Salvesen Mindroom discusses workshop at #CiSAC26

ITAKOM: It Takes All Kinds Of Minds, an interactive workshop designed, planned and led by neurodivergent young people to bring awareness and understanding.

Mindroom is an organisation founded upon lived experience that champions all forms of neurodiversity and supports all kinds of minds.

Our mission is to improve the quality of life for neurodivergent people by removing barriers, increasing opportunities and shaping a more accessible world.

Our vision is clear. We want to see a world where every mind is valued, and no one faces barriers to opportunity or belonging. To make this vision a reality, we develop and deliver programmes that focus on three core themes: Live Well, Be Seen, Be Heard.

As professionals, we are committed to removing the barriers that prevent neurodivergent children and young people from thriving. We develop new projects and services to support them, but this alone is not enough.

To create initiatives that are truly meaningful and effective, we must listen to neurodivergent children and young people and actively involve them at every stage. Their ideas, perspectives, and lived experiences should shape the entire development process. Without their voices at the centre, we risk getting it wrong and continuing to design services that don’t fully meet their needs.

Mindroom’s rights and participation service creates opportunities for neurodivergent children and young people to share their voices, ideas and lived experience in safe and supportive environments. The service supports a community of neurodivergent young people who want to lead the way to bring awareness and understanding. Together, they reflect on their rights, challenges and opportunities, and create awareness-raising activities and resources that can make a meaningful change in the lives of their peers.

The ITAKOM  workshop, created, developed and delivered by Neuropoint, our participation/advisory group for young people across Scotland aged 16 to 25, aims to help participants gain insight into the experience of neurodivergent people, to reflect on some of the challenges and barriers they might face and some simple strategies that can make a big difference and can help them to achieve their potential whilst feeling included and respected.

Workshop participants will be asked to form small groups and will receive activity cards with instructions for a simple task. The task instructions have been designed to recreate sensory challenges that neurodivergent young people might face when doing such tasks, based on input from young people.

Having experienced each task, participants will receive feedback from the members of Neuropoint. However, this feedback will be negative in character, typical of the feedback often experienced by neurodivergent young people, who again, have also informed the content of this feedback based on their lived experience. The workshop is designed to help participants reflect meaningfully on such experiences.

Each group then repeat the task they have attempted, but this time with minor changes. Participants will now benefit from support that would allow neurodivergent young people to complete such tasks effectively.

Finally, participants will reflect on the key differences between the above stages and how this can apply to their own practice.

Visit the #CiSAC26 event hub by clicking here.