Tips for supporting your child if they have a sibling with additional needs.

Being a parent to a disabled child comes with lots of additional responsibility, stresses, joys and challenges. This affects the whole family – and here are our tips for supporting a young person who has a sibling with additional needs. ·         Encourage your child to ask for attention when they… Read more

Winter Well-being Accessible Walks

Following from our well-being weekend messages on social media- we want to continue to provide some tips on how you can look after your well-being this winter. If the weather isn’t too miserable then we encourage you to try and spend some time outdoors this week. Surrounding yourself with nature… Read more

“No one day is the same”

Here at Leeds Mencap we run play schemes, for children aged 4-18 years old during the school holidays. Our play schemes are all about having fun, trying new experiences and spending quality time with friends. Importantly, they also help children to maintain social skills and confidence that can both be… Read more

Digital Fundraising

Digital fundraising has become one of the most popular and effective ways for people to support the causes they care about most. With Covid-19 keeping us all stuck indoors and unable to fundraise in the traditional ways, such as by hosting bake sales or running marathons, the importance of digital… Read more

Brandon’s Story

One of the most important things that we offer at Leeds Mencap are our youth clubs. We offer our youth clubs to a range of ages and they provide the children with the important opportunity to socialise with their peers, who also understand what it is like to live with… Read more

Meet our new staff members!

It has been a busy few months here at Leeds Mencap. We are well and truly back up and running after Covid-19 and are delighted to have expanded our team. Here are our brilliant new team members: Ruth Watson- Family Services Case Worker Ruth joined Leeds Mencap in June 2021…. Read more

Summer Fair 2021 Thank You!

Recently we had our Leeds Mencap 2021 Summer Fair. As we are sure is the same for many of you, Covid-19 unfortunately put a stop to a lot of our plans and prevented us from being able to engage with our community in the ways we would have liked. Once… Read more

Summer Fair 2021

As COVID-19 restrictions are easing up we are hosting an inclusive, family friendly summer fair. We would love to see you there! When? -Wednesday 1st September from 11:30-3:00 Where?– The Vinery Centre, 20 Vinery Terrace, LS9 9LU Activities may include: Carnival stallsRaffle and TombolaArts and CraftsBouncy CastleGlitter tattoosFood and refreshmentsClimbing FrameCircus… Read more

It has never been so important to be there for our children and their families

I am Becky, the Deputy Manager of Jimbo’s community nursery which is based in the Vinery Centre. On a day to day basis I support the nursery manager with the general running of the nursery and also oversee our Preschool Playroom. In Jimbo’s we can take children from aged 6… Read more

There is no such thing as a ‘typical day’ at our clubs and playschemes!

I’m Dana, the Clubs and Playschemes Coordinator at Leeds Mencap. I started at Leeds Mencap as a volunteer on our playschemes, before getting a job, first on the playschemes, then at one of our youth clubs too, before getting my current role late last year. A team of amazing staff… Read more

‘Oliver felt safe and as a parent that’s the main thing you want’

Nicola tells us about Oliver’s Leeds Mencap journey To say that the Hawthorn playroom at Leeds Mencap was beneficial for Oliver in his first few years is a huge understatement.  I’m so grateful to the two Mums who recommended Leeds Mencap to me, after having attended with their own children. … Read more

‘Seeing the small changes in the children is absolutely amazing!’

I’m the Team Leader at Hawthorn, a specialist playroom at Leeds Mencap which is for very young children with learning disabilities aged between 0-3 years. We usually care for nine children a day, but at the moment due to COVID restrictions, we are only able to see three children. The… Read more

Why Makaton is so fantastic

If you’ve not come across Makaton before it’s fantastic. And this is why… Makaton is a form of sign language that uses symbols, signs and speech to enable children, young people and adults to communicate. Makaton is similar to British Sign Language however it is a more efficient language programme… Read more

Building friendships

It’s been a real pleasure filming our recent videos for the Imagine if campaign and we hope that you enjoyed the latest one ‘Nothing like you Imagine’. Our Friday club members were absolutely brilliant and it was great to see Ella, Emily and Tom talk about what they like to… Read more

Kate’s Story

We know that the COVID-19 pandemic has been really tough on families with children with learning disabilities, read Kate’s story where she talks more about how her family have been coping. Kate’s two sons go to Leeds Mencap’s Youth Clubs, her daughter attends the Sibling Group and Kate goes to… Read more

94% of Leeds Mencap families said that they have felt more isolated during Covid-19

We know that COVID 19 has been challenging for many families across the country. The current pandemic has put them under incredible strain with many feeling overwhelmed, isolated and alone as much of the usual support around them disappeared overnight. We supported families from the start of the crisis in… Read more