The Loop - Summer Edition

Summer edition 2021 www.ne-as.org.uk

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT MASKING LOOK HOW FAR WE’VE COME OUR AMBITIOUS EXPANSION TEAM NEAS SETS THE GOLD STANDARD Plus…

From the CEO’s desk Save the Dates and more.

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Notes from our CEO “I could not be prouder of what has been achieved”

John Phillipson Chief Executive Officer

“It is a really busy time, with lots happening, and I want to pay a heartfelt tribute to our amazing staff who have done such a brilliant job during the immense challenges of the past year.

be educated within their own community, rather than having to travel outside of the area. That not only has a positive impact on the wellbeing of the child but is much more cost-effective.

“Hopefully, we will continue to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic, and I’m delighted the charity has come through what has been the hardest period in its proud 41-year history in robust shape.

“In the meantime, our other new school on Teesside, The Mackenzie Thorpe Centre, goes from strength to strength, and we hope to double the numbers of pupils by September.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the strong position we are in is all down to the dedication of the people who work with us.

“With numbers also growing across our other schools, a recruitment drive continues and there has never been a better time to join NEAS.

“As a result of that financial stability, we can invest in upgrading our existing facilities, as well as proceed with exciting new developments, such as the creation of a new school at Stockton.

“A 25-year lease on the historic Kiora Hall has been signed, designs completed, and we have gone out to tender for a contractor to start work on the site in the next few weeks.

“The Kiora Hall development will mean autistic and neurodiverse children from the Tees Valley can

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“Alongside the investment in buildings, I am delighted that the trustees have agreed to an adjustment of the pay gradings, bringing those on lower salary bands in line with other providers.

“It is due recognition of the hard work over the past year. Our staff have shown inspirational team spirit and I could not be prouder of what has been achieved.”

John P hillipson

Contents 5

Save the Date…

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Historic building to become school for autistic children on Teesside

We’ve put together a list of dates that we’re sure you won’t want to miss.

The latest stage in our ambitious expansion, which will lead to 250 jobs being created across the Northeast.

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Around the world in seven days

A round-up of this year’s Autism Acceptance Week campaign

10 We need to talk about masking

We spoke to Kieran Rose about his recent study on masking, and why it’s an issue we should all be aware of.

12 Life Science Centre sets the gold standard for Autism Acceptance

Life Science Centre, in Newcastle, has become the first visitor attraction to ever receive our Gold Standard Autism Acceptance Award.

14 Spotlight on… Vice Principal, Emily Croft

Mackenzie Thorpe’s Vice Principal, Emily, explains how the Society helped her to achieve her dreams.

15 Employee of the Quarter

Discover who we’re crowning our Employee of the Quarter.

16 Our highlights of the quarter Take a look at our highlights reel.

North East Autism Society Unit 15 Lumley Court Drum Industrial Estate Chester-le-Street DH2 1AN 0191 410 9974 info@ne-as.org.uk www.ne-as.org.uk Registered Charity No. 1028260 Company Limited by Guarantee No. 2859620

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n o S A E N m a e t 1 2 Join 0 2 h t 2 1 r e b Septem

It’s the world’s favourite half marathon, it’s a hit with celebrities and sports stars alike..

With so many runners rolling their 2020 places over to 2021, charity places are limited. Make sure to snap yours up now.

Find out more about our charity places at: ne-as.org.uk/greatnorthrun2021 Contact the fundraising team: Fundraising@ne-as.org.uk (0191 410 997)

Save the Dates

We’ve got a busy few months ahead of us. Here’s a round-up of some of the exciting events taking place and the information on how you can join Team NEAS:

20 June

21-22

August

Sunderland 10k

Tyne Confluence Sportive

After a year of postponed and cancelled events due to Covid-19, we are gearing up for the return of mass participation events – and it all kicks off this weekend with the Sunderland City 10K! A team of 14 runners will be pulling on their trainers in support of the Society on Sunday 20th June. The team of runners includes Adam Gluck who accesses NEAS’s adult day services at New Warlands Farm and lives in one of our supported living homes in Chester-le-Street.

You can show your support by donating on our just giving page: justgiving.com/NEAS-Sunderland-10k

Back by popular demand – and hot on the heels of previous years’ successes - our cycling challenge is back!

Tyne Confluence Sportive, is a two-day 170-mile cycling challenge happening on Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd August 2021. Our team is complete but there’s still lots of opportunities to show your support and get involved!

