Let’s have a look back at how The Faraway CIC brought the autistic community together in 2021. This year marked the opening of our flagship project, The Autism Mentor Project (soon to be succeeded by the Peer Mentor Project).

January – Post-launch

Following the official launch of The Faraway CIC in the previous month, the CIC received a lot of interest from new clients and other services looking to refer for mentoring and the range of social groups.

Since opening the door to referrals the Peer Mentors have supported autistic people to help them feel less isolated and help them to realise their own bright futures.

Click here if you or someone you know needs support with socialising, accessing the community or employment.

February – Winsby Lottery

In February the CIC was accepted by the Winsby lottery to be one of their causes for support.

In the first month of joining, they managed to get into their top causes in the Grimsby area.

Since then, the CIC have raised £364.

Click here to support the CIC by playing the Winsby lottery.

March – Creative Writing Group and Arts and Crafts Group

Creative Writing Group

The Authors with Autism project funded 12 groups specifically made to support autistic writers to bring their stories to print.

Each author from the group has since written a short story and some have even gone onto getting stories published!

Click here to check out the autistic library

Arts and Crafts Group

Throughout the year the Arts and Crafts Group has been creating amazing pieces of art.

They also Collaged self portraits for autism awareness week (we’d like to make this an annual thing- eventually working towards having our own exhibition during autism acceptance week)

Faraway Creatives Shop

The group launched their own shop on etsy. The arts group did a card designing workshop and they printed and used some of the designs in the shop.

Lucy, Autism Mentor, now manages this and has also added some of Emma's work and Rosemarie’s crafts to the online catalogue.

Follow Faraway Creatives to see even more fantastic artwork!

April – Autism acceptance month art & Self-esteem workshop

The members of the Arts and Crafts Café banded together and created stunning pieces of art to display the creativity of autistic people to celebrate Autism Acceptance month. Look at these impressive and surreal designs.

The self-esteem workshop also went live and was hosted across Zoom to support those to develop their confidence and build their self-worth.

The workshop originally lasted 6 sessions, but due to the exceeding popularity and positive reception, it continued for further weeks in a closed support group.

Chrissie, a facilitator for the Self-Esteem Workshop, said:

“It has been an absolute privilege to meet the members.

“I don’t think I have met a more considerate, authentic and creative group of people before. I have really looked forward to every evening.

“I will miss meeting up but really hope we can connect around art, music and other CIC activities.”

May – Allotment project launch & 5k May

The seeds were sewn in May for the Allotment Project. The CIC was lovingly gifted an allotment and £1000 of tools by Sector Support NEL. It has been running weekly since.

Every Saturday members learn new skills linked to gardening and agriculture in a relaxed and social environment.

Click here to find out more about the Allotment Project

June – Release of the books & shop opened

June marked the grand opening of The Faraway Shop. This is an online shop that stocks books and other products created or designed by neurodivergent artists.

The Faraway Library currently has 3 books on sale by neurodiverse authors.

• The Nuisance Child by Steven Roy Burton

A short story around a young woman that battles with hallucinations and a crippling scratch card addiction. The author wants to promote awareness of psychosis and how it can affect the lives of those that have it.

• Genloki: The Edge of Ambience by Rich Noble

Rich Noble’s epic tale of fantasy and music brought to page for fans of rock and dark fantasy to enjoy.

• Positively Negative: Putting Discouraging Thoughts to Good Use by Laurie Kennedy

4 short stories that look at negative emotions and how you can use them to create positive motivations.

The Faraway Creatives Etsy shop stocked a large range of beautiful greetings cards, jewellery and art prints.

And, possibly the best part of all this, 80% of all profits went to the creators and the remaining 20% went towards projects that support neurodiverse people.

Click here to check out the shop.

July – Creative Writing workshop with Rosemarie

Rosemarie hosted her first workshop for The Faraway CIC; a creative writing workshop that helped aspiring authors to realise and create fantastical stories.

Rosemarie said:

“While we only had four attendees at the workshop, they all enjoyed it and other people said they’d love to have come, but were working.”

August – The Heritage Project

Another great piece of work, headed by Rosemarie, to raise awareness of the rich history of neurodivergent people. This project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and will be completed in March 2022, with a display, booklet and a surprise!

From historical theory to scientific fact, Rosemarie hopes to give us a new perspective of history from the unique perspective of an autistic eye.

Get ready to look at historical figures in a new light and the turbulent history of neurodivergent people in history, science and medicine.

Click here to find out more about this project.

September – Annual Members Meeting

The Care Plus Group invited The Faraway CIC to their Annual Members meeting where the CIC set up a fantastic stall to not only share with the community what they do, but the creativity and ingenuity of the wider autistic community.

October – New staff: David, Emma, Amber

Some fresh faces appeared in October with the introduction of David, Project Manager; Emma, Peer Mentor and Allotment Lead; and Amber, Peer Support Worker.

They have since really settled into their respective roles and gone from strength to strength!

Click here to meet the team!

November – Joint contract with Matthew’s Hub

It’s official!

The Faraway CIC has always had a great partnership with Matthew’s Hub in Hull. Both organisations support a similar client-base and have very similar goals to create acceptance and accessibility to neurodiverse people.

In November, Matthew’s Hub and the CIC secured funding for a contract to support autistic people during their transitional period between pre-diagnostic and post-diagnostic. This will be fore people aged 14+ to assure that they receive the support they need.

December – Winter writing conversation & Christmas Catchup

Nearing the end of the year, The Faraway CIC hosts a winter writing competition that shares the fantastic writings of the autistic community.

The winner every year receives a video adaptation of their work in the form of a video story book.

Check out the 2021’s winning video below, featuring Kevin Scott Barker’s poem, ‘A Neurodiverse Winter’.

Even on Christmas itself, the Autism Mentors were supporting autistic people in the annual Christmas Catch-up. This time of year can be fiercely lonely for some and this group works as a way to touch base with anyone that needs someone to talk to, exchange stories and maybe enjoy a bit of Christmas cake - virtually of course!

Want to support The Faraway CIC in their delivery of projects for neurodiverse people?

Visit https://www.thefarawaycic.org/supportus to find out how you can support your autistic community today.