Different Brains: Celebrating Young Londoners Who Do It Differently

If a young Londoner is 'neurodivergent' it means their brain works, learns and processes information differently to how others might expect.

A few examples of neurodiversity include Down Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, OCD and Dyslexia. It is always so important to recognise that no young Londoner has a brain that is ‘wrong’ or ‘faulty’; it might just work differently to other peoples.

Here at Safer London, we see many neurodiverse young Londoners affected by violence and exploitation because they have experienced services that do not take responsibility for their care, and as a result they end up being passed between different services with no real support network.

We believe neurodiversity doesn’t and shouldn’t stop young Londoners from doing what they want to achieve – they just need the right things put in place to help them succeed.

At Safer London, we have expert caseworkers with specialist knowledge of neurodiversity.

What does a 'typical' session with a young Londoner look like?

I like to keep the first couple sessions quite unstructured so that I can get to know them and find out their likes and dislikes. I find bringing activities along with me to these initial sessions helpful so that we can chat away without it feeling like ‘just another professionals meeting’. I often take paint pens, art equipment, play Connect Four with them, or just let them doodle while I ask them questions about themselves and find out who is important to them in their life. I try to incorporate a peer mapping exercise in these first couple sessions so that I can know who they’re talking about when they mention their family members or friends.

Once we start doing more structured session work, I find out what the specific needs are to that young Londoner and how their neurodiversity could play a part in those needs. Then, we build our sessions around those needs. So, say a young Londoner was having problems when they went to their local youth club, we would chat about ways they could keep themselves safe, how to navigate peer pressure and who they feel safe talking to if things start getting difficult.

I always include time to wrap up the session and spend time talking about what we might like to go over when we next meet, so that they feel and know that they are included in the way our sessions go.

What's the hardest/most challenging thing about your role?

Young Londoners with neurodiversity often already have a lot of professionals already present in their lives by the time I come into the mix, which makes it difficult to cut through the fog and find out what the actual issues are for that young Londoner. They might have a social worker, a SENCO, parents, foster parents, key workers, support from a housing association etc so finding where I fit in can take a bit of work. But this has real positives too! I love connecting the young Londoner’s professional network and using all our skills and resources to create the best support for that young Londoner.