For more information email jon.appleton@ne-as.org.uk.

24 July Clarty Bairns The perfect event for the whole family. Clarty Bairns is a 3k muddy obstacle course held at Bromley Grange in Northumberland. We have a limited amount of charity afternoon slots available.

11 September Junior Great North Run A must do for all budding runners. Give your children the chance to have their very own finish line moment while raising money for a great cause.

12 September Great North Run Join Team NEAS and be part of the world’s largest half marathon. With so many runners rolling their 2020 places over to 2021, available places are limited. Make sure to snap yours up now! Head to our website to find out about our charity places.

Find out more online at: ne-as.org.uk/events

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Historic building to become school for autistic children on Teesside A grand old building with a fascinating history is to become a new school for autistic children on Teesside.

The North East Autism Society (NEAS) is to invest approximately £1.3m in repurposing the disused Kiora Hall after entering into an agreement with Stockton-onTees Borough Council to lease the building for 25 years.

It is the latest stage in our ambitious expansion, which will lead to 250 jobs being created across the North-east over the next 18 months.

Last year, the Society invested in opening a new school and community facility – named The Mackenzie Thorpe Centre – at South Bank, Middlesbrough.

Now, the deal to secure the long-term future of the Kiora Hall – an imposing Edwardian, red-brick building – has further underlined the charity’s bold plans to expand its services into the south of region.

Our CEO, John Phillipson, said:

“This hugely exciting development is the fruition of talks with Stockton Borough Council that began four years ago, and were born out of our shared passion for providing greater support for autistic youngsters, and their families, in this part of the region.”

Kiora Hall, in Ragpath Lane, Norton, dates back to 1902 and, over the years, it has had many uses, including a family home, offices, an Army gun battery, prisoner of war camp, youth club, school, and community centre.

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In the 1940s, it housed Italian and then German prisoners of war, who supplied manual labour for surrounding farms, market gardens and other businesses.

Having agreed the long-term lease with the borough council, NEAS has now submitted planning permission to develop the building for educational purposes, and put the building work out to contract.

Councillor Lisa Evans, Stockton Borough Council’s Cabinet Member For Children and Young People, said:

“Kiora Hall used to be such a vibrant building in this area, and its decline has been sad to see, so this investment by the North East Autism Society, to bring it back to life as a community asset, is fabulous.

“This will have wider benefits for young people with often complex needs and enable them to be supported closer to home. It’s so exciting to be working with NEAS on such an important development, and I’m confident a collaborative approach with other local authorities in the Tees Valley will produce wonderful results.”

NEAS is also working closely with Big Local, an initiative funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and managed by Local Trust, to improve the quality of life in communities.

According to recent research by Newcastle University, around one in 57 children in the UK is diagnosed as autistic, and our CEO believes that investing in local services will pay significant dividends.

Big Local will lease part of Kiora Hall, and the investment

by NEAS will include a gym, complete with changing areas and showers, being restored. A new reception area will be added, and drainage improved so a grassed play area can be accessible all year round.

“More and more children are being identified as being autistic and neurodiverse, with demand for specialist support from parents growing all the time,” he said.

It is hoped the building work can be completed by late autumn, with the first of 35 children being accommodated in the New Year.

Our CEO added:

“This is part of a major expansion of our services across the wider region and we have enjoyed tremendous support from Redcar and Stockton local authorities, and their planning teams, in progressing our plans.

“The councils are doing their best to provide good quality education for autistic and neurodiverse children, and it is a privilege to be part of a drive to raise standards and bring our wealth of experience to bear.”

“By investing strategically in support and preventative services, as well as educating children closer to their families and communities, millions of pounds can be saved.”

NEAS has also created a specialist department, called Employment Futures, to support autistic and neurodiverse people – as well as employers – in overcoming the barriers to employment.

We are also recruiting for teaching assistants and care workers as our expansion takes shape.

“People don’t need previous experience in the care industry to join us because all the necessary training is provided,” said Mr Phillipson. “We would also welcome discussions with potential partners who would like to help us on our journey.”

Find out more about our current vacancies at ne-as.org.uk/careers

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Autism Acceptance Highlights

Sunderland Echo partnership

Acceptance Matters Conference With more than 500 delegates spanning the globe, world-class speakers and hosts, our very first virtual conference had us lost for words. Not only was it part of our campaign for autism acceptance and so required something of each of us, but we chose to learn from our incredible panel of autistic guests, we were entrusted not only with their knowledge but also their personal stories and experiences.

