Challengers recently received a special visit from the other side of the world! Professor Uchiyama and his research team from Fukushima University in Japan visited Surrey to learn more about our approach to supporting disabled children and young people.
The team, which is funded by the new established Japanese Children and Families Agency, visited the UK with the aim of finding out how support is provided for children with developmental disabilities, specifically those with autism, in non-school settings.
We were delighted to host Professor Uchiyama and his team at our 555 service in Farnham which supports disabled young people who are out of education. Our CEO Gen Dearman and Head of Service Paul Wilson met with them to showcase our work and talk about the Challengers approach (and how this differs to other providers), as well as giving them the opportunity to speak to staff and parents to gain an insight into their experiences.
Professor Uchiyama said: “Our visit to Challengers was an eye-opening experience. We learned so much by speaking directly to staff and to parents who use Challengers. We were able to learn about the strengths and issues of the UK system, gaining valuable guidance.”
The team particularly enjoyed seeing our approach in action at our 555 scheme, saying: “It was also revealing to see how the children took part at a Challengers session; in particular, to observe how the staff treated the children with such care and how the children were gaining such valuable enjoyment. We aim to introduce these inspiring aspects of the Challengers experience to Japan.”
Knowledge sharing is very powerful, and we were honoured to share information about our approach so that the team can use it to inform similar settings in Japan. CEO Gen Dearman said: “We were lucky to spend some time with a team of brilliant academics who specialise in autism. Paul and I spent a morning with the team led by Professor Tokio Uchiyama, and Jan Sunman from Making Families Count who coordinated the visit, finding out more about each other’s services, need and challenges.“
“Whilst day-to-day we may be miles apart, it was apparent that we face the same issues, frustrations and opportunities. For example, Japan faces the same geographical differences in the out of school provision for families with disabled children in terms of quality, availability and ease of access that we do. Demand in Japan also outstrips the ability and funding to meet the need. But like Challengers and other short breaks providers, there are Japanese charities wanting to provide a good service to support these families. It was a pleasure to be able to spend the morning learning from our friends in Japan and sharing best practice.”
– Gennie Dearman, Challengers CEO