Teletherapy Support and Services Available During Covid 19

We are supporting children, young people and families with our telehealth services as well as with face to face appointments.  Services include assessments, therapies, consultations and specialist parent coaching to support children with additional needs at home.

Resources and support can be found on our Facebook page. This includes recorded events, new events, interactive live videos, Q & A sessions, webinars and resources.Many of the Starjumpz team have contributed to the theme we have run on supporting children and young people with anxiety.

  • Sensory processing and anxiety with Anya Kennedy and Jo Brett
  • Communication and anxiety with Liz Van Graan Speech and Language Therapist
  • Anxiety from a functional medicine perspective with Dr Liz Corcoran
  • Practical play therapy session with Peet Naude and Jo Brett to support children with anxiety
  • Special diets and nutrition for neurodevelopmental conditions with Abir Hamza Goodacre Clinical Nutritionist

Special Offer on Functional Medicine and Nutritional Therapy 

15% off consultations.  With children at home now is a great time to make diet and lifestyle changes to improve physical and mental health, behaviour, mood and sleep and to optimise learning and function, as well as to protect the immune system.

 

Functional Medicine at Starjumpz

New Functional Medicine Service at Starjumpz

Dr Elizabeth Corcoran – nee Elliott MBBS iBScPsy MRCPsych IFM member  

Functional Medicine is now one of the many ground breaking services on offer at Starjumpz, a centre of excellence in Crowborough that helps children and young people with learning, developmental and behavioural challenges.

Dr Corcoran (nee Elliott), Dr Liz (to her patients) has a passion for empowering people to restore their health through changing how they interact with their world. Through her own and family members’ struggles with health she was led to Functional Medicine. She graduated Royal Free University College London in 2005 and MRCPsych training in psychiatry. She has pursued further education with the Institute of Functional Medicine as a means to ‘come alongside’ her patients to help them make changes and improve their health. She also runs the only UK charity focused on medical research helping people with Down’s syndrome.

Returning to her medical foundations she is utilising the powerful tools of Functional Medicine to help people get well and reduce the risk of chronic disease in their future.

What is Functional Medicine?

Functional medicine addresses the whole person, not just an isolated set of symptoms and can help children and families achieve better physical and mental health through tailored advice on nutrition and lifestyle.   Research has broaden our understanding of areas such as the gut-brain link and how our emotional health can affect our physical health- Functional medicine brings all this together and treats us as unique whole individuals.

The relationship between core clinical imbalances and disease.

As the graphic illustrates, a diagnosis can be the result of more than one cause. For example, obesity can be caused by many different factors, including inflammation. Likewise, a cause such as inflammation may lead to a number of different diagnoses, including obesity. The precise manifestation of each cause depends on the individual’s genes, environment, and lifestyle, and only treatments that address the right cause will have lasting benefit beyond symptom suppression.

It has long been known that lifestyle interventions are key to reducing chronic disease as sole interventions, i.e. exercise or diet alone.  Now the first retrospective cohort study of the functional medicine model, Cleveland Clinic researchers found that functional medicine was associated with improvements in health-related quality of life. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open.  This demonstrates the power of combining interventions and working in a personalised way with patient as the driver of change.

Hallmarks of a Functional Medicine approach include:

  1. Patient-centred care. The focus of functional medicine is on patient-centred care, promoting health as a positive vitality, beyond just the absence of disease.
  1. An integrative, science-based healthcare approach. Functional Medicine practitioners look “upstream” to consider the complex web of interactions in the patient’s history, physiology, and lifestyle that can lead to illness. The unique genetic makeup of each patient is considered, along with both internal (mind, body and spirit) and external (physical and social environment) factors that affect total functioning.
  1. Integrating best medical practices creating a focus on prevention through nutrition, diet, and exercise; use of the latest laboratory testing and other diagnostic techniques; and prescribed combinations of drugs and/or botanical medicines, supplements, therapeutic diets, detoxification programs, or stress-management techniques and psychotherapy.

Watch the whole talk from Dr Liz and Abir Hamza-Goodacre our Nutritional Therapist here.

To find out more about out Functional Medicine clinic email us at info@starjumpz.com

Starjumpz expands into stunning new premises in Crowborough

Starjumpz Children's Centre The Old Saw Mill

Starjumpz Children’s Centre
The Old Saw Mill

Starjumpz is excited to announce its expansion into  a stunning new centre in Crowborough. Set in beautiful countryside the centre will enable Starjumpz to offer a new range of services including services from our medical experts, Dr Georgie Siggers,  Consultant Paediatrician, Dr Daniel Goyal,  Environmental Physician and Dr Raj Nandi, Audio Vestibular Consultant.

New services will be announced soon and will include social communication skills groups and summer holiday intensive therapy programmes.

