Based in Kirkcaldy, Nourish Support Centre provides much needed and life-changing support to families in Fife who have additional support needs.

 

Having a child with disabilities affects the whole family and not only causes worries and anxieties, it often causes loneliness, isolation, poor mental health and poverty.

 

Founded in 2011, Nourish was established by five parents who wanted to address the significant gaps in support available for families in their situation and understood the daily challenges they face.

 

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                     We aim to support and improve the wellbeing of people and families in Fife who have additional support needs. 

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Our aims include 

                                                                        

Bringing families together – meeting with other families in a similar situation provides vital support, reduces feelings of isolation, and improves wellbeing. 

 

Support for the whole family - Having a child with additional support needs usually means parents become carers, and siblings become young carers.  We aim to support parents, carers, siblings, adults, and children with additional support needs. Extended family members also providing support, can also access our services.

 

Providing holistic support in a one stop shop – we know the different challenges facing families with additional support needs and we understand the importance of being able to access a wide range of emotional, practical, and financial support in one place.

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Supporting people with additional support needs and their families by providing a wide range of services, adapting as we go to meet the needs of those in our community. 

 

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 We evaluate our services through regular consultation with our families. In a recent survey, 87% of families told us their experience of using our services was excellent. 75% of families said we provided opportunities to socialise in a safe environment that suits everyone’s needs. 71% felt respected, welcome and amongst friends. 70% felt support for their whole family. 58% felt less lonely or isolated.

 

We aim to provide a welcoming and safe space for people to meet others in a similar situation and access help and support. We run our services from our family support centre, in Elizabeth House. Previously based in multi-use buildings which restricted when we could offer our services, we are now in dedicated premises with flexible space and separate areas/rooms for different activities.  We are able to provide family support services 5 days/week; our long-term aim is to grow our service provision to 7 days/week.

 

Nourish is the only organisation in Fife providing this holistic support to families with additional support needs. We work with other relevant organisations to raise awareness/reach out to new families and provide better services and support e.g.  Smart Play, Enable and the Carers Centre.   Many of our trustees, staff and volunteers are parents/carers of children with a disability, or have a disability themselves.