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Take our Summer Survey!
Everything we do at CLAPA starts with you and the UK cleft community. This annual survey is designed to give us a ‘snapshot’ of your needs, priorities and concerns so we can focus our limited resources where they’ll make the biggest difference.
By completing this survey, you can have your say on what CLAPA does in 2022 and beyond!
Under 18? We have a separate dedicated survey for you and we'd love to hear from you as we plan our future children and young people's services. Click here to complete it!
In This Newsletter:
World Smile Day
Upcoming Events
Katie's Tractor Run
Speech@Home Launch
Claudia, Cerys, Izzy and Lucy Reunite
World Smile Day
Get ready for World Smile Day on Friday 1st October!
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This year's World Smile Day theme is 'Acts of Kindness' and it will be a brilliant chance to celebrate the UK cleft community while raising funds in support of our vital services.⠀
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We're very excited about our World Smile Day plans for this year, and all will be revealed soon. Keep an eye out for more information coming soon!
Coming Up: Events at CLAPA
Coffee Club: Early Years Surgery
Join us on Monday 4th October at 7pm for our next CLAPA Coffee Club, on the topic of 'Early Years Surgery'!
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You'll hear from other parents and carers about their experiences, and this session will be a brilliant opportunity to chat through any worries, questions or concerns you might have about your child's first surgeries or anything else related to this topic.⠀
Employment Webinar
We're excited to announce the first session in our new series of employment webinars for adults born with a cleft, led by adults born with a cleft. This session on Tuesday 5th October at 7.30pm will focus on CV writing and job applications. Send in your questions ahead of the event here!
Creative CLAPA
We're pleased to launch the first of our series of Creative CLAPA sessions, led by CLAPA Volunteer and artist, Katie! Join us on Monday 11th October at 4.30pm for a pattern, line and colour workshop for parents/carers and children.
Mental Health Q & A
To mark World Mental Health Day 2021, we'll be joined by Cleft Team Clinical Psychologists, Dr Catharine Shipley and Dr Georgina Knott, on Monday 11th October at 7pm.
Bring your questions about cleft and mental health and join the Facebook live discussion!
CLAPA Cafe
Wwe're pleased to launch CLAPA Cafe: safe discussion spaces on various topics for adults aged 18 - 25! Our first Adults' Cafe on Saturday 16th October at 10am will be on the topic of 'Returning to surgery and decision making around further treatment.'
We've got a page on our website with information about attending events at CLAPA, going through the different kinds of events we run and what you can expect from each one. Click below to check it out!
Speech@Home
You're invited to the launch of Speech@Home, a new online resource to help children with cleft-related speech issues.
There are two courses available for parents and carers:
- A 2-hour introductory course where you can learn more about speech therapy for cleft. This may be particularly helpful if your child is on a waiting list for speech therapy, or if they are already having therapy and you'd like to learn more about the process.
- An in-depth training course for parents and carers who want to take a more direct role in delivering speech therapy with their child under the supervision of a speech therapist. This could be helpful if you are having difficulties accessing regular speech therapy.
Find out more at one of the 30-minute launch webinars taking place on Wednesday 29th September at 9 AM, 1 PM or 6 PM.
At the launch, you'll hear from a Speech and Language Therapist, a teaching assistant and a parent who will tell you about their experience of using Speech@Home. You'll also get to see examples of speech therapy programmes and resources available, and have the chance to ask any questions.
Katie's Tractor Run
'When our daughter Mia was born with a microform cleft lip, cleft palate and cleft alveolus we decided that we would like to help other families affected by cleft.⠀
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'We had never heard about CLAPA until we had Mia and wondered what we could do to help. We decided that we would get together with some friends and family and organise a charity tractor run during the May bank holiday to raise funds for CLAPA.⠀
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'We had an amazing time and people kept asking what are you doing next? We then decided to do a Family Fun Day. Both events were so much fun and the support and generosity was overwhelming. So far this year we have raised £7,295 for CLAPA and are looking forward to raising more in the future!'⠀
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A HUGE thank you to Katie and her family for their phenomenal support! As a small charity, we rely on our incredible fundraisers and donors to keep delivering our vital services. Could you help? Head to our website to find out how you can get involved!
CYPC members reunite!
Our brilliant Children and Young People's Council (CYPC) don't just help CLAPA improve our services, it's also a great chance for young people to meet others going through similar experiences, build confidence, and make friends.
Recently some of our previous CYPC members, Claudia, Cerys, Izzy and Lucy, met up for the first time in 2 years!
They said, 'We have been trying to meet up for ages and we ended up meeting in Birmingham and going for lunch. We went to a restaurant and went around Birmingham shopping. We had a good catch up and talked about upcoming things in our lives, both cleft related and non-cleft related. We talked about university, A levels, lockdown and what is upcoming in our futures. It was so nice to meet everyone again after almost 2 years and just have fun together!'
We were so happy to see this, and to know that the CYPC played a huge part in bringing these four friends together!
Can you help?
Do you live in or near London and have some free time on Sunday 3rd October? We'd love your help at our London Marathon cheer station!
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Please email fundraising@clapa.com if you'd like more information!
Need to Talk?
Wherever you are on your cleft journey and whatever you're going through, you're not alone. With CLAPA's Peer and Parent Support Service, you can chat to a trained volunteer about whatever's on your mind.
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Read our Privacy Policy to find out more about how we collect, store, and use your information. You can also get in touch at any time at info@clapa.com or call 020 7833 4883 if you have any questions or concerns.
