News and Events Newsletters Christmas Newsletter 2021 Merry Christmas!! It’s been quite a year, and I thought you’d like to hear what we’ve been up to within Say Aphasia this year. Our face-to-face drop-in groups slowly re-started in July 2021 and it has been fantastic to see people coming back. We now have 11 face-to-face groups up and running and two zoom groups! ... PEER LEADERS In May we started a Peer Leader Support group for our 14 fantastic volunteers with aphasia (and a few without) who run our drop-in groups. The Peer Leader support group is a monthly zoom group to give peer leaders the time and space to share tips and ideas for running successful drop-in groups. We’ve had six meetings to date and it has been a real pleasure getting to know everyone, and to learn from others experiences. ... GROUPS Since re-starting our face-to-face drop-in groups we’ve steadily had more and more people coming back. In September we had 73 people attend our face-to-face drop-in groups, 111 in October and 123 in November! Our zoom groups currently support 30 people, which is fantastic and has become a very important way for members from all over the country, and sometimes the world, to connect with each other. ... MEMBERS Who is a Say Aphasia member? - Someone with a communication disability who uses our services. Members are anyone who uses or has used our services. Instead of using the term 'service users' (which sounds far too hollow and impersonal), or the term 'people with aphasia', we like to use 'members', as it feels more inclusive with sense of community. We offer support to people with communication disabilities as well as aphasia, and so the term 'members' welcomes all. Do you have aphasia or a communication disability, or help someone who does? You can sign up to become a member and be the first to hear about our new projects and services to further help people with communication disabilities. CLICK HERE TO BECOME A MEMBER ... OUR FOCUS FOR 2022 Our aim for 2022 is to ask as many of our members as possible about our services, to help us understand what we are doing well, what we could do better and anything new we could be doing that we just haven’t thought of. Are you a Say Aphasia member? Do you want to tell us how we can help you? Contact Firle! ... NEW PROJECTS One new idea we’re piloting in Spring 2022 is “Zooming Great”. This 6-week programme funded by The Sussex Community Crisis Fund, Ernest Klienwort Charitable Trust and AVIVA Crowdfunding. We will explore how we can best support digitally excluded Say Aphasia members. The pilot will be in Eastbourne and will be designed and facilitated by a speech and language therapist, and local artist enabler Kate Whiteman. Using Eastbourne on-line heritage collections to inspire and explore what getting on-line can offer, as well as a knowledgeable local charity called TechResort who have agreed to share their experiences of digital inclusion. So watch this space! Have a fantastic Christmas and New Year and see you all in 2022! If you would like to donate to this project, please click the button below. DONATE TO ZOOMING GREAT ... WIN VOUCHERS FOR WINE TASTING AT BLUEBELL VINEYARD! Donate £5 to enter our raffle, for the chance to win a voucher for 2 at Bluebell vinyard! ENTER RAFFLE HERE ... Our Birthday Fundraiser Our birthday fundraiser is still open, until January 31st. So if you would like the chance to win a prize, get donating! DONATE £5 or more gets you in on the chance to win a Say Aphasia wrist band! £10 or more gets you in on the chance to win a pack of Christmas cards and a wrist band! £20 or more gets you in on the chance to win a Say Aphasia t-shirt! £50 or more gets you in on the chance to win a Say Aphasia t-shirt, Christmas cards, wrist bands and a face mask! £100 or more gets you in on the chance to win a bottle of Champagne!! ... Update from Say Aphasia Skipton group The Say Aphasia Skipton group has enjoyed meeting face to face again from October 2021. Group members were all in agreement - Zoom is great but there is nothing like meeting in person! The group has some new members! Our lovely volunteers, who joined us when we first started in 2019, have been happy to come back and help out at the Skipton drop in group again. Mark, Peer Leader at Skipton, has been busy producing a series of Zoom video interviews with group members with aphasia for the Say Aphasia website and Facebook. see the new interviews The highlight of the last few months has been the Great Skipton Santa Fun Run which took place on Sunday, 28th November 2021. We entered a team to raise funds for Say Aphasia. The weather appeared fine in the morning but soon turned into a snowy, wintry landscape when everyone set off. We nearly froze on the way but the end result was worth it as we raised over £600 for Say Aphasia. Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas everyone and we look forward to welcoming everyone back at Skipton in the new year. - Caroline and Mark in Skipton ... Our New Trustee We are happy to introduce Kate our new Trustee! ... "Hi everyone, I am Kate Swinburn. I have just become a trustee of Say Aphasia. I am a Speech & Language Therapist; in the NHS for 10 years (in hospitals & in the community) and at Connect – training / publications / policy work - all alongside people with aphasia. Since 2013, I’ve done paid freelance work– for universities and charities. I’ve also enjoy doing voluntary work. I’ve supported vulnerable people attending court, and parents who are struggling with young kids, and I’ve advised local health services. I knew at 16 that I wanted to work with people with aphasia (& other communication disabilities). And now I’m really excited to be asked to work with Say Aphasia. Say Aphasia is a young charity, with dedicated leaders and committed members. I hope I can help build on this fantastic foundation and build a stronger, sustainable future. I live between London and Bath. I am married with 3 grown up kids and a very beautiful Labrador called Gertie. Research at City University of London Do you want to take part in a new study to help families have conversations again? City University of London are looking for people with aphasia, and family members of people with aphasia who live in London, Derbyshire, or Yorkshire. We are waiting for ethical approval, but we are confident this study will go ahead in Spring 2022. If you want to know more, or you want to register your interest, please contact a member of our team, Dr Madeline Cruice: email [email protected] Click here to contact City University ... University College London We have a long term relationship with UCL's Cognition and Grammar Lab, where our Trustee Colin contributes to their steering committee to help develop their project. They are currently developing a sentence therapy for aphasia. To learn more click here ... February Brighton Half Marathon Are you signing up?! Click here to see how you can get a free place ... Our star artist Chris who attends our drop in group in Hove has been continuously practising his landscape and nature paintings. Everyone loves them, so upon request, he brings his new art in to show the group. ... If you would like to be mentioned in our next newsletter, or would like to nominate someone (a friend, carer or someone with aphasia) to be mentioned, then please get in contact. We can write about what you have been doing to help with recovery or to help live with aphasia, and any achievements. Contact us Our top fundraiser Howard who attends the groups in Hove, Woodingdean and Crawley has been raising money for Say Aphasia with his amazing Christmas decoration display in his front garden! To learn more and donate click here ... CLICK HERE FOR OUR LATEST PRESS Manage Cookie Preferences