Masquer‑Aid: Building Confidence, Community and Self‑Advocacy

“We are literally grassroots talking to parents day in, day out, talking to kids, seeing them all the time and adapting as they come in the room and overcome their anxieties”.

What is Masquer-Aid?

Masquer-Aid is a 12-week course for young people aged 11 to 24-years old who either have, or are waiting for, a formal neurodivergent diagnosis. An expert team lead the groups with sessions on things like brain development, how to advocate for themselves and supporting them to build a community of their peers.

Building Trust

“It’s quite normal for a lot of the younger people not to want to leave the car, not to come into the building… if Cara* wasn’t coming out the door and speaking to the mum and speaking to the kid in the car, they wouldn’t come in at all”.

The passion and dedication to the project the team has is vital to ensure neurodivergent young people feel comfortable and build trust with their youth worker or project lead. By opening up that relationship, young people feel more open about coming in to a new place and can enjoy new experiences;

“Very few of them bound in to the group, we had [a young person] who was completely selectively mute, texted everything to the youth workers, everything went through her phone. By the end of Week 11, she was answering the phone and could talk to [the youth worker] verbally”.

Flexibility & Special Interests

Throughout the 12 weeks, the groups are led through a number of exercises, and the team bring flexibility to the project that ensure every individual’s needs are met.

“We don’t deal with big numbers, but we really do make an impact on each individual that comes”.

Working with small groups is vital to ensure every young person is heard and recognised, and comes away with their own sense of belonging in a group. The team identify key or special interests within the groups, with amazing results. One youth worker has partnered with another local organisation to provide one young person with MMA classes and Children North East have started Table Top Role-Playing Groups (similar to Dungeons & Dragons) after seeing the appetite some of the young people in Masquer-Aid had for imagination led gaming.

Although the Masquer-Aid course lasts for 12 weeks, Children North East are dedicated to ensuring they provide ongoing support for young people where needed. Through 1-2-1 counselling and long-term drop-in groups they can ensure that support is always there for a young person when they need it. Some individuals stay with the organisation for years, continuing to meet at a Neuro Peer Support Youth Group where they talk about their diagnosis and how it affects them, creating a sense of solidarity with each other.

Self Advocacy

At its core, Masquer-Aid is a psycho-educational course, meaning it teaches individuals and their families so they can better understand and support neurodivergence, with a focus on empowering individuals. One key area of this is self-advocacy, helping individuals feel confident in understanding their diagnosis to use their voice to say what they need and make informed choices.

The team often find there is a huge gap in receiving specific information about neurodiversity, even when receiving a diagnosis;

“Why am I so exhausted all of the time? Why do I overthink things? Why this? Why do I not sleep? Why do I need melatonin? All of those things that nobody’s telling [the young person]. If they had a broken arm, that would be explained by a physician, but here there’s no one doing that”.

By teaching these young people about their diagnosis, how their brain chemistry works and different coping strategies, Masquer-Aid is enabling and empowering them to speak up in school and at home about what they need and what their neurodiversity diagnosis means for them.

One parent shared this testimony about how the support from Children North East gave her daughter the self-esteem she needed;

“The Neurodiversity Team at Children North East gave help and hope to my teenage daughter during a confusing and frightening period in her life.

Fortunately, she was offered a place at the fantastic Masquer-Aid programme for young people… these sessions normalised a diagnosis and helped my daughter feel less isolated and the education at these sessions was pitched perfectly.

Understanding and accepting an autism diagnosis when you are a teenager can be a lengthy process but the support was exceptional, assessment was thoughtful and considerate and counselling sessions were handled with respect, kindness and expertise.

Overall, it was so brilliant that my daughter was very sad when sessions came to an end. For both me and my daughter they have been a complete lifeline and we understand so much more about my daughter and we can work together much better to support her needs”

Parent of young person, aged 16.

Testimonials like this show what a huge impact the right support can have on a young person as well as their family during what can be a difficult time for both.

Future

In the future, the team aim to expand their offering to younger years, and deliver teacher training in schools to benefit more young people and enable all students to participate in their education and thrive. Even small changes in school can make a huge impact to an individual struggling with their education, and with the right training educators can make sure each pupil gets what they need to thrive.

Final Note

Masquer-Aid offers more than just an educational course, it provides an opportunity for consistent support at a time when young people need it most. For some who take part, it is the first time they feel seen and heard, and really understand their diagnosis. The impact of this goes beyond the sessions themselves; increased confidence and coping strategies better equips the young people to manage challenges at school, home and in their personal lives.

Masquer-Aid continues to prove the value of early, thoughtful intervention, helping young people navigate the world more confidently and the chance to reach their full potential.

Referral

 

*Name changed and stock image used to protect identity.