About us
Daisy Chain helps over 4,500 families and continues to develop facilities and services in line with its founder’s vision and the local need.
In 2020-21, we have managed to support more families in more ways than ever before:
1,500 new families were supported 4,559 families accessed our services 2,863 hours of bespoke placement time was provided
In the 2021 to 2022 financial year we are proud to say that: our services have been accessed by more than 600 children and young people and that we have supported more than 3000 new families from across the Tees Valley and beyond. As always, our priority has been to ensure that our existing services continue to be delivered to the highest standard whilst also developing our services and activities in response to community need.
In the 2021-22 financial year we have provided over 7000 hours of 1:1 and small group support to school aged autistic children and young people.
New for the 2021-22 financial year is our school outreach service which involves a team of specialist staff going into the school environment to work with a small group of young people for a time limited period. Feedback from these sessions have been fantastic and we are delighted to now be in a position to increase the number of schools who can access this service.
In December 2021 we launched the new Tees Wide Family Support Service (TWFSS) which can be accessed by children, young people and families who display traits associated with, or have a diagnosis of, a neurodevelopmental condition including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), sensory processing or Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). In the 4 months since the service went live it has been accessed by 1714 families and the team have provided 87 drop-in sessions, 145 1:1 appointments and telephone support to over 1000 parents. Parents from outside the Tees Valley have also been able to access support via our free national autism helpline which has provided 2982 hours of specialist advice and guidance to 3093 neurodivergent young people, adults and their families.
Also new for 2021-22 is our keyworker service, which is one of a number of national pilots being run as part of the governments commitment to provide a keyworker for all children and young people with a learning disability and/or autism. Plan. The team work with families across the Tees Valley and Durham whose child is between the age of 4 and 12 and is at risk of school placement breakdown or, in the worst-case scenario, admittance to an inpatient facility. The team can extend this age range up to the age of 18 years if a child is red or amber on the dynamic support register (DSR) which indicates they need more input from services and are at serious risk of admittance to a specialist of mental health hospital.
In the 2021 to 2022 financial year we have invested heavily in our training department, recruiting two new staff, and expanding our reach nationally. Our training team continues to provide a blended offer of virtual and face to face training to meet the individual needs of the organisation being trained and prides itself on providing the gold standard in training.
In the 2022 to 2023 financial year we are looking forward to supporting with the Autism in Schools Project, by providing AET training across the North East and Cumbria. Additional to this, and as part of this same project, we will also be providing training in our own package, Understanding Myself, to local authorities across the country and from as far away as Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight.
Daisy Chain are growing and we need your support to help us continue to deliver these vital services across the Tees Valley and Beyond.