Check out your Company Bowl for anonymous work chats.
Throughout April, Autism Together is encouraging everyone to learn more about autism, for Autism Acceptance Month. During the month, we are also offering free downloadable resources from our website and encouraging people to host their own events and fundraising challenges, to raise autism awareness and promote acceptance of autistic people. While there will be a wide range of in-house events for people in Autism Together’s services, the charity is also holding events to engage the local community, too. The highlight will be at Birkenhead Park’s Visitor Centre, where a group of talented artists supported by Autism Together, are displaying their artworks. The exhibition, called Inside Out, runs from Tuesday, April 7th to Sunday, April 12th and is a celebration of autistic art and artists. To end the month, on April 30th, the charity is engaging local businesses to find out how they can get involved in charitable partnerships with Autism Together, through an event at Egerton House in Birkenhead to launch a new initiative called Together for Change. Visit the dedicated Autism Acceptance Month webpage to find out more: www.autismtogether.co.uk/autism-acceptance-month.
In February, a group of people we support completed a course in order to co-deliver our ATM training. ATM stands for Autism Together Model, and encompasses our own bespoke autism-specific training - which has been nationally accredited by Bild ACT. It is delivered to our staff on induction by our Learning Culture team and can also be delivered to other care providers. Claire, AJ, Rachael, Dan, James, Laura, and Mr C, all attended Oak House for their Train the Trainer session with Michelle Walklett, Learning Development Manager, and Jill Peers, Learning Facilitator. The all-day session covered a wide-range of topics related to autism, sensory issues, the crisis behaviour cycle, and lots more. The group did fantastically well, being engaged and asking questions throughout. They all successfully completed the training and each received a certificate. They will now be able to help the Learning Culture team when it comes to delivering future ATM sessions. Congratulations to everyone involved!
We recently welcomed our latest group of new starters to Autism Together. The group have been completing their induction training, before joining their teams across our services. New employees to our charity are paid throughout the training process, were they receive all the knowledge needed to do the job from our in-house training team - so they don't need prior experience of support work. If you know anyone who could be perfect to join our team, please let them know there are a range of jobs available now at Autism Together...
Voting is well underway for our newest awards event - The STAR Awards! 💫 This dedicated awards night, delivered in partnership with Wirral Mencap, will celebrate the incredible people we support - shining a light on their individuality, determination, and successes. 🤝 The people we support have been involved in every step of the planning and decision-making for these awards. 🏆 As part of our monthly Meeting Together Forum, the group members have been discussing plans and developments for the STAR Awards since last summer. They were also involved in choosing the venue for the awards evening - Hulme Hall - and have been part of joint meetings with Wirral Mencap to decide on branding and artwork choices. 🙌 Fantastic co-production work all round!! 🏅
Here's wishing a very warm welcome to our recent December starters at Autism Together. The group have been undertaking their induction training, ahead of joining their new teams across our services. Our in-house training team have been giving them all the knowledge and skills needed. Experience is great, but we offer full training - so you don’t need to have already worked in social care to start a career with us. And - you’ll be paid during your training! We hope our new starters all enjoy a very happy and successful employment with Autism Together. If you'd like to join the team, click this link: https://autismtogether.co.uk/join-the-team/
In December we enjoyed a gathering of staff, people we support, families and supporters, to enjoy an evening of Christmas song. This was our first Christmas Carol Concert in the old church building in Bromborough Pool Village. By day it hosts music sessions for the people we support, but this evening it saw the Theatre4All.NW choir lead us through a selection of Christmas melodies - both carols and seasonal favourites. We also enjoyed listening to the talents of Steven, one of the people we support, who took to the stage to perform 'It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas' and ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’. Everyone enjoyed Steven's excellent performance. There was warming mulled wine available for guests, along with mince pies and Christmas cake. And we rounded this fantastic evening off with a raffle! Thanks to everyone who came along - our supporters, performers and those who helped behind the scenes.
This week we delivered a special seasonal gift to our staff. 🎁🎄 As a thank you for their hard work throughout the year, we gave a Christmas hamper full of festive treats to our staff members across the organisation - to show our appreciation for all they do for our charity and the people we support. 🎅 We're always on the lookout for more dedicated and enthusiastic people to join our team of support staff. If you'd like to join us, head over to our website and browse our current vacancies. You could have a new career for the new year... 🌟
Our Family Adventures are now LIVE! Families and carers can now register their interest for our FREE Family Adventures here: https://autismtogether.co.uk/advice-support/ We're partnering with a number of regional attractions to offer autism-friendly activities for families of autistic kids and teens, free of charge. Our events are also open to those on the pathway to a diagnosis. Our first location is Activity for All Wirral. We'll have a soft-play morning session for younger children and a climbing wall evening session for older kids and teens. Each month we'll feature a different activity and location.
In October we gathered in Bromborough Pool Village to remember those who lost their lives in war, with a service outside the village's former church building. This was our second year marking Remembrance Day with a public service and this year it was conducted by Autism Together service managers Steve Davis (who previously served in the armed forces) and Dean Ravera. There was a fantastic turnout as local people mingled with Autism Together staff and people we support, with everyone gathered around the village's refurbished war memorial. There was a very respectful 2-minute silence, followed by a rendition of ‘The Last Post’ expertly performed on electric guitar and saxophone by two of our staff members - Alex Harris and Tom Luke. For Remembrance Day, many of the people we support created their own handmade poppies which were beautifully displayed around the church building - don't they look amazing! After the service, many headed over to our Bromborough Pool Cafe for a warming cuppa. Huge thanks to Steve and Dean for presiding over this special service, to Alex and Tom for their performances, and to everybody who came along to remember those who lost their lives in armed conflict. We will remember them.
Our Annual Review for 2024-25 is now available to read, complete with a fresh design featuring our new branding and even more coverage of our charity's fantastic work across the past year. The annual review looks back on highlights and achievements from right across the organisation. There's also a message from our CEO and Chair of Trustees, a financial update, and much more. Click the image below to read our Annual Review online. We hope you enjoy exploring it.
