Working in Partnership – Pinpoint Cambridgeshire

Working in Partnership – Pinpoint Cambridgeshire

Pinpoint is a Cambridgeshire based charity that provides help and support to parents of children with disabilities and additional needs.

Autism Anglia’s External Training Team has been working with Pinpoint for the past twelve months providing online training on a variety of subjects to support parents of autistic children.

Linda Green, partnership and participation co–ordinator at Pinpoint said:

“Jo Keys is simply an incredible trainer. Her presentation style is both professional and knowledgeable but relaxed enough so that parents could feel involved in the session. Jo is always willing to work with us and develop sessions topics based on what our parents tell us their needs are. These have included Managing Emotional Extremes/Puberty & SEND/ Toileting & Continence. We have sessions planned for this term which include SEND & Social Vulnerability (looking at understanding friendships & bullying) and a session on Autism & Mental Health. As long as we have funding we will ask for sessions with Jo and the Autism Anglia Training Team.”

Below is anonymous feedback received from parents and carers that have attended the Autism Anglia sessions through Pinpoint.

Parent Carer Feedback:

• “Very down to earth workshop”.
• “Really practical suggestions that can be easily started straight away”
• “Very informative, gaining understanding on behaviours and managing this.”
• “Explained what hasn't been explained before. Amazing to understand”
• “Very informative some good strategies to try”
• “The opportunity to ask specific questions to the guest speaker about the way to use the learning in my own family situation”
• “It allowed me to understand what is happening physiologically with my child and gave me some new techniques to use to help her.”
• “I really enjoyed the session and felt really calm afterwards. Thank you for letting me join in.”
• “Jo as always is great in her delivery”
• “I think the content was enough and not too overwhelming but useful for lots of parents including myself.”
• "Thank you! You've given lots of practical ideas that I can try out at home"

Pinpoint feedback:

• Puberty & SEND - "Very delicate subject but expertly handled by Jo from Autism Anglia. All 17 parents stayed until the end of the presentation."
• Toileting - "Extremely difficult subject but session delivered due to demand and lack of Continence support. Tackled difficult issues such as smearing and adult nappies as well as issues that parents have with older children when changing during puberty etc. Good attendance and a relaxed open discussion at the end added some much needed understanding for parents themselves."
• Managing Emotional Extremes - "Emotional but positive responses to the session and Jo answering concerns in Q & A following which seemed to help many."

Jo Keys, external training manager for Autism Anglia said:

“I very much enjoy working with Pinpoint Cambridgeshire.  Pinpoint works directly with the parents to understand their needs and we then deliver training sessions to address these issues.  We are delighted with the positive feedback.”

If you would like to find out more about Autism Anglia’s training services please email [email protected] or visit www.autismanglia.org.uk/bespoke-training