Supporting families of children with additional needs
We have free monthly coffee mornings in Colchester, Clacton-on-Sea, Mistley and Harwich and a specialist weekly programme available online and face-to-face in Colchester, Clacton and Harwich. In addition, we offer the programme in a video series as well as a course on navigating the SEND system. We also provide specialist support for parents who have additional needs. Our aim is to guide, advise and support you for as long as you need us.
- Understand how your child is affected by their additional needs and why they present in the way they do
- Unpick challenging behaviours and understand how to replace these with functional skills
- Explore how to improve emotional well-being and promote self-esteem
- Understand how to secure good emotional provision and how to access services for your child
- Share experiences with other parents of children with additional needs
*Please note that the MAZE Programmes are for parents only and that we cannot accommodate children*
The MAZE Group is a community group of parents of children with additional needs who provide support and information for other parents. We offer a specialist weekly programme, drop-in coffee mornings, additional workshops and a lot of online content via Facebook and our website. The website contains lots of information about what we do. This is the best place to start to learn about The MAZE Group.
Our service is only for parents and carers and any other adults affected by additional needs. We don’t offer a service for children, but we can provide information for you about other local organisations that we collaborate with who can offer services for children.
Our coffee mornings are free. These are hosted by Colchester Parent Support Group (in Colchester) and North Tendring Parent Support Group (in Harwich and Mistley).
The online content and videos are also free.
The MAZE Parenting Programme and SEND Programme are fully funded by the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group for North East Essex. This means we can offer our groups free of charge but must prioritise those parents whose GP surgeries are located within North East Essex.
Although we do need to prioritise parents in North East Essex we will try, where possible, to offer places. Where this is not possible, we will signpost you to other resources you can access
To book a place on any of our Programmes, please complete the online booking forms found under each separate tab. We will contact you within 7 days of completing to let you know when we will next be able to offer you a place. If you have any trouble with this, you can also give us a call on 07809900161.
No, you can come whenever you need to. The MAZE Group is for parents/carers who have children with additional needs whatever these may be and many children have additional needs but no diagnosis. Just because a child doesn’t (yet) have a diagnosis, it doesn’t mean they don’t have additional needs and we believe that the sooner parents are able to access help and support the better this is for children, parents and families.
You are always welcome to come to any of our coffee mornings at any time. Here, you can speak to one of The MAZE Group team or the visiting professionals who often attend for free, confidential advice. We can also help you to meet and chat with other parents/carers in the same situation as yourself or someone else who has been through these experiences who can share their knowledge with you.
There are also a number of videos that you may find useful on the website (in the News, Videos and Resources section) and if you follow and like the MAZE Groups Facebook page, this will also provide you with a lot of useful information to help you on your journey.