Speakers included: Kieran Rose - The Autistic Advocate, Jodie Smitten, Quinn Dexter, Dr Chloe Farhara and Monique Botha.

Landmark Illumination We announced it in 2018 and we’ve kept our word ever since – no more blue for autism awareness. Instead, we set a new standard, a GOLD standard for Autism Acceptance. We set about getting as many North-east landmarks bathed in gold as possible. Mission accomplished! Throughout the week we saw the Northern Spire Bridge, Penshaw Monument, Keel Square, Market Square, Seaburn Lighthouse, Fulwell Mill, Newcastle Civic Centre, Middlesbrough Centre Square Fountains, Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Stockton Town Hall, High Street fountains and columns, Riverside and Newport Bridge, Redcar Beacon and Darlington Town Clock! light up gold!

We partnered with the Sunderland Echo for a ground-breaking special edition of the paper. NEAS’ own Ashley Jones, Quality Manager for our Employment Futures department, was appointed as the first autistic guest editor. Speaking about the opportunity, Ashley said: “I am really grateful for the opportunity to be guest editor of a paper like the Sunderland Echo and to raise awareness of the importance of autism acceptance. It’s a huge honour and it makes me proud.” The edition featured an eight-page supplement of photographs taken by the young people and adults we support, as well as our staff, to showcase our vital work. During the week we also had coverage in the Newcastle Chronicle and the Northern Echo and attracted attention from trade press and regional radio stations, Spark FM and Bishop FM.

New Autism Acceptance website As always, our driving aim throughout Autism Acceptance week is to help change the narrative of autism and neurodiversity. With this in mind, we launched our brand-new Autism Acceptance website packed with free resources to educate society and advocate for autism acceptance. Our Family Development team created a ‘pandemic support’ section providing valuable resources with the aim to help autistic people, families, and supporters, through these difficult times.

Around the world in seven days…

It was months in the planning, involved countless zoom meetings and piles of research, yet when we looked at just how far our Autism Acceptance campaign messages went, we were once again blown away.

From our base in the North-east we reached 66 countries including Australia, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Cayman Islands, Venezuela and Uganda! And over 300,000 of you shared and interacted with oursocial media posts.

We had the backing of our staff, supporters, the autistic community and the world.

Here’s our highlights…

Virtual Walk for Autism While in previous years we’ve all been able to gather together in Herrington Country Park, this year things looked a bit different. Although we couldn’t walk together, our message remained the same. We called on our staff, supporters, the children, young people, and adults we support to help spread a message of acceptance for all and take part in our first Virtual Walk for Autism Acceptance…

Boy did they deliver. We were blown away by how many people across our region used their daily walk to take to the streets in their Autism Acceptance merch and gold accessories!

Going underground THREE YEARS RUNNING! Our Autism Acceptance campaign once again made it all the way to London. A moment of hope and acceptance was spread to thousands who saw the board either online or in person on World Autism Acceptance Day.

Society participation Across the Society, our services donned their gold-themed garments, chased golden landmarks, decorated their homes and buildings, and held parties to celebrate Autism Acceptance Week, as part of our Going for Gold campaign!

During the week we launched a new initiative for all staff across our services, the Autism Acceptance Award. The award celebrates the commitment we’ve made to embedding positive language and imagery into everyday aspects of our work.

It acknowledges the move from older inherently negative terminology (deficits, disorders, can’t do) to our newer, evolving acceptance-centric language (Autism in neutral terms as part of an understanding of neurodiversity) – something many of us are doing already and many more are working towards. We look

We need to talk about masking We spoke to Kieran Rose, who is part of our Autism and Neurodiversity Think Tank, about his recent study on masking, and why it’s an issue we should all be aware of.

At the North East Autism Society, we are committed to listening to and being informed by the very people we exist to serve, which is why we set up our Autism and Neurodiversity Think Tank in 2019.

our vision, Kieran – who was diagnosed autistic as an adult - also runs his own training and consultancy business and recently co-authored his first academic study.

The Think Tank, which is made up of autistic and/ or neurodivergent adults, has previously consulted the Board of Trustees and Senior Management on the likes of recruitment and induction training, language and, crucially, our policy around Positive Proactive Support.

