Vitiligo schools project receives lottery funding
Last year the Vitiligo Society launched it’s first Schools Resource Pack, aimed at supporting children under the age of 12 year old at school. We recognised that it can be overwhelming sending a child to school, into a new environment where they may be asked questions about their vitiligo and appearance.
In response to this we took the latest information about vitiligo, and with the help of a number of parents and teachers, created a number of free resources to help support children at school.
The Vitiligo Society School Support Pack (launched in 2022) provides information and guidance to help schools give the best possible support to your child, including:
- Guidance for Teachers – helping teachers understand how to support a child with vitiligo
- ‘About Vitiligo’ Schools Presentation – helping explain to young people what vitiligo is
- Vitiligo Reading List – lots of stories and useful books for all ages
- An email Welcome Series, helping to signpost you to articles, information and services aimed at supporting parents of children with vitiligo.
The School pack has has been downloaded over 200 times since it’s release, and we have received some incredible feedback from parents and teachers.
We are now delighted to share that The National Lottery Community Fund have awarded us a small grant to help continue this work and produce a new pack aimed at supporting children between the ages of 12-18.
This funding will allow us to raise awareness of the resources with parents, young people and schools as well as produce some videography to the new accompany packs.
By expanding the project we believe the work will enable us to:
- Strengthen the support network around young people, by creating awareness about vitiligo and minimising the psychosocial effects of living with a visible difference
- Provide early awareness and intervention for young people who may not be aware that they have the condition – something that it crucial to more effective treatment of the condition
- Support in the development of coping mechanisms from a young age, building confidence in children to talk about their differences
We hope the new packs and videography will be available by the end of March 2024.
You can download our current schools pack by visiting: https://vitiligosociety.org/schoolspack/
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