Home Support & Respite services
What is Home Support?
Working directly with the Family Support Hubs in the Greater Belfast area, we provide home support to families of Children who are pre-, during or post-diagnosis of ASD. The home support worker will work with children between the ages of 4-11 and their parents on a one-to-one basis in the family home.
Parents will be supported for approximately 8-12 weeks depending on need. The home support worker will help families cope with a child or young person’s challenging behaviours at home. This support is often in the form of visuals, behavioural strategies and 1:1 work.
Who does it help?
30 families around Belfast have been supported over the last year with our home support programme.
What is the Respite service?
Our respite service involves our workers taking a child or young person outside of the family home a few hours each week, providing them with a sense of independence. This service can only be covered by a family’s Direct Payments, allotted by social services.
Currently 7 families are availing of our respite service which provides much needed respite for parents and gives children a few hours away from the home doing fun activities with their respite worker.
Recruitment opportunities
We recruit respite and home support workers on a rolling basis. Experience working with children with ASD and own car essential. You must be able to commit to 4-6 hours per week, usually at weekends. If interested, please contact or call 02890 247600.
Contact us
If interested in registering your child on the Home Support service please contact the Home Support & Respite Coordinator on 02890 247600 or email michelle@solasbt7.com. For respite support opportunities please contact Liz on respite@solasbt7.com.
BBC Broadcast
In June 2018 our Home Support programme featured on a BBC broadcast.
You can watch the video by clicking below (left) and see our Home Support & Respite Coordinator Michelle talking about the programme here and what she loves about her job (right):
Parent support programmes
We sometimes run parent support groups for 6 to 10 weeks. These are typically held once a week on a morning or evening at the Sólás premises, 284 Ormeau Road, Belfast BT7 2GB.
To register your interest in the 2019-20 Parent Support programme please contact Joan on 028 9024 7600 or email joan@solasbt7.com