Touchbase Care is a community group where people with physical disabilities, learning difficulties, neurodiversity and sensory impairment are supported in:
Arts, education, access to work, recreation, health and wellbeing.
Our goals are:
To bring people who may suffer from isolation, together, in a supportive setting.
To encourage and support members with achieving personal goals. (Educational, holistic, short term and long term)
To use Arts and creativity in a therapeutic setting
To support clients in accessing events and places of interest in the wider community.
To bring other community groups together with the aim to break down social barriers and work collectively for the benefit of the wider community.
To increase opportunities for employment, work experience or voluntary opportunities
To raise disability awareness and promote disabled people’s rights.
Our Folkestone centre is on Tontine Street, in the heart of the Creative Quarter. We have a kitchen that has full disabled access so that all are able to enjoy learning to cook or baking for pleasure. There is a freshly cooked lunch available every day, as well as tea and coffee making facilities.
Our Art and Craft Studio is supported by local artists who help us to provide a wide variety of artistic activities. So whether you like to paint for relaxation, have a go at printmaking, learn a new skill such as pottery, silversmithing or dressmaking, we will endeavor to facilitate your interest.
We have the facilities to teach IT skills, Photography, Film and Animation. Please click here to see some of our film and animation projects! Every month we aim to have a trip or event e.g Lunch at a local restaurant, curry night, art galleries, picnics, quiz nights, theatre, live gigs, Kew Gardens.
We work in a person-centered way adapting to the interests of our members. Whilst accessing the service members have the opportunity to work towards ASDAN Short Courses, which are flexible, portfolio-based programs, designed to accredit up to 60 hours of activity and skills development across a range of topics and curriculum areas. There are more than 30 to choose from, including Expressive Arts, Food Wise, PSHE, Volunteering and Mathematics, to name a few.
From January 2018 we will also offer level 1 and 2 qualifications during day care with us. This will be optional and the activities are:
- flexible and can meet the needs of different learners
- supported personalised learning
- can be used in a range of contexts
- encourage a ‘pick and mix’ approach, allowing learning opportunities to be chosen for varying time frames
- are generic and can be adapted to suit any vocational interest
The three main accredited programs on offer will be;
COPE - The Certificate of Personal Effectiveness (CoPE) a flagship qualification and offers an imaginative way of accrediting young people with a wide range of enrichment and extra-curricular activities, allowing us to certificate a wide range of personal qualities, skills and achievements.
AOPE - The Award of Personal Effectiveness, is a shorter version of CoPE, carrying performance table points comparable to half a GCSE and 30 UCAS points at Level 3. AoPE is approved by Ofqual and sits within the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF).
Employability Skills Development Course - The Employability Skills Development course takes an activity-based approach to raising learners’ awareness about employer expectations and the working environment, support learners in preparation for vocational training for achieving an employability qualification, or for getting a job.