Helping neurodivergent children and young people to thrive

Colin Lang MBE is Chair of Trustees for the new Thrive Autism charity, which aims to create Norfolk’s first dedicated Autism Centre. Here, the former police officer explains how the charity was borne out of having two neurodivergent grandchildren

Who are you and what do you do?

I am Colin Lang MBE and I am the Chair of trustees for the new Norfolk charity Thrive Autism.

What has led you to founding Thrive Autism as a charity? What is your background?

I am from a policing background with 32 years’ service in Norfolk Police. The last 10 years of service I was seconded out into the community working alongside many groups and charities. When I left the service, it was a natural way to go into the charity sector. I have been CEO in three Norfolk charities and senior posts in many others. Thrive Autism has come about as I have two neurodivergent grandchildren. I have watched my daughter fight against a broken system and felt I needed to use my experience to help young people (0-25) families and their carers.

As Chair, what will your role involve?

I already have a great board of trustees, and we are currently meeting very regularly to make this all work. As chair I organise the meetings and ensure that we include and cover all the things we need to cover without digressing from the agenda. I am also working daily at the moment to bring our offerings to life and working on the plans for the building ready for the capital launch.

What is the charity’s purpose? Who is it aimed at and what area will it cover?

The purpose and aim is to support families, young people, and carers. We will do this by offering the chance to get early diagnosis, enjoy respite care as a family within Norfolk holiday venues, run coffee and cake session throughout the area for parents to listen to guest speakers and enjoy company of other parents in the same position and finally to offer therapy sessions for parents, carers and young people. The area we will cover is Norfolk and Waveney.

Is there a positive message behind the name of the charity?

Thrive is a word that is used a lot in the neurodivergent world and it’s because we want children to thrive. At the moment the system that is in place that is supposed to help them is broken and, in my opinion, does the complete opposite.

What can you tell us about the state-of-the-art Autism Centre?

We have already reached out to the neurodivergent world and asked, ‘if we built this what do you want in the building?’ We had a great response from all members of this community and after looking at the answers we plan to build a state of the art building to include soft play, sensory room, projection room, quiet room, teen room, training kitchen along with a café, wet room, training rooms, therapy rooms, sensory garden , forest school and the list goes on.

Has the charity launched? And is the charity about to become registered?

We are in soft launch mode at the moment with an all singing and dancing launch due in the new year. We are keen to raise funding to support our offerings first and then launch the capital appeal for the building in the new year. The charity received its registered status on the 10th of October this year.

Where can people find out more about Thrive Autism – and support it?

Our website launched this week and the address is thrive-autism.org. We will also be on social media platforms to promote what we are doing. Now, we would be very keen to hear from people who would like to volunteer alongside us, and any people or companies that would like to support us with fundraising.

Visit Thrive Autism.

Featured image of Colin Lang MBE – supplied