This month we thought we would introduce you to some of the amazing charity work carried out by three members of the Babacool community, Susanna Mateu, Angela Gaughan and Caroline Goodchild. These three ladies along with a team of other volunteers run the award-winning charity, Potential Kids.

Potential Kids is a small charity in Hertfordshire, England that provides social, learning and sports opportunities to neurodiverse children & young people (Autism, ADHD, Tourette Syndrome, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia..) and their families. They offer after-school and weekend activity sessions such as Minecraft, judo, football, play and computer coding for neurodiverse young people. The sessions are held in a safe environment where the young people can be understood, accepted, meet others like themselves and develop social & communication skills. Parents and carers are also given the opportunity to meet, relax, find support and partake in sessions targeted at their well-being, mental health and so on.

Alex and I have been fortunate enough to be able to contribute to this wonderful charity over recent years, providing gong baths, Qigong and Yoga sessions for the parents and carers. Susanna Mateu writes:

“In the past, Suzanne and Alex have run successful wellbeing sessions (Taichi Qigong, Breathing Meditation & Gongs) for our parent/carers which have been very a great success and a fantastic way for the charity to support their mental health. Caring for disabled children can take its toll on these parents’ mental health and we’re always grateful for Babacool’s support to ease that burden.

Since the lockdown started, we realised our parent/carers would need extra support to look after themselves so we asked Suzanne to run an online weekly Yoga & Relaxation class for us. It’s lovely to be able to offer this class to our parents so they can recharge their batteries at least once a week. The class is also available online afterwards which is great because this way more of our parent/carers can access it when it’s convenient for them.”

And lockdown hasn’t stopped the Potential Kids team. Earlier this year they opened Potential To Grow, turning part of the car park at the Galleria, Hatfield, into a community and learning garden. Designed to help children from Potential Kids to develop social & communication skills, reduce social isolation and learn about nature & the environment, nutrition and sustainability. The garden is also available to the wider community and is intended to benefit mental health and social connection.

For more information about this wonderful charity, to donate or to volunteer, visit their website www.potentialkids.org.