey. It will be underpinned by both lived experience (personal and professional), theoretical knowledge, and research. We currently work in collaboration with Ferryhill community centre in Aberdeen who significantly reduced the room rates to £5 per hour and have also provided room hire free of charge to deliver our children’s early intervention services (Music Therapy and Speech and Language Therapy).
