UNITY Community Base

Unity Community Base provides activities to suit the interests, hobbies and aspirations of young adults with complex learning disabilities, inspiring people to reach optimal levels of self-care skills and independence.

The base is located at Teams. Young adults with disabilities 'touch base' with the service on a morning and receive personalised support to fulfil their potential and showcase their talents, helping them to be influential in their local community.

We can support people to fulfil their aspirations in sports including angling, athletics, boccia, cycling, football and swimming; enabling people to become fitter, make new friends, improve confidence and have opportunities to showcase their sporting talent.

Our service users have been selected by Great Britain to represent their country at the 2019 Special Olympics World Championships in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. and won over 90 medals at National Special Olympics competitions. They have also won competitions for 'Angling 4 All' sporting club in regional and national angling competitions.

We provide excellent opportunities for young adults with disabilities to have fun by doing physically active and energetic activities. Canoeing, mountain biking, snowboarding, skiing, rock climbing, go-karting, power boating, and paddle boarding are many of the thrilling pursuits delivered by Unity.

We support people to be the very best they can be, developing their skills to become independent. People regularly access the Central Library, developing their multi-media and literacy skills.

With a link to the GATES employment service and 'Next Steps' enterprises, we support people to achieve a high quality of life by securing volunteering roles (for example running the Saltwell Park Almond Pavilion and supporting Edberts House) and paid employment. The Unity team are highly skilled in rebound therapy, Lego therapy, travel training, Autism, Positive Behaviour Support (PBS), and total communication approaches including Makaton and British Sign Language (BSL).

Eligibility criteria:

Gateshead residents over 18 years old who have a learning disability, physical disability, Autism and / or a mental health condition. The service is only available after an assessment of need. Referrals must be made through our Adult Social Care service.