Welcome to Spokz People
At Spokz People we improve wellbeing for disabled people and their families through our wellbeing community & programme. We support on everything from relationships and sex to confidence and resilience.
DonateWho are we?
Spokz People CIC was established in 2009 and is a not-for-profit social enterprise. We aim to enable more disabled people and their family members to access disability-affirming psychological support. We want to reduce the stigma of discussing mental health when you or a family member are disabled. Our services are effective because of our personal understanding of disability as well as our therapist background. We are able to work in a more holistic and flexible way compared with many other services, who often have no or little disability experience. We look at both a person’s impairment and all the factors that affect their ability to be a full and equal participant in society.
Why We Started Spokz People
In 2006 Mel and Steve met. Through Steve’s work running Spokz, an online disability equipment supplier, we discovered there was a lot of attention on physical rehabilitation in the UK, but very little on the impact of living with disability every day, on wellbeing and mental health for disabled people and families. We decided to change that. We discovered how few psychological therapists are disability affirmative or have any understanding of the daily experience of living with disability and difference. Mel trained as a counsellor and went on to specialise in disability, and after that, trauma when it became clear that there are many ways trauma co-exists with disability. We also discovered that many disabled people would prefer to speak to a therapist with disability knowledge and experience. After several years we had a long waiting list for our support. We also knew that many disabled people struggled to use our 1-2-1 support services because of finances or issues getting to venues. We put out a survey and 83% of the respondents said they would benefit from a tailor-made community focussing on mental health and wellbeing when living with disability. So, in 2021, funded by the lottery, we launched our online wellbeing community and programme.
Since 2008, Spokz People have been supporting disabled adults whether acquired through accident or injury, congenital or from health conditions, pain or life-limiting illnesses. We also support family members, therapists and healthcare professionals.
Our goal is to pass on our experience to other professionals so that support with disabled clients and families is more effective. We support people with issues like identity and body image; relationships and isolation; PAs, carers and dependency; self-esteem, motivation, confidence and assertiveness; resilience, de-stressing, mindfulness and relaxation; coping with being disabled by society; loss, trauma, death and support with things like pain, fatigue, anxiety and depression.
We all have (in)direct lived experience of disability. We understand what it is like to live with disability day-to-day.
We work in all kinds of ways to best suit you. We support people with issues like identity and body image; relationships and isolation; PAs, carers and dependency; self-esteem, motivation, confidence and assertiveness; resilience, de-stressing, mindfulness and relaxation; coping with being disabled by society; loss, trauma, death and support with things like pain, fatigue, anxiety and depression…We offer holisitic therapy which includes coaching, information, psychoeducation and sometimes advocacy when necessary as well as trauma work.
Membership Not For You? Wait! You Can Also Support Us By:
- Raising Funds for free by shopping through EasyFundraising
- Volunteering? Do you have website skills or are you a disability therapist who can help run our groups? Tell us on info@spokzpeople.org.uk
- Donating- use the button on the right
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