I am so happy that after just two days of putting my Just Giving page on social media and my website, we have together achieved a massive 70% of the £300 target which we had to reach in 30 days !
I know we can achieve way higher than this ! The young adults I plan to donate this money to are bright , hardworking, honest and so desperate to be given a chance to have full and happy lives. There is absolutely no reason why they cannot do this in spite of their differences and in some cases, disabilities.
The only word I like in ” Special Needs” is special and each of the incredible young people I have the joy to work with, has special in spades. Your donations would help them to achieve a few personal goals but in the long run all help them to contribute to society and the workplace.
One young lad with high functioning autism and ADHD broke down recently in front of me and asked ” What is wrong with me Giuliana ? I keep applying for jobs and no one will even write back or call me.” Yet he has no trouble at all getting unpaid voluntary work. It is my hope that in raising money in this way on a regular basis, we can help people like him perhaps pay for the last few driving lessons he can no longer afford, so that he has gained more independance and he can add this to his C.V.
A teenage girl who sees me weekly told me that her “biggest fear is not being able to be who she really is” because of her struggles with learning differences within school. The money I am raising will help people like her access clubs and skills that she wouldn’t be able to afford ordinarily and give her the chance to develop the talents she has that cannot be grown and nurtured in school. So many of the kids I see have a gift, an extraordinary talent.
Let’s help them grow.
Above all, each and every one of the children and young adults I see, all want to give back.The rewards from this donation will be immediate and far reaching. It will show this marginalised and often ignored part of society that there ARE people out there believing in them and helping them to achieve their full potentials. They have to fight for so much . They have to fight for things that the rest of us just assume is a right.
Please show your support and pledge to my just giving site today. I worked out that of each of my contacts on Facebook pledged just £2, I would have a donation of £300 !! So please click on to the page and donate ! Thank you.
As many of you know the government has slashed budgets and made it very difficult for young people with learning difficulties or special needs to get funding. This funding helps them to achieve their full potentials and contribute to the workplace in the same way as any young person could expect.
On the 19th June I am donating the whole day’s wage to help young people with learning disabilities. I shall be doing head massages nonstop from 9am until 6pm without a break (18 in total).
For those not enjoying a massage, I would love you to sponsor me either per head (as little as 20 or 50p would be gratefully received) or a flat rate for the whole day, if I last!
If you would like to support this and help those who have little voice achieve a few dreams or goals in the next year, please email me at info@therapiesforspecialneeds.co.uk.
I shall keep you informed of the event at every stage.
Please donate generously. These young people are worth believing in.
Giuliana’s work has appeared in the December 2012 issue of Autism Eye! To order the Winter 2012/2013 edition head over to Autism Eye’s back issue’s page. You can check out their latest issues over at http://www.autismeye.com/
At the November 2014 ’Thinking Outside The Box” annual conference for ADHD ASC & LD Belgium
Public speaking work is becoming a large part of what Giuliana does, being invited to talk not only at schools both here and abroad but to major organisations who work to promote awareness of “special needs” . This is an area Giuliana is growing increasingly passionate about and in November 2014 Giuliana was inviged as a guest speaker to the annual conference of ADHD, ASD & LD Belgium.
As well as raising awareness of special needs and giving these children their voices and dreams back, schools should be integrating “special needs” within the mainstream system and not segregating special needs. With so many young people in our society and our schools who have needs or differences now reaching epidemic levels, it is time schools and education planners integrated them more within the mainstream system instead of segregating them. It is no longer good enough to just label children: an understanding is needed and a lot more support so that they feel valued and nurtured. If a child feels safe, he or she will learn. By supporting them as a whole person – “Holistically”- Whole-istically they become happier, more alert, attendance increases and they are more productive and focused.
Giuliana will also be doing talks in Sweden, Ireland and Munich from late Spring 2015, as well as talks throughout the UK to schools and organisations.
I am extremely proud to be practising my therapy at Foxes Academy who were the subject of a channel five documentary series “The Special Needs Hotel.” It truly is an inspirational place – somewhere where magic really does seem to happen.
One of the stars of the series , Harriet , later appeared on This Morning and said how her dream would be to open a coffee shop which offers head massage! Please click here to watch the ‘This Morning‘ show.
