Little Heroes ASD Support Group is a parent-led support group for families of children who are on the autistic spectrum.

Little Heroes ASD Support Group, based in Southend, started 7 years ago when a group of local families, all with children on the Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) met for a monthly coffee morning.

Even in those early stages, the group made a difference by creating a supporting, understanding and accepting community whilst also creating awareness of autism in the local community.

 NEWS FLASH!

Little Heroes ASD Support Group, based in Southend, started 7 years ago when a group of local families, all with children on the Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) met for a monthly coffee morning.

Even in those early stages, the group made a difference by creating a supporting, understanding and accepting community whilst also creating awareness of autism in the local community.

Little Heroes has continued to grow and is now a small registered charity (Registered charity number 1167631) holding weekly 4-hour sessions to ensure families can access support when and as they need it.

As well as the physical sessions, we have a growing virtual network of families that we support on a daily basis through social media, emails and telephone assistance.

During school holidays (and additional random points through the year) the charity organises and heavily subsidises activities for the children and their families. This enables them to do something that they might not be able to do in a mainstream environment and gives their siblings and parents/ carers also a chance to participate and socialise.

Little Heroes ASD Support Group now actively supports over 200 families face to face and over 2,000 people virtually. To do this, we rely heavily on our parent volunteers and are completely self-funded.

To get a real idea about the impact we have on the life’s of our families please check out the website   and our Facebook page.

The organisation is now at the stage that we need our own premises and can no longer operate out of a box.

After months of searching we have found our “dream home!”

Unfortunately, part of that dream is just within our heads as there are some adaptations and work needed on the property to make it ideal.

OUR NEW LITTLE HEROES HUB

Our new hub in London Road, Westcliff will be a venue that radiates positive awareness and acceptance of autism and additional needs within our local community. It will be a physical representation enabling, rather than disabling.

The hub will be a long-term project that will continue to develop and increasingly become part of people’s lives.

The front room of the hub will be a support area for parents and carers to meet and receive advice and support from a range of professionals as well as other parents, carers and other voluntary organisations. It will be an adaptable area which will also be able to be used for delivering training sessions and parent workshops.

The rear room will be the child friendly play area. This will accommodate some soft play structures, sensory items and even an inside garden area.

Families will be able to bring their children knowing the area is safe and secure for their child with needs no matter their challenging natures. The parents and carers will have to supervise their child/ren but at the same time they are in a welcoming safe environment with other people that truly understand. They will be able to socialise, receive support and advice. Perhaps most importantly, the support, advice and relationships they build with other families with similar challenges will help to improve their mental health rather than becoming increasingly isolated and depressed, which can so easily happen.

This building will be used by Little Heroes ASD Support Group to deliver the current weekly support session and monthly dads club, and it will give the opportunity to build upon those delivering extra more specialised sessions throughout the week/ month. These will be created by the families for the families.

The design and development of the hub will be a reaction to the needs of the local community. It will enhance what the organisation currently offers and will extend the age range.

We have already found that many families are often saddened when their children start school as the child can no longer currently access our support sessions. This is evident in the response we have received via the introduction of our once a month dad’s club where for one session alone we had 91 guests!

Interest has also been expressed by local families to offer a youth club and an after-school session for older children. The two rooms would give the children somewhere to socialise whilst the parents could be in the other room, enabling them to socialise themselves whilst attempting to give their child some form of (supervised) independence.

By developing the Little Heroes Hub in this manner, not only will other local services and groups be able to utilise the venue but families would be able to use the premises for parties which could feature a safe secure play area at the rear and a multi-purpose front area for refreshments.

The premises will always be used primarily by Little Heroes ASD Support Group to deliver their support sessions, training and workshops, and ad hoc events, and house the administrative and storage areas the charity needs. But letting the premises to other groups on a fixed or ad hoc basis will help ensure the hub is fully utilised and also generate some much-needed income

As we develop, opportunities will be given to other people with needs in assisting with admin duties where appropriate. For example, we have been approached by a local assisted living home for adults with additional needs asking if we have any opportunities available for some of their service users. This is something that would be judged on an individual basis and certainly, if we have the capacity, we would like to enable others within the local community.

Little Heroes develops and maintains positive connections with many other organisations, and we know that many local voluntary organisations often find there is a crossover of needs because their families are affected by autism in some form or another. To be able to offer sessions in an autism friendly environment where they know their children will be safe and not judged would enable them to get the support and advice they need, therefore enhancing the quality of life all around for the whole family.

Although primarily used for children services, if there is availability, then the hub could be offered for use to other organisations/ groups who assist older people with autism.

For more information, visit the website, the Facebook page or email: littleheroes.asd@gmail.com