Written in partnership with Dr Amy Pearson, who lectures in Developmental Psychology at the University of Sunderland, A Conceptual Analysis of Autistic Masking: Understanding the Narrative of Stigma and the Illusion of Choice explores the issue of masking and the negative effects it can have on autistic individuals.

As a founding member of the Think Tank, Kieran Rose has worked closely with many of our staff, challenging our practice and working with us to ensure those we support remain at the heart of everything we do.

But, when he’s not supporting us with delivering

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Autistic masking refers to someone hiding their natural responses or behaviours, often in favour of ‘neurotypical’ responses. It could be to avoid stigma, bullying or simply to feel like they fit in, and includes persevering through sensory discomfort or scripting conversations.

“We wanted to highlight that the Mask is not something that you pick up two minutes before a social interaction, wear through it, then discard afterwards,” Kieran explains.

“It is a living, breathing projection of self, a double consciousness, an acceptable closet, a stigma driven suppression of the authentic you, that both controls and envelopes you, that both keeps you safe and harms you, that grows and develops over a life-span forcing you to dissociate from it.”

The study suggests that masking is a response to the deficit narrative – which, in simple terms, focuses on the perceived limitations and deficiencies of people, rather than their personal strengths or progress.

While Kieran also stresses the belief that it is a developmental learned response to trauma – which, he explains, non-autistic people may not recognise as trauma.

Kieran and Amy also highlight the need for further research around the different ways autism presents in different people and how this could be linked to masking, as well as looking at when masking starts (e.g., in childhood) and what makes people feel like they need to keep up the mask.

Kieran adds: “Much of what is described as Masking is observational bias and assumption born out of the privilege of existing as a non-Autistic person in a non-Autistic world … as much as you might deny the deficit model, you can’t help knowing unconsciously that Autistic people aren’t like you and judge us on that.”

The full study was published in the journal Autism in Adulthood.

What is masking?

In their study, Kieran and Amy describe masking as the “conscious or unconscious suppression of natural autistic responses, and the adoption of alternatives across a range of domains including social interaction, sensory experience, cognition, movement, and behaviour”.

Some examples of masking include making eye contact even though it makes you feel uncomfortable, imitating smiles or facial gestures, or not talking about your interests because you’re worried about what other people may think of you.

Research has suggested that masking – which is also referred to as camouflaging, compensation or adaptive morphing - may be linked to negative outcomes for autistic people, including late/missed diagnosis, mental health issues, burnout and suicidality.

You can find out more about Kieran’s work by visiting www.theautisticadvocate.com.

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Linda Conlon, Chief Executive at Life, said:

“This partnership is a great example of what can be achieved when two organisations work together. It’s been a real two-way street in terms of collaboration and learning.

Life Science Centre, in Newcastle, has become the first visitor attraction to ever receive our Gold Standard Autism Acceptance Award.

The award recognises the innovative three-year partnership between Life and NEAS which has led to improvements in the visitor experience for autistic people, as well as increasing staff’s understanding of autism and neurodiversity through on-going specialist training.

This partnership began in 2018, with families from NEAS’s community forming an advisory group to ensure that the Life Science Centre experience, from its exhibitions to its cafes, is accessible and welcoming to autistic people.

The partnership has received widespread recognition and attention and has been hailed as an example of best practice by the science centre community globally and other attractions.

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One of the things that makes this relationship unique is the collaborative approach we’ve adopted. The families have been actively involved in shaping the changes we’ve made, including prototyping and designing two major new exhibitions and developing the new programme of Sensory-friendly Sundays, dedicated quiet hours for people with autism and other sensory needs, which launched early last year.

“It’s a huge accolade to see this team effort recognised as Gold Standard – and on World Autism Day!”

Life Science Centre sets the gold standard for Autism Acceptance As part of the award, the popular Newcastle attraction has hosted a monthly science group for autistic young people, who got involved in the design of new exhibits and changes to the centre, for example changes to the flooring.

Joella, 13, is one of the young people who regularly attended the group, named E=mc2, prior to the pandemic, and mum Michelle says the difference it has made in her daughter is unbelievable.

“It has had such a huge impact, not only on Joella’s life, but also on my own,” Michelle said: “Joella has made some really strong friendships with other children in the group, and I’ve developed a really strong support network with the other mums.

