Thank you for taking the time to visit our page and read this blog. Let me introduce myself. My name is Vikki Benton, and I am the Founder and Director of SEN Space Care and Respite Services. Myself and Julie Hanna set up our organisation last August in order to provide care, support and respite services for children with disabilities and their families.
I am an early years teacher with a degree in Early Childhood Studies. I dedicated my entire education to studying children and how to best care and educate them. I then went on to have four children, two of which have profound disabilities. I have spent the last ten years looking for services for my children with disabilities, for my children who are young carers, and for myself as a full time parent carer.
I loved teaching, but when I moved to Belfast fifteen years ago, and left my family behind, it became apparent very quickly that provision, such as childcare for children with additional needs, was non-existent. I had to give up the job I loved and my life changed. Little did I know that this was the start of a very long journey of fighting for support and provision for my children. I knew what my children and my family needed. I wanted them to go somewhere specific to their needs, with highly qualified staff, and specialist equipment. Somewhere where they loved to go, where socialising and making friends was a top priority, where the children would come away after gaining new skills and having lots of fun experiences. Somewhere where I could also connect with other parents, learn how to help my children, enrich their lives, and support my other children who were struggling in their caring roles.
After a few years of struggling, being completely isolated, sleep deprived, and little break from my caring role, I met Julie. I was awarded Direct Payments through my Disability Social Worker (a resource that many families presently do not have), and advertised for someone to help me care for my youngest child who is profoundly disabled. Julie got the job! She was currently studying to become a teacher, so came to me for a couple of hours on a Saturday morning. Those two hours a week changed my life, and that of my three other children. It allowed me to take my children to the park for the first time, bearing in mind my oldest child was nine years old. The first time my children had been to the cinema with their Mummy, or made cakes with me at home. Everyday, basic experiences that other families take for granted. I
could help my children with homework, or read them a story, or play a game with them. All the things I desperately missed being able to do with my children, and my children had never experienced with me before. It also gave me time to care for my own needs. I could rest, sleep (I was surviving on 4 hours sleep a night), shower, sit down and eat a meal, make a phone call. All the things I couldn't do when caring for my son. Julie completed her teaching degree a year later, and although she left as my Direct Payments Worker, we stayed in touch and became the best of friends.
When Julie left, my family was still struggling, our lives were back to what it was like before. No break, no more normal for these two hours every week, which is such a small amount of time, but made such a big difference. I was fortunate to find some amazing Direct Payments Workers for the following couple of years, but it wasn't consistent, having periods of respite and then not, depending on whether I could find someone to help. It was also difficult having our son cared for in the home, and we felt we were not getting a proper break. I was sickened, helplessly watching my other children breaking mentally, my children with disabilities having no quality of life, and we all just yearned for a bit of normal family time. Early last year I just made a decision. I refused to spend countless hours, time I didn't have, looking for and fighting for services that didn't exist anymore. This was something Julie and I spoke about often. She was seeing similar experiences though the children she was teaching in a local SEN school, and through liaising with parents. We wanted to give families that little bit or normal, that hope that Julie had
given to my family, and so much more. In August 2021, Julie and I set up our own organisation, SEN SpaceCare and Respite Services, something we had spoken about for years! We used Government funded social enterprise start up organisations to set up our business plan and registered our organisation as a Community Interest Company and a not for profit organisation, as we believed any profit made, being put back into SEN Space, to increase and improve services, was a good thing. We introduced SEN Space through social media, our new Facebook page. Our first post introduced ourselves and our vision. Within 24 hours, we had reached over 20,000 people and we had over 1000 followers. Six months later, we reached over 50,000 people and had over 2900 families following our page. We were inundated with messages, phone calls, emails from parents and carers every day desperate to use our services. We designed a survey and over 500 parents took part. It gave us a solid idea of what provision was needed to make a difference. After School clubs, weekend clubs, youth clubs and school holiday clubs were needed for their children with disabilities. Sibling support, parent support and education were also requested. Overnight respite was wanted by nearly every family that participated. Preschool support and adult day care was also desperately needed. We based our services
around this information.
Julie and I had the same vision, something amazing not just for the children with disabilities, but the whole family. We wanted to create something to help these families on their life long journey, a path they had not chosen, and provide support services from diagnosis to adult care and supported living. We wanted to create an experience for both children and adults, full of opportunity and enjoyment, an education and care based setting where they could achieve their goals and be surrounded by highly qualified staff to meet their specific needs. To have a hub of professionals including Teachers, Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, and Play Therapists to help these children to reach their full potential, and to have lots of fun experiences, the same opportunities as other children who did not have these additional needs.
Fast forward a year and here we are! Our doors are opening in September 2022. We have a fabulous building in Dunmurry, perfectly positioned between the council areas of Lisburn and Belfast and are getting ready to open our doors for September. We are excited, but nervous, as we have a big task ahead of us. But we are both passionate and dedicated to making SEN Space a success and will hopefully make a positive impact on the lives of children with disabilities and their families in our local area.
Thank You for taking the time to read and if you think you can help us in any way, please contact us. Your help and support is as always very much appreciated.
Vikki x
