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Funding for Respite Carer is Greatly Improving Lives
March 29, 2023
The lives of special needs children and their families are being transformed, thanks to Dream The Change introducing a carer to their community.
Daniela Eyong started work providing light touch respite care for families with SEND children connected with our Community Interest Company in May 2022.
Dream The Change has already had some fantastic feedback from families who have benefitted from Daniela’s respite care.
Colchester Catalyst funded the first year of the respite care for families and the National Lottery will be funding the ongoing and future provision.
About Daniela:
Daniela, who had previously worked as a support worker for five years, takes the children connected with Dream The Change for exercise in the park or to various activities in Colchester, giving parents and carers a break. “I'm honoured to be a part of this great team,” said Daniela, who also works voluntarily when needed. “Dream The Change is an amazing CIC, that goes above and beyond to help and support SEND children and their families by bringing quality professionals and organising a wide variety of activities that can improve the social skills of these children.”
Daniela, who had previously worked as a support worker for five years, takes the children connected with Dream The Change for exercise in the park or to various activities in Colchester, giving parents and carers a break. “I'm honoured to be a part of this great team,” said Daniela, who also works voluntarily when needed. “Dream The Change is an amazing CIC, that goes above and beyond to help and support SEND children and their families by bringing quality professionals and organising a wide variety of activities that can improve the social skills of these children.”
Engaging with children:
A.A. dearly loves her 6-year-old son, J. but finds the life of being a mother can be challenging at times, as he has been diagnosed with autism and ADHD.
She said,
“There has been a huge improvement with J. since Daniela started engaging with him.
“Daniela has been such a great support. She would take J. on the weekend for 2 to 4 hours.
“She has given me some great feedback and has been able to advise me on how to communicate or respond whenever J. has a tantrum. J. is a very hyperactive boy, but Daniela has been able to manage him and set boundaries”.
“I am really pleased with the way Daniela is organised and focused on her work. It also gives me a bit of a relief seeing J. settling down well with another person. He has developed a unique bond with Daniela and that is good to see.”
“J. is very comfortable with Daniela and looks forward to going out with her to different activities in the town centre”.
“I am so grateful and happy about how well Daniela has managed to engage with J. Thank you Daniela, we are all very grateful.”
Boy is calmer:
P.R. says having some respite care gives her a few stress-free hours per week to share with other family members and have a break from being a 24/7 carer role. It has had “a positive impact on the whole family mental health.”
Her son J.P. (9) has ADHD, ASD and severe learning difficulties. He presents with high levels of energy, poor sleep patterns and challenging behaviour.
P. said,
P. said,
“With poor support in terms of respite care before we had help from Daniela, we struggled to cope with J.P.’s challenging behaviour at home during the weekends. As a result, our stress and anxiety levels were very high and affected our mental health, school and work performance.”
After assessing the R. family needs, Dream The Change put in place a plan to support J.P.’s access to the community for two hours on Saturdays, to give the rest of us some very needed respite.
She said, “Our son feels happy to have this care routine, he has developed a good bond with his carer and he looks forward her to arriving and going out in the park.”
Daniela began working with J.P. at home and gradually, she started taking him out to parks, soft plays and events. Although these two hours of care may seem short, their impact has made a difference in his family life. Daniela was able to build a routine that provided J.P. with fun and engaging moments that he looks forward to when the weekend approaches. J.P. returns home from his outings a happier and calmer boy, less prone to challenging behaviours, and this results in a smoother rest of the day for his family, giving them the chance to recover and feel less stressed and anxious around him. P. said,
“Having the help of respite care provided by Daniela means we can share some stress-free family time with our other son. It has been very successful in terms of meeting our urgent need for respite and improving our mental health and general well-being”. “We never thought that J.P.’s positive interactions with an experienced and enthusiastic carer would bring all of our family members (mum, dad and brother A. (6), to such a better place, emotionally and psychologically.”
Boosted child’s self-esteem:
C. is the mother of H., and says his confidence has been boosted by his days out with Daniela and his friend V.
C. said,
“I am very grateful for the help that Daniela has provided, as it gives me respite and also H. time to socially interact with others, as well as building his confidence.”
H. also enjoys attending the day trips/activities that he attends with Daniela and V. (for example going to the zoo, history museum, park and art/craft based activities). Daniela has had H. sometimes in the holidays or at the odd weekend.
C. said,
“H. really enjoys Daniela’s and V.’s company and the activities they do together and would miss it if it wasn’t available. It has helped to build his self-esteem in social situations, thereby reducing his anxiety too.”
Breaks separation anxiety:
Another parent, B., said,
“The caring and support for my son, I., has helped me a lot because I can do things that I. finds difficult to tolerate, like going to shopping in town or doing stuff I need to do.”
When I. has gone out with Daniela, it’s given B.’s other children the chance to do something with her, which I. doesn’t always like or may find difficult.
She said, “If I. didn’t have the caring hours, I would not be able to take my other children to places. I. is always usually with me, so him meeting new people has been good for him to break that separation anxiety. I appreciate the funding from Catalyst for Daniela’s role. It’s really helped me.”
Gives parents a break:
Another parent, O. said the caring support has really been a great relief to their family.
O. said,
“I do not have to struggle for the period the care is being given.
“I am very grateful to Catalyst's funding for this opportunity. This is really helpful because it allows me to go out, especially to my church for a service. I wouldn't have been able to do this without the caring support.”
O.’s child is happy to be with the carer and there is a good connection between them.
“I want to say a big thank to Catalyst's funding for this wonderful project to help families with disabled children,” said O. “We are not taking it for granted because it has made a positive impact in our lives.
“I also thank Dream The Change for creating this platform for us to come together as a family.”
Parent is “enormously grateful for this life-changing support.”:
Another parent said, “I am extremely thankful for the opportunity created by Dream the Change, thanks to the important funding by Catalyst to get the caring support from Daniela. Her support for all our families including mine was tremendous.” The mother is originally from another country and has no family support network in the UK, so as a single mother of a child with special needs, she previously struggled. She said, “Before receiving respite care, I felt isolated and lonely and did not have anyone who could help with my son, not even if I needed to go for an appointment, shopping or have some time for myself to rest”.
“I am glad I met such a diligent and responsible carer as Daniela and I fully trust my child with her. She is transparent and is always in touch whenever I leave my child with her. She reports on everything in detail, and she treats the children she cares for as her own children. I can tell she does her work with her full heart, for which I am extremely grateful”.
“I think this is a wonderful project and it should go on as this invaluable help is so important, especially for families like mine - single parent families with special needs children”.
“This help is so vital and I hope that Catalyst would help us to keep this project going and consider further funding for us to keep Daniela and her caring support for our families. I am very grateful!”
Everyone involved with Dream The Change said is enormously grateful for funding for a respite carer from Colchester Catalyst this year, and the National Lottery in the future, as it is giving us the chance to be better, more rested parents for our children. Thank you so much.
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