“The group was just totally different to all of the other after school groups she’s been to as it was completely geared towards the children’s needs. Since starting the group, Joella’s self confidence has increased so much and she has realised that her opinion matters.

“It has just provided her with a sense of belonging and ownership, and that’s something she’s never had before.”

Kerrie Highcock, Family Development Manager at NEAS, said:

“For over 40 years, The North East Autism Society has been a leading provider of neurodiversity and autism-specific care, education, training and employment services across the North East of England.

We are thrilled to be awarding Life Science Centre with the Gold Standard in recognition of their ongoing dedication to autism acceptance and accessibility”

In the past year, Life and NEAS have shared their experiences at global online conferences in the United Kingdom, United States and Europe.

And during the pandemic, Life has created online science activities - such as stargazing and birdwatching - for NEAS to keep families entertained while home-schooling.

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Spotlight on...

Vice Principal, Mackenzie Thorpe Centre Emily Croft

Recently promoted to the role of Vice Principal, Emily Croft explains how the Society helped her to achieve her dreams.

As Vice Principal of our newest school, Emily Croft is passionate about improving the lives of autistic children and young people – but, when she joined us in 2007, she didn’t have any formal teaching qualifications.

Having graduated with a degree in textiles, Emily’s first role within the Society was as a Learning Support Assistant at one of our adult day service provisions in Sunderland.

In the 14 years since then, Emily’s career has gone from strength to strength and she credits the Society with providing the right support to help her progress through the ranks, including funding her Postgraduate Certificate in Education and QTLS award.

“My plan was always to join NEAS and get some experience as a Learning Support Assistant, and then move into teaching,” Emily says. “But I just loved the job, so I applied to be an Instructor.

“NEAS is such a nice place to work because the staff really want to be here.”

While she loved working with the adults in day services, Emily’s passion lay in education so, after completing her PGCE course, she transferred to Thornbeck College, where she spent two years as an Instructor, before progressing to the role of FE Tutor.

“I loved working at the college,” Emily says. “I’m just the type of person who thrives in a structured environment.

We even got an outstanding rating from Ofsted while I was there.”

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She adds: “The vice principal at the time also knew I had a passion for the communication side of the job. She mentored me to do some specific training and as a result I became Communication Champion for the college.”

Emily’s career trajectory didn’t end there though and, in 2018, she moved to Aycliffe School where she worked to worked with younger children, aged between four and 10.

Then, from March 2020, she helped to set up the Mackenzie Thorpe Centre – which welcomed its first cohort of students last September – and worked as a teacher, before being promoted to Vice Principal in May. “Before joining NEAS I wouldn’t have described myself as overly ambitious, but now I feel really passionate about what we do here and it’s made me want to apply myself more,” Emily adds.

“The best thing about my job is seeing the impact that NEAS has, not just on the children, but on their families too.

“It’s also really rewarding when you see children who haven’t been able to access school at all, progress and be happy to attend lessons.”

Alan says the most rewarding part of his role is helping the adults at Ashton to “achieve their goals in life” and, according to Jill, his creativity is boundless when it comes to thinking of new ways to engage and enhance the lives of the adults he works alongside.

Well done Alan!

Employee of the Quarter We’ve said it before, and we’re saying it again…

The North East Autism Society has a workforce full of superheroes!

We’re proud to announce that our Employee of the Quarter is Alan Cowell, Care Support Assistant.

For Alan, you could perhaps say he was joining the family business when he began working for the North East Autism Society in 2019, following in the footsteps of his wife and daughter who are also employed by NEAS.

“The best day for me is every day. I love my job and I have a good relationship with the adults I support and their families.” He says.

“I support one service user with woodwork within the home and recently built him a bird box. He likes to take it apart, with support from me, and whilst doing this he shows lots of positive indicators of wellbeing. I also built him a fidget board which he really enjoys, and I’ve even built one for the service my daughter manages.

“More recently I built a greenhouse at Ashton and like to get the adults involved in this.”

Alan’s dedication to the adults he supports and his ability to use skills he’s developed in previous work is the reason why we’re crowning Alan our Employee of the Quarter.

Well done Alan!

With no prior experience of working with autistic adults - having previously worked for a manufacturing company making car seats for Nissan – Alan was encouraged to apply by his family who shared their own knowledge and experiences with him.

