Our aim is to offer information, support and advice to the families and carers of children and young people with additional support needs, and to the professionals working with them.
Discovering your child has additional needs can be a lonely and confusing experience, and living with this situation can throw up all kinds of questions and issues. We believe that easy access to accurate and helpful information can empower and support families and those who work with them. We aim to provide a friendly, free, confidential and fast service throughout Highland. CHIP+ offers one-stop service: instead of having to approach a range of different services for answers, we can provide a range of useful information and where necessary signpost enquirers to other appropriate services.
CHIP+ is a small registered charity (see below for details) with three full-time and one part-time member of staff. We operate from two offices in Inverness, one based at the Birnie Centre at Raigmore Hospital, and one in Lotland Street. CHIP+ is managed by a Board of Volunteer Directors representing a range of other voluntary organisations and including parent-carers. CHIP+ is funded by The Highland Council and NHS Highland and is grateful to them for their ongoing support. Funding for our Lotland Street office is received as part of the Lotland Street Voluntary Sector Fund. CHIP+ works closely with other voluntary organisations in Highland and believes that working in partnership leads to a better service for the people that use our services.
CHIP+ started in Highland in 1993, and has its roots in the Highland Voluntary Association for Children with Special Needs, an umbrella organisation which was the voice for families lobbying for better services. It realised that parents of children with disabilities were crying out for information which was not readily available. CHIP was therefore set up specifically to meet this need in the Highlands.
CHIP provided a central point for collecting and disseminating information to families with children with special needs and also, importantly, to the professionals working with them. Often families mistakenly assume that if information relevant to their need is available it will be provided by "someone". Sometimes families and professionals may not know about a service - and if they don't know, they cannot ask for it. The isolation and remoteness experienced by many families in this area accentuate the need for readily available, accessible and accurate information. CHIP was therefore initially set up as a telephone helpline though postal queries and personal callers were equally welcome. Initially the helpline was available 9 hours a week, and this gradually expanded to today’s 3 full-time and 1 part-time staff.
CHIP not only responded to direct enquiries but also disseminated information widely through the circulation of a newsletter (3000 copies now printed quarterly), through the production and distribution of Parent Information Packs and through the CHIP website.
CHIP also has been increasingly involved as a valued part of the training programmes for medical and other professionals and has facilitated several conferences in Highland for national organisations.
It became increasingly clear that families require a one-stop-shop holistic service providing information, advice and support on all aspects of their children’s lives. CHIP+ therefore continues to provide all the services of CHIP and, in addition, offers support and advice to children, families and professionals. Support has largely been given in relation to Education through assistance in the preparation for meetings and through CHIP+ staff attending meetings with parents, providing moral support, taking notes and ensuring that points that families wish to make are not forgotten. With the new Additional Support for Learning Act this role has increased significantly and we have worked closely with the Additional Support Needs Team to produce information leaflets for parents. In addition we have presented seminars about the Act to parents throughout the Highlands. With this new Act our remit has widened to cover all children with Additional Support Needs not just those with disabilities.
CHIP+ still produces the quarterly newsletter, the much-valued parent information pack and updates the web site regularly. A transition booklet for young people with learning disabilities has been published in collaboration with the Highland Council and has recently been extensively updated. CHIP+ also worked with the Scottish Society for Autism to produce an Autism-specific information pack with the approval of the Autism Project Management Team. An information pack for families who have a child with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) was developed in 2005 and one for teachers in 2006.
CHIP+ also has an extensive lending library containing books and videos for both adults and children which is very well used.
As part of the development of CHIP+ as a one stop information service, the informal links CHIP+ had with all the other relevant children’s voluntary organisations has been formalized through the election of a Board of Directors consisting mainly of members of those organisations.
The whole service, as always, is completely confidential and free of charge.
Charity No: SC024835
Company Nos: 241635