Community books for Autism Accreditation

Colleagues and people supported by our Vocational Support Service will be hiding 30 children’s books across St Helens’ this week (from today – Tuesday 17th May), to commemorate The National Autistic Society’s Autism Accreditation Programme turning 30 years old.

Hidden within each of the books, there will also be a £2 book voucher, kindly donated to our charity by local business ‘The Book Stop’.

The Autism Accreditation Programme is the UK’s only autism-specific quality assurance programme for organisations providing services to autistic people. Through achieving accreditation, an organisation proves their commitment to understanding autism and setting the standard for autism practice.

Our charity’s Vocational Support Service, based in Green Base, Thatto Heath, has held this prestigious status for 14 years for their work supporting people with autism to access their communities, pursue their passions, and gain paid and voluntary employment.

As part of their commemorative celebrations for 30 years of the Autism Accreditation, The National Autistic Society have invited members to complete a challenge incorporating the number 30.

Our colleagues will be joining in with the celebrations through the community book-hiding initiative, headed by Support Worker, Rebecca Wignall, in which they will be placing books around parks, schools and nurseries in St Helens, for children to take home and read. They will be inviting anyone who finds the books to share photos on social media, using the hashtag #30BooksForAutism.

Rebecca said, “We were asked to come up with a creative way to mark 30 years of the Autism Accreditation and we thought, what better way than to do something that also gives back to our wonderful community here in St Helens? All of the books are second-hand and have been donated by members of our teams, so it will be lovely to see the pre-loved stories passed on to new homes. I’m really excited to get out with the people we support to hide the books and can’t wait to see people’s pictures once they’ve found them.”

Duane Bell, Service Leader at Community Integrated Care, said, “We are so proud to hold the Autism Accreditation, recognising the skill, knowledge, and outstanding practices of our team when it comes to supporting autistic people. It is of the upmost importance to us that we can provide the best support possible to everyone that uses our services, and the Autism Accreditation is just one way that we display our commitment to upholding the very best standards to do this.”

He continued, “I’m proud to see our team at Green Base getting involved in celebrating 30 years of the Autism Accreditation Programme, whilst also doing something that will bring joy to people in our local community.”

Are you or someone you know looking for support in St Helens? Contact Community Integrated Care today at information@c-i-c.co.uk to find out more or call Green Base on 0845 543 9911.