The view from Starjumpz Children's Centre

The view from Starjumpz Children’s Centre

 

Starjumpz benefit from Acorn Stairlifts generosity

A recent move into a larger premises provided more space for Starjumpz Children’s Centre to support local children and families with conditions such as autism, dyspraxia, ADHD and learning difficulties as well as physical difficulties including cerebral palsy. The larger space allows Starjumpz to hold events to help train parents and teachers on the best practices to support their children – but no lift access meant the centre’s upper floor facilities were not easily accessible for those physically less able.

Jo Brett, occupational therapist and director at Starjumpz, said: “Starjumpz is about making children feel more independent by providing them with the facilities and confidence to overcome challenges. Thanks to the stairlift donation from Acorn Stairlifts, children who are not able to use stairs independently are now able to access therapy services’.

“With the stairlift in place, the centre’s facilities are fully accessible for everyone. Starjumpz is now able to offer it’s holistic range of services and support to more children and families.”

The centre has an expanding team of professionals specialising in paediatrics who support the children on a daily basis.

“I can’t thank Acorn Stairlifts enough for their kind donation – it’s opened up a world of possibilities for our offering here at Starjumpz Children’s Centre, and to see the children gain back a sense of independence when using the stairlift is just wonderful,” added Jo.

NEW Starjumpz Club starts January 2015

Starjumpz is launching The Starjumpz Club in the new year.

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/tunbridge-wells/news/new-childrens-club-to-open-28632/

Offering occupational and behavioural therapy on a group basis to children who face sensory, co-ordination and social skill challenges.

The group is available to children aged five – 12, living with ASD, ADHD, Aspergers, Sensory Processing Disorder, developmental delay, social, communication or behavioural difficulties.

The objective of the ten week programme is to enhance social interaction, attention spans, motor and language skills, as well as helping to improve self-esteem of those involved.

Starjumpz hopes to attract children who are home schooled. The centre has seen a rise in the number of children attending the centre who are due to their personal challenges making school life difficult, overwhelming and in some cases unbearable.

Commencing on January, 14 the weekly sessions taking place on Wednesdays from 09.30 – 11.30 will be run by the Starjumpz’s Behavioural Therapist, Athene Burdge, as well as an Occupational Therapist and assistant.

Using a variety of renowned techniques and practices  their focus will be on sensory and social skill development and supporting and improving the children’s adaptive behaviour.

Director of Starjumpz, Jo Brett said: “We have a very progressive approach at the centre. Individual therapies has always been the main focus for us, but by talking to parents, we could really see how group therapies could also benefit children.

“If they are also being home educated, then it is a great environment for them to mix with same aged children with similar issues.”

For more info call 01892 510 257

Neurofeedback treatment for ADHD at Starjumpz featured on ITV news

Neurofeedback treatment for ADHD at Starjumpz featured as lead story on ITVMeridian news. Ella a 10 year old with ADHD has made exciting progress following this treatment. Her mother Caroline, who did not want to use medication as a treatment for Ella, has reported improvements in her concentration, emotional maturity, sleep, tics and her headaches have stopped. She also reported that Ella can now walk to school down country lanes which previously would have been impossible.

Joanna Brett Director of Starjumpz 
  Starjumpz neuro
Starjumpz interview
 Starjumpz play
Ella having Neurofeedback treatment at Starjumpz

Ella having Neurofeedback treatment at Starjumpz

Why Neurofeedback? Jo Buttle Educational Psychologist at Starjumpz.

As an Educational Psychologist, working with children and young people with a range of conditions, including for example ADHD, ASD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and anxiety, I explored the range of supports and interventions available. My research led me to discover Neurofeedback, a technique increasingly used in America to treat a wide variety of difficulties and symptoms in children and adults. Neurofeedback supports brain regulation. ASD, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and anxiety and indeed the majority of the symptoms associated with most physiological and mental conditions, may be considered the result of some form of brain disregulation. Neurofeedback is a safe, effective and lasting alternative to medication in the treatment of many of the symptoms associated with brain disregulation. Whilst medication treats the chemical imbalances associated with physiological and mental conditions, Neurofeedback treats the bioelectrical functioning of the brain. Training the brain to self-regulate for optimal brain function enhances the function of the central nervous system thus improving mental performance, emotional control and physiological stability. Improving self-regulation and improving brain functioning will thus often reduce the need for medication. In addition to reducing the need for medication, improving brain functioning and self-regulation can provide a longer term solution.

Ella & Nashreen Issa, ITV at Starjumpz

Ella & Nashreen Issa, ITV at Starjumpz

What is Neurofeedback?

Neurofeedback trains the brain to function more efficiently. Problems of brain disregulation, which ADHD is often considered to be, are treated by teaching the brain to self-regulate and to function better.

How does it work?

Brain activity is measured by Electroencephalography (EEG) which records tiny electrical signals. This assesses how well the brain is performing. Using advanced technology, this information is analysed and fed back to the brain via a video game. This helps determine which brain wave frequencies need to be encouraged (increased) and which need to be discouraged (decreased). When the brain is working well, it is rewarded, for example, by the game becoming, faster, louder or bigger. When the brain is not working well the reverse occurs. Through this system of positive reinforcement, the brain learns to adjust to optimal brain functioning. The brain is an extremely complex organ and does this increasingly easily and automatically over time. All that is required is for the individual to relax, respond to the feedback and practice over a number of sessions. The recommended number of sessions is 20 and this generally provides sufficient training for the brain to automatically continue to self-regulate effectively.

