Training to support parents of autistic children

Are you interested in training to become an Autism Parent Support Facilitator?

Surrey are looking to re-establish our cygnet training offer for parents, in partnership with Autism Outreach for Schools (AOFS).

We are looking for practitioners to deliver Cygnet programs, including lead facilitators who will be able to train further professionals. Cygnet is targeted at parents of children from ages 5 to 18.

Who can be a Cygnet facilitator?

No particular qualification or job role is needed. We just ask that:

• You have at least three years of working with autistic children and young people and their families.
• You can commit to running one Cygnet course per year
• Some of the Cygnet courses will be delivered in-person and others on-line, some during the working day and some as twilight sessions. We are looking for a range of options to take place in each Quadrant of Surrey and therefore we can be flexible with how/ where you would like to deliver

What are the time commitments?

You will be expected to complete a learning and reflection document after attending two five-hour training sessions online over two days.

The first training dates are:

Day 1: Tuesday 26 November 9.30am to 3pm

Day 2: Thursday 28 November 9.30am to 3pm

If you cannot make these dates and are interested in the training, further dates will become available, so please get in contact.

What does my organisation get?

Running Cygnet will be useful to raise the profile of your organisation with parents and give something back to our local community. For each Cygnet course that you run, your organisation can claim £2000 for cover costs.

What if I would like to deliver cygnet to parents, but I don't want to train other facilitators?

That is fine, let us know when you register your interest, and we will contact you in early 2025 to arrange for your training. You will not need to take the 10-hour course but can shadow someone who has. Feel free to also let us know if you would prefer to train to deliver programmes for different age groups (early years or teenagers) and we will contact you when that becomes available.

How do I get involved?

Please complete the following form and return it to parenttraining@freemantles.surrey.sch.uk

Download the register of interest form (doc)

For more outline information please visit the Barnardo's website.