About this time last year we were contacted by Maverick TV, makers of Channel 4’s new series ‘Born Naughty?’ who were seeking our help with Honey, a 9 year old girl who had severe anxiety issues.  Libby Hill, one of ‘Born Naughty?’s panel of experts, had tried to assess Honey in a library setting but the unfamiliarity of the place and the people had caused Honey to become extremely anxious and destructive, and it took 45 minutes to calm her sufficiently for Libby to begin her assessment.  Libby, who runs Smalltalk Speech and Language Therapy  based in Uttoxeter, is well known to us and is a stalwart supporter of Nature and Nurture.

She recognised Honey’s ‘meltdowns’ were routed in anxiety, and thought Sunshine Barn would be the perfect place to carry out the second part of her assessment given that its in the countryside and has been designed to be a cosy, low-stress environment for anxious, troubled or traumatised children and young people to be offered therapy in.  The fact that we also have a number of animals, including our trained therapy dog, Tilly, also influenced Libby as she knew how much Honey loved animals and thought they would help her to relax.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Episode One, featuring Honey, was aired last night at 8pm.  Tilly (although sadly not shown on the programme) accompanied Honey throughout her assessment, and her presence was instrumental in helping Honey relax sufficiently to engage with Libby.  The difference in Honey’s behaviour when she came here for the day, compared to when she had been to the library, was striking.  It was a wonderful endorsement for our model, and proves that our approach of offering therapy in a relaxed, child-friendly environment enables challenging children to be reached more effectively than seeing them in other types of settings.

You can see Honey at Sunshine Barn here, at 28:59 and read Libby’s blog post about our collaborative work with her and how she assessed Honey below

http://www.smarttalkersblog.com/2015/05/honey-channel-4-born-naughty-programme-1.html

Honey was formally diagnosed with ASD and Pathological Demand Avoidance, and is now receiving expert support and schooling appropriate to her needs.  We are delighted that we were able to play a small part in helping Honey and her family, and are grateful to Libby for highlighting our work.

We’re delighted with our new sign at the doorway to Sunshine Barn, just in case anyone was in any doubt about where they were.

The sign has been produced by Dianna Lee of  Artywood, beautifuly hand painted onto a very stylish black slate. We think it looks fabulous!

 

We have exciting news to share! Nature and Nurture has been awarded a substantial grant under the Big Lottery’s “Awards for All’ scheme, for a project to pilot our innovative approach to providing therapy. The money will be used to offer an assessment and up to 8 sessions of therapy to a number of local children and young people – in fact the first child has already started their therapy with us. We are so grateful to the Big Lottery for this grant, and look forward to sharing the results of the pilot in due course.

Pictured below are Frances Weston and Jane Stretton, with the plaque now on display in Sunshine Barn

We’re delighted to announce that Waitrose in Ashbourne have chosen to support us through their ‘Community Matters’ initiative, for the month of February. So do pop your green tokens into our box if you’re shopping there this month – thank you!

Many thanks to the Ashbourne News Telegraph for coming out to see us and writing this piece about Nature and Nurture on their business page – http://www.ashbournenewstelegraph.co.uk/News/Village-barn-opens-up-for-two-rural-business-ventures-20131025174322.htm