Despite having been with the Society for less than two years, Alan has quickly become an integral part of the team at Ashton, explains registered manager Jill Clark-Elgar.

“Alan came to us with very little experience; however, he has strived to listen, learn from his mentor and his dedication to our service is outstanding,” Jill says. “He is hardworking and strives to reach the full potential of our service users.”

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Highlights of the Quarter Make sure you follow our social media pages @ NEAutismSociety to stay in The Loop about what we’re up to!

Wallingford walk route 66!

Wallingford team set themselves an ambitious target for Autism Acceptance Month of walking Route 66 (2400 miles) in 30 days in a bid to raise funds for the trip of a lifetime.

It’s a dream of the young people supported at Wallingford home to visit Disneyland Paris and the team are doing their best to raise as much money as possible to cover the costs.

The team smashed their target and walked a total of 2481 miles and raised over £2500. Well done Wallingford!

The North East Autism Society continues to grow.

These are unquestionably challenging and difficult times, but we’re proud to say the North East Autism Society continues to grow.

This quarter saw families reunite, staff rally together to get the best for the people we support and an ambitious expansion across the region as demand for our services continues to grow.

Here’s our highlights of the quarter…

Covid-19 vaccine rollout Keeping safe the children, young people and adults entrusted into our care has always been our top priority at the North East Autism Society.

And in a global pandemic even more so.

As vaccination programmes started to rollout for the most at-risk people, and those working in the care sector, we were thrilled to hear that so many of our staff and the adults we support have been vaccinated. Here’s to the light at the end of the tunnel.

Lockdown restrictions begin to ease As lockdown restrictions continue to ease, we’ve loved seeing pictures and videos of the children, young people and adults we support making new memories. Families being reunited, meet-ups with friends in the park and exploring new places, our staff have been capturing it all.

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Best Autism Acceptance week to date While our work carries on 365 days a year there’s one week every year when our region rallies together. It may have looked different, but our message remained the same.

We were blown away when we discovered our campaign had reached 28% of the world!

Our events reached new heights when we adapted and moved to virtual amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Our media coverage was once again amazing, and we partnered with the Sunderland Echo for a ground-breaking edition.

This is just the beginning.

Read our Autism Acceptance week highlights on page 8.

Ambitious expansion South of the Region A grand old building with a fascinating history is to become a new school for autistic children on Teesside. It is hoped the building work can be completed by late autumn, with the first of 35 children being accommodated in the New Year. Read more about Kiora Hall on page 6.

Charities combine efforts to benefit autistic adults NEAS has joined forces with another local charity to offer autistic adults a chance to explore their surroundings and experience the beauty of the great outdoors.

Our staff and adults joined expert guides from The Walk and Talk Trust for a five-mile hike around New Warlands Farm, at Burnhope, County Durham.

The route around the farm, which is owned by NEAS and used as a vocational training centre, was led by Walk & Talk Trust guides Keiron Young and Richard Ellis, and made use of local moors and woodland.

New support for families in South Tyneside Our Family Development team have launched new virtual autism workshops free for parents and carers in South Tyneside. The workshop titled ‘supporting your autistic child’ will be delivered once a month. Spaces are limited. For more information or to book your place email: kerrie.highcock@ne-as.org.uk or call 0191 410 9974.

Each adult received a pair of free walking boots, courtesy of the Walk & Talk Trust.

For more information on the Walk & Talk Trust, visit www.walkandtalktrust.co.uk

Partnership with Derwentside College We’ve agreed a long-term partnership with one of the Northeast’s leading colleges to help in a drive to recruit more staff.

Creating around 250 jobs across the region as demand grows for our services, we have vacancies for specialist teaching assistants and care staff as we extend our reach across the North-East.

We’ve partnered with Derwentside College, at Consett, to help fill the vacancies through a series of specialist academies.

It follows the success of a pilot last summer, with the college running a bespoke academy in education, which led to a significant number of staff recruited.

The college – rated the number one college in the North East for both Student and Employer Satisfaction by Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) – has now launched online threeweek academies for care assistants and programme support workers for NEAS.

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Care roles at

Working for the North East Autism Society is your first step towards a life-changing career.

Exciting new opportunities have arisen to join our care services across the North-east. While we value experience, it is not essential – all we ask is that you’re hard-working, willing to learn and want to make a difference to the lives of others.

www.ne-as.org.uk/careers recruitment@ne-as.org.uk

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0191 410 9974