As ATLAS you are getting involved in more and more projects, consultations, conferences, and participation work, it can sometimes be difficult to keep track of all the amazing things you do! Here we will publish a monthly summary blog on everything ATLAS has been involved in the past month.
Podcast planning
On the 5 of April you met with Reneé (an apprentice in the User Voice and Participation Team) to finalise the script of the very first episode of the Voices of ATLAS Podcast! This is currently a project run by ATLAS Ambassadors, however in the future, they're planning on involving other ATLAS members in this.
The first episode will be focusing on telling people about what ATLAS does and why participation and co-production are important. The recording of the first episode will be taking place on the 31 May.
New ground rule for ATLAS
As most of you were unable to attend the last ATLAS session in person, ATLAS discussed about what we as a group wanted the minimum number of people coming to an in person group to be for the session to go ahead hybrid.
We decided together that if there's less than 3 people confirming attending the session in person by Tuesday evening, we'll move the session to fully online. We have been looking into platforms where ATLAS members can confirm or decline attendance and can also see each other's responses so we can take ownership of this decision together as a group.
We haven't found the perfect solution yet but will continue looking and will let you know.
ATLAS Autism to be involved the Neurodevelopmental Pathway reference group
Sarah Camp who is the general manager for the Neurodevelopmental Pathway at Surrey and Borders Partnership came to visit ATLAS Autism on the 12 of March. We discussed how ATLAS Autism could be more involved in the service to positively shape design.
The vision for this pathway is to be able to identify the needs of children and young people early on so the support needed can be offered. Sarah also shared that the mission of this pathway is to make sure that they are supporting every young person that comes into the system as quickly as possible.
Sarah was really keen on the idea of co-production with ATLAS Autism and allowing a space for the members to have voice within this process. The first step in implementing co-production is for ATLAS Autism to join the Neurodevelopmental (ND) reference group and attend its meetings!
The reference group is intended to bring people together with different viewpoints to look at how we can improve the neurodevelopmental pathway for young people and families. The aim is to have greater coproduction through sharing ideas with a variety of people with an ultimate aim to ensure needs understood and are met for all young people at the earliest point. The first meeting will be taking place on May 4 from 4pm to 5pm.
The neurodevelopmental pathway team also would like ATLAS Autism to review their new ASD (autism spectrum disorder) pack as they would be very grateful for your input.
Children and Young People's Autism Partnership Board
On the 12 of April Jane Gupta (All-Age Autism Lead-Service Manager) visited ATLAS Autism to discuss what topics should be raised for the Children and Young People's Autism Partnership board.
Some great suggestions were made, including focusing on LGBTQ+ autistic children and young people, and raising awareness of sensory support needs around eating preferences. Jane also discussed future meeting times so ATLAS Autism members can attend these meetings.
- "There is also not many food dietitians for people who are autistic as well. Sometimes it is quite difficult for people with sensory issues which I have we with some certain types of food. Sometimes it is difficult to find certain types of food that people like."
- "It would be great to in my opinion to raise awareness of sensory issues with food around catering staff in schools. So that they are aware when some of the students appear to be fussy it's not always your typical fussy eating."
On the 25 of April some you attended the Children and Young People's Autism Partnership board. This was a great first step for more co-production and lived experience of autistic children and young people in this partnership. Moving forward the meetings will be scheduled and organised so they're accessible for young people.
Training opportunities
When Gina-Marie Munday visited ATLAS Autism on the 12 April she told us about some great training opportunities that will be coming soon:
Training Participation Group: This a brand-new group that had its first session on the 2 May on Zoom. The purpose of this group is to build and develop new trainings for staff and to make sure that the young person's experience is a part of these trainings. The plan is for this to run once every two months.
AN&D Training: There will also be a new additional need and disabilities training that you will be co-producing with Gina. There will be a full day of planning and creating the training together on the 27 May in Epsom.
Category: ATLAS
