Time to Talk

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused anxiety and uncertainty for many young people across England. For young people who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and their families it has been particularly challenging. Time to Talk is a new project offering young people free, strength-based support at home to counter social isolation and provide motivation to make plans for the future. Funding from the Coronavirus Community Support Fund, distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund, has helped us to deliver Time to Talk. Thanks to the Government for making this possible. We are no longer able to accept requests for support as we have reached capacity, but we are seeking additional funding and may be able to offer support to more young people at a later stage. If you would like to receive updates about the Time to Talk project and information about future opportunities, please complete the expression of interest form.

Are you betweeen 16 and 25? Unsure what you will do after lockdown? Would it help to talk to someone and develop your ideas?

If you are a young person with additional needs you can request support from this new project, Time to Talk. We can help build your confidence and plan what you want to do next.

About the project

One-to-one and group online sessions are adapted to suit you. They will include:

• chatting and getting to know each other
• hearing what matters to you and your hopes for the future
• doing activity sheets together to help you to make a plan (this is to help you identify your goals and can be shared with others afterwards if you wish)

To take part, you will need:

• internet access
• an iPad, laptop, or smartphone
• an email address
• a quiet space in your house to use for our sessions

If you need specific help to take part (e.g. shorter sessions so you can move around, an interpreter, or someone who knows you well to sit in) let us know when you complete the form. If online sessions are not possible for you, we may be able to provide support on the phone instead.

Learning from the project so far

Please click here to read a short project evaluation report which highlights impacts for young people and their families and professionals in the past 6 months.

Keeping you safe

We aim to keep you safe at all times and all staff are trained in safeguarding. To find out more about our safeguarding procedures, please see the Safeguarding Statement in related downloads.

If you'd like to discuss the project in more detail, please email alice.mccoll@ndti.org.uk and carol.robinson@ndti.org.uk or call 07593 443740.