Type of service: Befriending/mentoring, Outreach, Play and leisure, Social groups

Website: http://www.thedreadnought.co.uk

Dreadnought's Aspires project is a moving on programme - the overall aim of the project is to support young people with ASD to access mainstream social activities. Criteria: To access the Aspires service, young people need a definite medical diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder and be aged 8 - 18 years. They need to be in mainstream education or of mainstream cognitive ability. (Please contact the centre to discuss if you are unsure if your young person meets this criteria). Location of groups: We are a countywide service. Currently, there are groups in the following locations - Penzance, Pool, St Austell, Bodmin, Liskeard and Launceston. Age ranges for groups are age 8 - 11 (primary), 11 - 14 and 14 - 18 years, however, these are flexible and dependant on the referrals received in that area. Service: Aspires groups provide a fun and safe environment for young people, where they are supported to develop and improve their social skills, confidence, self-esteem and independence. Young people attend weekly sessions (term time only) during which there are structured group activities. The young people also have free time to do activities of their choice, or to just hang out! We have a high ratio of workers whose role it is to support, encourage and motivate the young people. An exciting part of the project is the summer activities programme. This is important as it enables young people to try out new activities and prepares them for moving onto social activities. Joining together with other Aspires groups provides further opportunities to make friends and develop social skills and confidence. In recent years, multi-activity residential weekends have been arranged for the older groups; these have proved to be very successful, enabling young people to better meet the objectives of the project as well as being a positive experience and fun for all involved.

Aimed at: Adolescent

Gender: All genders

Specialisms: Exclusively autism specific