Aspens’ mission is to provide high quality care and support to individuals on the autism spectrum and with learning disabilities; meeting their needs and aspirations and empowering them to learn and grow through an integrated network of services across the South-East.

We provide support and care to children, families and adults across Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Brighton and Hove and the London Borough of Bexley. Our services include registered care homes, supported living, community outreach, day services, children and young people’s groups and support, and family specialist support, as well as our national Live Chat helpline service. 

How we help

Children and young people’s services

Aspens provides care and support to children and young people with a range of disabilities, those on the autism spectrum, and those with complex needs from the age of 8 through to 25, in Brighton, Sussex and Bexley. We support children and young people to develop the skills required to become independent and confident young people.

We do this through Ofsted registered children’s residential care providing overnight stays, after-school and Saturday clubs, community groups for children and teens, holiday activity programmes, a buddy scheme, sibling support groups and family fun days.

Read more here.

Adult services

Aspens offers a wide range of services for adults with learning disabilities, on the autism spectrum and those with complex needs using a holistic, person-centred approach. We encourage all the adults we care for to participate and fully engage in the broad variety of activities that we run, challenging perceptions that might prevent them from realising their full potential.

Depending on the needs of the individual being supported, Aspens offers everything from day services, to supported living and outreach services to residential care. We also specialise in training and pathways to employment.

Our adult services are based in Kent, Bexley and Sussex and over the next few years we hope to offer our services in more areas across the South East.

Read more here.

Family and specialist support

We help families in Brighton and East and West Sussex to care more confidently for children and young people on the autism spectrum and with learning disabilities and complex needs. We strive to increase understanding, challenge perceptions and encourage acceptance. We offer support to family members, including parents, siblings, grandparents or friends of someone with a disability, of any age.

Aspens’ Specialist Support Services are a comprehensive, professional, high-quality positive behaviour support provision for parents and carers of children and young people on the autism spectrum and with related conditions who demonstrate behaviours of concern. We know that all behaviour, including the most challenging behaviour, happens for a reason.

These services operate in Brighton and East and West Sussex where our experts and support staff work hard to assess the reasons for a person’s behaviour, and create a clear, structured plan of action to help them flourish.

Read more here.

Positive behaviour support

As a member of the British Institute of Learning Disabilities, Aspens believes that to improve the quality of life, independence and autonomy of the people we support, Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) must be a cornerstone of our ethos and values. PBS is a framework for understanding and supporting those that are vulnerable to displaying
behaviours that concern, enabling us to enhance all areas of an individual’s life.

Aspens’ PBS team is made up of Specialists, Leads and Support Workers. It is the PBS Specialist’s job to communicate effectively with staff, implement strategies, assess and analyse behaviours and provide insight into how we at Aspens can improve the quality of life of the people we support across all our services.

Read more here. 

The impact our work has

The highly personalised support and care Aspens provides is time-consuming and intensive, using a great deal of staff expertise, but the impact is immeasurable and the results life-changing. 

The graphic below shows the impact of our work during the year 2020-2021. 

Read our full Annual Impact Report for 2020-2021.