Children and Young People’s Information, Advice and Guidance
Our Children and Young People’s Information, Advice and Guidance service is here for you as you navigate life after a spinal cord injury, to help you understand what happens next, and to show you what support is available.
This newly establish service is available to all children and young people aged 0-24 who have a spinal cord injury. We understand what it is like to adapt to, live with and grow up with a spinal cord injury – we’ve been there ourselves.
Building confidence and independence after spinal cord injury is so important to a child or young person’s adjustment and wellbeing. Knowing what support and information is available, how to access it, and finding answers to your questions are vital in helping to ensure that all children and young people have the tools to live the life they want after spinal cord injury.
How can we help?
Adjusting to and growing up with spinal cord injury can feel overwhelming. There can be challenges along the way. We are here to support you with those, and help you navigate this journey in the way that is best for you and your family. You may have questions or want more information about things such as:
- Understanding spinal cord injury
- Emotional impact of a spinal cord injury
- Getting back to, or starting, nursery, school, college or university
- Equipment and wheelchairs
- Travel
- Puberty
- Housing adaptions
- Grants and/or financial support
- Living independently
- Transitioning into adult services
- Learning to drive
- Parent and family support
The information, advice and guidance we provide is peer-led, and can offer an overview of what support or services you may want to access. In some cases we will make a referral to an external service, with your permission, if we feel that they are better placed to support you or have expertise in a particular area.
We can provide tailor-made information and guidance that is relevant to your circumstances. The support we provide will always be person centred and led by what your needs are. As well as individual support, we have a range of information on our website that you can access whenever you want. From online workshops to videos created by young people themselves.
Contact
If you would like to apply for an initial chat about how we could support or have something in mind you want support with, please use our application form or email Kirsty. Alternatively, you can call us on 020 8875 1805.
For younger children, most of the contact we have is through a parent or guardian and so if you would like to find out more about how we can help support you or your child please do get in touch.
Information and Advice Guides
We’ve recently produced two guides with information and advice for young people and their parents. They’ve been created in collaboration with young people, parents, and medical professionals to include a variety of practical information and first-hand advice. In these guides, they share bits of key information that they felt was helpful to know about in the first few months after a child sustains an injury – whether that is due to trauma or illness. The guides will hopefully help you to better understand what it means for you, what support is out there, and how to access it.
See the ‘Downloads’ section below to read these guides, or get in touch with us if you’d like us to send you a copy.
