Northcott says donations needed to fund PEERS support groups

Northcott has operated in Wagga for over 40 years, providing essential support to young people with disabilities. A significant part of this is helping young people develop essential social skills to help them interact with people in the wider community, find work, and navigate relationships.

Claudia Westport is a speech pathologist for Northcott, who works with young adults and their parents to learn these skills.

"What i'm really doing is helping neuro-diverse young adults develop their conversational skills and make friends," she said.

"My role includes seeing individuals, but I also run groups.

"I'm currently running a primary school age group for children with social skills difficulties, which is part who why I'm so passionate about getting getting PEERS [support group] over the line.

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The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS) is a 16 week social skills program developed by Doctor Elizabeth Laugeston at the University of California. It gives neuro-diverse teens and young adults a chance to practice skills with coaches like Ms Westport in a controlled environment.

Ms Westcott says she has seen the difference this makes in young people firsthand.

"You may ask why learn social skills in therapy - well, because it gives you that safe space to practice these skills with other neuro-divergent young adults," she said.

"PEERS has a lot of role play - what's the correct way to practice this? What's the incorrect way? Why was it incorrect?

"For therapy to be successful you need to keep doing it - you're not going to learn to learn piano by doing it just once a week ... you're going to learn it by implementing it, and how are you going to implement it without people around you?"

The challenge for people seeking these services is often their NDIS packages don't often extend to cover all the therapies someone might need - particularly social skills.

Northcott is asking for donations to fill this gap, helping fund PEERS programs for young adults who may not be able to afford it otherwise.

Cameron Mitter's 24 year old daughter Raine accesses services to build her independence and help regulate her emotions. For Raine, anxiety can be an obstacle when interacting with others. he said he can see real benefits from the program for Raine.

"One of Raine's main objectives is to secure some type of employment in the future, and part of this process is to try to improve her social skills," he said.

"Raine has friends at Northcott who she enjoys interacting with. We really would like to see this develop further so she has the confidence to interact with people when she is out in the community."

Northcott's Winter Tax Appeal is raising funds to offer the PEERS program to young adults like Raine. Visit https://donate.northcott.com.au/winter-appeal-23 to donate.

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