Vote for SNAPS and support children with additional needs and their families
This July, one of the incredible charities taking place in our charity poll is SNAPS, the Yorkshire based charity that provides vital therapies to children with additional needs, while supporting their whole family. They are competing in this month's charity poll, to win a donation of 20% of our profits! Find out more about this fantastic charity below, and see how your vote can support children with additional needs.
What Does SNAPS Do?
Click here to see SNAPS in action!
SNAPS (Special Needs and Parent Support) is a Yorkshire-based charitable organisation that is dedicated to helping children with disabilities and their families. They provide crucial physiotherapy for the child, fun activities for the whole family, and vital support that dramatically improves the children’s and their families’ lives. SNAPS’ aim to make the impossible possible and support families to live their best lives.
SNAPS operates out of two Specialist Inclusive Learning Centres (SILC Schools) and serves more than 180 families each month. The children benefit from hydrotherapy, rebound therapy (trampolining), and swim sessions. Additionally, they offer stay and play sessions for the whole family, including siblings, and hall activities such as Boccia (an accessible ball game), music therapy, dance classes, sing and sign classes, bespoke football sessions and sensory activities. This is a chance for the whole family to have fun and build relationships with one another and with families sharing similar circumstances. Their Family Support Project additionally provides practical and emotional support, including one-to-one and group support, wellbeing activities, walk & talk sessions, and family activities where parents/carers gain support, advice and comfort.
SNAPS provides a safe, non-judgmental space where families can interact without the need to explain their child’s disability. We know there are over 15,000 children with additional needs across Leeds alone. All SNAPS’ physiotherapy, dance, and football sessions are at maximum capacity, so they know there is a huge need for the services they provide and they aim to support as many families as they possibly can.
What Services do SNAPS Provide
Over the past year SNAPS has delivered approximately 1700 different sessions including vital physiotherapies, swimming, football and fun activities. Alongside, wellbeing and support group sessions, yoga and holiday activities for the whole family. Supporting approximately 180 families every month.
In the last year, we provided the following…
- · 341 hydrotherapy sessions
- · 204 swimming lessons
- · 174 stay and play sessions
- · 160 music lessons
- · 87 Football sessions.
- · 9 walk & talk sessions
- · 10 group support sessions
- · 2 online group sessions
- · 10 wellbeing sessions
- · 10 yoga sessions
- · 7 animal therapy sessions
- · 6 Tic tok group sessions
- · 5 holiday activities
- · 682 rebound sessions
Who Does SNAPS Help?
SNAPS supports children (0-16) with additional needs and their families. No formal diagnosis is required; everyone is welcome. Their inclusive approach rejects stereotypes and stigma and removes the expectation to mask. SNAPS address the difficulties many families face in finding spaces for the whole family. SNAPS offers children’s activities and support networks for parents and carers, many of whom are struggling.
There are over 15,000 children with additional needs in the Leeds area alone, and often these families experience many disadvantages. Despite development of SNAPS services there is still substantial demand. Currently, SNAPS supports approximately 180 families each month and sessions are at capacity with record numbers attending sites and applying for therapies. SNAPS have developed their family support and ‘stay and play' sessions so families can still access SNAPS for advice and support while waiting to access therapy sessions, but investment is needed to expand services and meet the ever-growing need.
Families accessing SNAPS often have complex and urgent support needs, and demand is extremely high, with record numbers applying for places on therapy sessions in recent months. Similar provision can be difficult for families to access elsewhere or often too expensive, so SNAPS support is crucial.
What Impact has SNAPS Had?
Feedback tells us attendance at SNAPS has a positive impact for children and families on their: physical health; pain management; mental wellbeing; feelings of isolation; stress and belonging; confidence meeting new people & playing sports; confidence in the water and happiness.
During 2023, 100% of families surveyed reported:
- · Improvements to their child’s mental health.
- · Improvement in their child’s pain management.
- · Improvement in their child’s confidence following SNAPS’ sessions.
- · Improvement in their child’s happiness following sessions.
- · 91% of families surveyed saw an improvement in their child’s physical health.
- · 63% of families surveyed saw an improvement in their feelings of isolation both as parents/carers and with their children.
- · 83% of families who have a sibling of a child with additional needs reported a significant improvement in those siblings’ feelings of happiness
- To see and hear directly from some of the families SNAPS’ supports please watch their latest video here.
How Can I Contact SNAPS?
You can get in touch with the team via email at fundraising@snapsyorkshire.org or visit the website – www.snapsyorkshire.org to find out more.
How Can I support SNAPS?
A really simple way you can help SNAPS today is by voting for them in the My favourite Voucher Codes July charity poll, it's free, it's easy and you just need to click the circle next to SNAPS.
- · Visit the My Favourite Voucher Codes homepage
- · Scroll down until you see the poll on the right-hand side (bottom of the page for mobile).
- · Click the small circle next to SNAPS to cast your vote!
If you’d like to go one step further to help SNAPS secure the win, why not share it with friends and family too? So you can make sure they get as many votes as possible. Vote, share and support a fantastic charity in two easy clicks.
You can also support SNAPS by getting involved in fundraising, volunteering, donating or attending their events. As a growing charity reliant on community support, they’d be delighted to tell you more about the impact of your support or chat about other ways to work together!
How Will The Donation Help SNAPS?
SNAPS receives no statutory funding so relies on donations from trusts, grants, businesses and the community therefore funds for activities like this are vital to SNAPS. They help the charity to maintain it’s vital services providing crucial therapies to families who otherwise may not be able to receive this type of support. Families like Fiona’s…
“We have been coming to SNAPS for six years and the whole family have got so much out of it. The children have done swimming, dance, music, football, holiday activities and the stay and play sessions. As a parent, I've also used the counselling service and the parent massages.
SNAPS is somewhere the children can just be themselves and have fun without any of us worrying about all the barriers and struggles there are with mainstream activities. It's helped the children's confidence and mental health massively and SNAPS is so important to them. It's great to be around other families with children with disabilities. Everyone "gets it" and we all support each other. The staff are amazing and it really helps knowing they are there for support. We've all made some wonderful friends and we feel incredibly lucky to have SNAPS in our lives.
The children say - we love SNAPS and we look forward to it every week."
The July charity poll is open from 1st July 2024 - 31st July 2024, so make sure to get your vote in for SNAPS today!