- Description
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We offer the chance for young adults to meet up with friends outside of the school/college environment and help develop the social skills that can build confidence and self-esteem, all with a person-centred approach.
Our focus is on small friendship groups (typically 2 to 4 young people) who will always be supported by a member(s) of staff. This group size allows for a better quality of friendship to develop. Typically, our support shifts last between 2 and 4 hours depending on availability and budgets.
We are not a day centre. We offer a flexible and individualised program to meet the needs of each person we support.
We work from Monday to Sunday. Our support time usually ranges usually from 10am to 10pm but this can be longer depending on certain activities. We always work with what you want to/can do.
Some service users access our support multiple times a week at various times, and some regularly access the service once a week at a set time. We are incredibly flexible but urge consistency to allow the bonds of friendship sufficient time to grow.
- Telephone
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Coordinator: 07904 271027
Office: 07796 678939
- Email address
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Coordinator: michelle@friendsandplacestogether@org.uk
- Website
- Address
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Unit 13 and 14, Victoria Shopping Centre, 362 Chartwell Square, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS2 5SP
- Map
- Venue notes
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We have a venue located in the Victoria Shopping Centre. We have 2 units split into our kitchen/main lounge area and our games room. We regularly use the kitchen for cooking and have a TV with multiple games consoles and streaming services to watch films and TV. In our games room, we have a pool/snooker table, dart board, basketball hoop and arts and craft area. Our clients can choose to spend their support time entirely in the centre or drop in after being out in the community.
We also open our centre to other services to share our space, building strong links in our community and offering help wherever we can. As well as everyday support, we hold regular activities (e.g. film nights) and fundraising events to bring together friendship groups.
At our venue we also have our central office that our CEO, coordinator and admin staff work from and are able to meet new referrals, social workers etc.
- Date and time
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Monday to Sunday (varied times)
- Cost description
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Hourly staffing rate for over 18's Direct Payment: £16.85
Hourly staffing rate for over 18's self-funding: £8.00
This covers staffing costs only. Expenses for food, transport and activities are an additional cost charged separately. Staffing costs for self-funding and Direct Payment (DP) clients will be invoiced each month.
(A Direct Payment (DP) is funding from your local authority, to help you pay for the cost of the services you want to access. The DP Rate changes yearly.)
- Is a referral required?
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Yes
- Referral notes
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Anyone can make a referral, be that social services, schools/colleges or self referrals.
Please click this link to fill out an online referral form: Friends and Places Together Referral Form (office.com)
Alternatively, please visit https://friendsandplacestogether.org.uk/contact-us/ to download a Word document version of the form and email the form to michelle@friendsandplacestogether.org.uk.
- Age range
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Age 18 plus
- Supporting people with;
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Those aged 18 plus.
We support anyone who struggles with social isolation and wants to make friends. We primarily support those with ASD and learning disabilities, but a diagnosis is not needed for support. Anyone who struggles with their mental health is welcome as well.
**Friends and Places Together cannot administer personal care or medication**
- Other;
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Please head to https://friendsandplacestogether.org.uk/fandpt-over-18/ to read more information about our Over 18s service.
