As a foundation, we started to support KIM last night, providing funding for an area that has been sadly lacking in terms of support, and that is neurodivergence in teenage girls and young women. The funding we provided enabled research to be carried out for 6 months to look at the needs of these teenage girls and young women and how best they can be supported to not only keep them safe, but to give them a voice, and the support to enable them to shine in life. The research project highlighted such a significant need and specific support requirements, different to teenage boys and young men, that our trustees unanimously agreed to further funding to pay for a full-time support worker to launch this service across Flintshire, Wrexham and Denbighshire, as a starting point.
We were very proud to join Amy Gray, Director of Operations at KIM, and Hannah Carrington, who will be leading this new service, for filming with BBC Wales last week, to launch this incredible new support service.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cmjm6d17ndro
So, to talk about the importance of this service and the difference it will make, Amy Gray explains further.
KIM is a long established, award-winning community-based charity, working across Flintshire, Wrexham and Denbighshire, supporting people to improve their mental health, and life opportunities, through increasing their skills, knowledge and self-confidence.
KIM has seen an increasing number of neurodivergent girls and women being referred for support with their mental health difficulties and, following a six-month research project in 2023, funded by The Neumark Foundation, has now developed a service to address the specific challenges experienced by these young women and their families.
Despite an increasing awareness of how Neurodevelopmental conditions often present in and impact females, there is very little provision available in terms of supporting the girls themselves, or their families. The research strongly indicated that the presentations of Autism and ADHD in girls and young women continues to be overlooked by statutory services, as they often appear different to the stereotypes associated with presentations in boys and men. This is leading to a delay in diagnosis, and in the meantime, this lack of validation and support is exacerbating the mental health issues experienced by ND girls. In itself this is very concerning, but in addition, even once a diagnosis has been made, there is very little aftercare available.
The lack of recognition, and appropriate support, is leading to high levels of distress, low self-esteem, self-harming behaviours, inability to attend school or college, difficulties with relationships and in some cases, suicide attempts.
The increased vulnerability of Neurodivergent girls, due to their cognitive and social communication differences, is also an area of significant concern, when considering the higher rates of abuse experienced by neurodivergent people, when compared to their neurotypical peers, and the impact of this upon neurodivergent females in particular.
In April 2024, using the findings of KIM’s direct research with ND girls, and the organisation’s experience of working with older ND women, along with further funding of £32,000 from The Neumark Foundation to cover the salary of a Full Time Specialist Support Worker, a new responsive service, that will support girls and young women, before, during, and beyond the diagnostic process, will be launched across Flintshire, Wrexham and Denbighshire. The service will work with girls, and their families, to provide vital support, through increasing understanding of neurodivergence and individually exploring some of the specific challenges these girls face, with the aim of improving the mental health outcomes for the girls and young women this service will support.
The research project identified that young women and their families are distressed, feeling unheard and misunderstood. They feel overwhelmed and don’t know which way to turn. When they do reach out for support, they often find themselves in the middle of overwhelming systems they don’t understand or generic support provision where the knowledge and experience is lacking to support the needs of these girls. Therefore, in addition to KIM’s direct work, supporting the mental health of ND girls, this new service aims to ensure that families understand the processes in which they may find themselves involved. It will also offer practical advice about how to overcome challenges by exploring different parenting approaches and possible adaptations to the home, school and work environments. Guidance will also be given to ensure that the girls and their families are aware of financial assistance and other routes of support to which they may be entitled. KIM itself is made up of a neurodivergent team, which includes staff with a breadth of lived experience as ND individuals themselves, and as parents of ND young people.
“We are failing girls and young women by not seeing who they are, by not giving them an opportunity to learn about themselves and how their brains work. The co-occurring mental health difficulties experienced by ND girls is something that must be addressed as the impact of ignoring this can be catastrophic.
When we begin to understand ourselves, with support, we can start to identify what might help, what might keep us well emotionally, and so, by supporting young women to develop a positive Neurodivergent identity, we hope that we can avoid the detrimental impact upon the self-esteem and mental health of these girls. We want to support them to increase their understanding of themselves, to overcome barriers and identify the strengths of their unique neurodivergent brains. Through last year’s research, we heard from many ND girls and their families about the challenges that they face and KIM is so appreciative that the Neumark Foundation has chosen to continue to fund us to do this much-needed work through a project tailored specifically in response to what the girls and their families have told us that they need. As a social worker, I understand that statutory services are overwhelmed and that there is very little specific training in this area, so I would like to highlight that if any professionals are working with teenage girls and young women within our geographical area, where neurodivergence is a possibility, please get in touch. Also, for families in our area, who are thinking that Neurodivergence may be a consideration for their girls, who may well be at the end of their tether, not knowing which way to turn, worrying about the mental health and emotional wellbeing of their girls, please contact us directly. You don’t need to be working with any other services to get a referral, just get in touch for a chat and we’ll see what we can do to help.”
Annie Donovan – CEO at KIM Inspire
“Through personal and professional experiences, I am aware of so many people connected with young girls and women, for who Neurodivergence is, or may be a consideration, but have no idea where to turn. It was a privilege for us to fund the research into this service, knowing how great the need is, but how little has been done to provide support specifically for girls and young women, and it is fantastic that from that research, KIM are now able to take the next step and put this research into practice with the launch of this service for Flintshire, Wrexham and Denbighshire. We would love to see this initiative leading to further support development, maybe creating a template for similar initiatives in other areas, across the whole of North Wales and beyond. A huge well done to Amy and the team at KIM, we can’t wait to see the difference this new service will make.”
Rebecca Neumark – CEO at The Neumark Foundation
“I thank KIM Inspire for their timely research on this key issue, and The Neumark Foundation for supporting this research. I also congratulate KIM Inspire on launching a service to specifically support neurodiverse (ND) teenage girls and young women, and thank The Neumark Foundation for continuing their support with this new service too.
Mark Isherwood – North Wales Member of The Senedd, and Chair of the Senedd’s Cross-Party Autism
My own casework confirms that there is a particular issue in North East Wales with girls and young women presenting with Autism and\or ADHD continuing to be overlooked, misunderstood and even blamed by statutory services, with too many suffering consequential mental health problems triggered by inappropriate responses and misinterpretation of what, for neurodiverse people, are natural behaviours.
Neurodevelopmental conditions are covered by the 2010 Equality Act, requiring understanding of – and adjustments for – people known or believed to have lifelong neurodevelopmental conditions, including ADHD and Autism Spectrum Conditions.
It is therefore incumbent on Public Services to establish and adjust to an Autistic person’s communication, sensory and processing needs, recognise the causes of an Autistic persons heightened anxiety and therefore avoid treating the Autistic person as the problem.
Unfortunately, the failure to do this makes KIM Inspire’s research and service provision in this area so necessary”.
If you would like to contact KIM Inspire for more information on this new service or to find out more about all of the support they provide, just go to https://kim-inspire.org.uk