Starjumpz in the news: ‘Brain centre offers brave boy a new lifeline’

http://www.courier.co.uk/Tunbridge-Wells-brain-centre-offers-brave-boy-new/story-22820637-detail/story.html

 6824611-largeA miracle child from Ireland who suffered catastrophic brain damage has travelled to Tunbridge Wells to attend a state-of-the-art therapy session to help him in his recovery.

Three-year-old Jude Miley from Dublin has been in Tunbridge Wells with his parents Ann-Louise and Greville for the last two weeks at Starjumpz Children’s Centre to have combined speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and Neurofeedback treatment.

The centre, based at Speldhurst Place, offers ground-breaking services and treatments to children with learning, developmental and behavioural challenges and staff have been working with Jude to help him build his motor and linguistic skills

Jude was six-months-old when complications occurred during a two day corrective surgery when doctors found his diaphragm was pushing the wrong way.

He flat lined for 50 minutes before being resusitated, which deprived his brain of oxygen and it was later discovered through an MRI scan that the entire brain, apart from the brain stem, had been affected.

Had the brain stem been affected, then Jude would have been ‘locked-in’. His family were them told he would not survive but he fought and later breathed on his own when taken off ventilation.

Mrs Miley praised the work of the staff at the Tunbridge Wells centre.

She said: “It’s been fantastic to see Jude’s response to the therapies offered at Starjumpz. We came here because of the Neurofeedback the centre can offer combined with the other therapies he needs. He’s responded well to the Neurofeedback, which we’re convinced has made him more restful at night and more amenable during the day, helping his concentration for learning. We are so grateful to all at Starjumpz and plan another trip back here in six months’ time.”

Neurofeedback is a natural treatment which utilises the brain’s own learning ability and neuroplasticity to train the brain to regulate itself better.

6824610-large

Jude has been to treatment centres across the world since his brain injury including the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago- widely regarded as the world’s leading brain-injury rehab unit.

Director of Starjumpz Joanna Brett said a team of experts including educational psychologist and neurofeedback practitioner Joanne Buttle and consultant Paediatrician Dr. Georgie Siggers had been working with Jude and said the youngster had made great improvements.

She said: “It has been exciting to witness first-hand the progress he has made in only two weeks.

“Jude came to us with five to ten words, he now has in excess of sixty and is combining two to three words.

“He is showing interest in pencil skills, copying lines, building blocks, completing puzzles and using special scissors to snip paper, all of which he could not do before.

“He is more confident with motor skills and his sensory processing is improving. He was sensitive to vestibular input, being afraid to go on swings. Now he is starting to enjoy this activity which is improving his balance and spatial awareness.”

Starjumpz is hosting an Open Evening on October 2 from 7 – 9.30pm. The event is open to parents, teachers and health professionals who would like to learn more about its services including Neurofeedback.

For more information, visit www.starjumpz.com or call 01892 510 257.

Read more: http://www.courier.co.uk/Tunbridge-Wells-brain-centre-offers-brave-boy-new/story-22820637-detail/story.html#ixzz3BkAygMxp
Read more at http://www.courier.co.uk/Tunbridge-Wells-brain-centre-offers-brave-boy-new/story-22820637-detail/story.html#VofRWbEWBqy9IB5Q.99

BBC South East – Integrated Listening Systems therapy at Starjumpz and how it can help children with Autism

Pioneering Approaches to Transform Children’s Lives Conference

Parents, Teachers & Health Professionals book now for Pioneering Approaches to Transform Children’s Lives conference on Friday May 17th. This event is bringing together internationally renowned experts from the USA and UK including Dr Lucy Miller author of Sensational Kids and founder of the Sensory Processing Foundation and Dr Goyal of Sincere Health. The programme will address learning difficulties from multiple angles from what is going on inside the child’s body, to how to enable the child to overcome their difficulties and accelerate their learning, development and well being. You will get the chance to meet and learn from people working with and supporting children by visiting our exhibition as well as finding out about new resources.

Teachers and Health professionals don’t miss the oportunity to attend Integrated Practitioner Training and Latest & Greatest in Treatment of Sensory Processing Disorder. From May 13th.

AND you can join us for a free talk on The Integrated Listening System, Monday 13th May 6.30pm to 8pm with US Occupational Therapist from iLs.

For more details on our 2013 annual conference and to book your attendance please see www.starjumpz.eventbrite.co.uk

Teachers and health professionals

Since its launch conference in 2012, Starjumpz annual conference will continue to address what is new and exciting in the treatment of children with learning and development disorders, bringing in experts from a variety of fields to discuss their experience and recommendations.

Website, hosted and maintained by Madison Web Solutions