Parent Plus

PARENT PLUS is part of the Springboard Project’s Early Years service which offers friendship, guidance and support to parents and their family who have a child recently diagnosed with a disability.

Coping with disability can be a lonely and emotional experience, especially when it affects your own children. That disability could be physical, sensory or some other medical condition. This situation can cause anxiety and isolation, placing any parent in a completely different situation to other parents, as their range of support needs will always be more complex.

Parent Plus is a network of befrienders who are parents themselves or from a family background. All befrienders are trained and supported by our staff to give the best possible support to the family.

The service is informal, flexible and free and provides individual support within your own environment with someone who will be able to concentrate on your own circumstances. Your befriender will be trained to help with a range of practical and emotional support.

Families who are supported through Parent Plus can also join our Bunny Hoppers group which provides activities for under 5’s with disabilities and their siblings on Sunday afternoons at Springboard House. Membership of Bunny Hoppers also entitles the family to unlimited access in visiting our Springboard House centre in Horsham for the play ‘n stay facilities which are available Monday – Friday from 10am to 5pm. If your child is over 5 years old, they can join our Grasshoppers group, which provides holiday activities and a regular Saturday Club.

To find out more about this service, please contact Maria Dunkley, our Early Years Co-ordinator.