COMMUNITY SERVICES
For over 35 years, we have provided high-quality bespoke respite and support services (minimum of 2 hours) to unpaid carers. Our team cares for babies, children, young people, adults and the elderly with behavioural, emotional and/or medical needs.
Crossroads Care is positioned strategically across the boroughs of Richmond and Kingston upon Thames. We work with all other voluntary and statutory services and strive to meet the needs of carers and the people they care for. This includes identifying specific ‘hidden’ and ‘hard to reach’ groups within our local community.
Our support services have never been more essential, and we have worked hard to adapt and continually risk-assess to meet local need and demand. Thanks to continued core funding from London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and local charities the Hampton Fund, Richmond Parish Lands Charity and The Barnes Fund, we are also able to provide specialist outreach and community services that help meet local demographics and need.
Our community services offer safe, supportive, confidential and specialist environments which are tailored to meet particular needs. Each group offers specialist advice, assists to develop friendships and support networks, aims to reduce social isolation and the negative impact caring has on mental and physical well-being, as well as increasing awareness and coping strategies.
Our project staff and volunteers bring a wide range of experience and knowledge to the team and specific projects. They support our organisation through our outreach community-based projects, office administration and bespoke work.
We are currently accepting new referrals for:
Saturday Club
Our Saturday Club for children with special educational needs and disabilities has been running in Hampton for more than 20 years. Our aim is to provide a safe, social and interactive environment for children and young people aged 8-18 years.
This club, which runs for 3.5 hours, provides unpaid carers (parent carers, siblings etc) with an essential break from their caring role. It allows them to spend quality time alone, take time out, attend appointments, participate in activities or spend time with their partners.
A fun, safe and stimulating environment for children and young people, the activities, which are tailored to their needs include street dance, karate (including grading) and other sports, cookery sessions, art and games as well as seasonal pantomime trips and outings.
Children and young people are able to spend time at a “club of their own” while parent carers get a break.
Funded by Richmond Foundation, Hampton Fund and The Barnes Fund.
Danielle Way
Saturday Club Lead
Crossroads Care - Where friendships are formed
Our Saturday Club Leaflet
Associated projects and programmes include:
- Young Carers with Special Needs
- The Transition Project (for young people aged 14-18 years during term time)
Our 16+ Group
Our 16+ Group for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) began in April 2023.
It was launched after staff and parents became increasingly aware that older members of our Saturday Club for 8–18-year-olds with SEND, were still very much in need of our support as they start a new journey into adulthood, with all the challenges and obstacles that come with that transition. The group for 16–21-year-olds runs every Saturday during term-time and provides a stimulating and safe space, allowing young people to continue with their favourite activities such as dance and karate classes as well as giving young carers an essential break from their caring roles.
Saturday Club Lead Danielle Way says: ‘Being given the chance to open a 16+ group is so exciting and being able to share this news with parents is even better. Over the years, parents have been consistently telling us that once their children leave school, they feel like they fall into a massive black hole – with all their usual support systems coming to an end and at a time when they need more support than ever.
‘The young people themselves also don’t want to leave the Saturday Club — and the karate classes that so many of them attend — as the club is their only safe social place to meet friends. While we provide monthly film nights for this group, we felt this just wasn’t enough.
‘As the young people move from our Saturday Club into the 16+ Group, we’ll provide continuity and continued support and help them to find their feet into adulthood.’
Danielle Way
Saturday Club Lead
Our Brand New 16+ Group
Funded by Richmond Foundation, Hampton Fund and The Barnes Fund.
Caring Café
Caring for someone with dementia can be frightening and isolating. The Caring Café (Dementia Café) has been running for more than 20 years and provides a safe and friendly environment for carers and those living with dementia to meet others, feel supported and gain information to help them in their caring role.
Our Care Support Workers are on hand to provide guidance and information. The Caring Café is a place where people with dementia, their families and friends can meet for a coffee or lunch, spend time together and share their experiences with each other.
The Caring Café is held 11.00am to 3.30pm on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month at Sheen Lane Day Centre, 74 Sheen Lane, Richmond, SW14 8LP
Since 2013, the Caring Café has been funded by the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, within the HUB service for Carers.
Carers Café
Are you a carer living locally? Join us at our friendly Carers Café. The person you are caring for and former carers are also welcome.
This relaxed space offers a safe, supportive and confidential environment to meet other carers and share experiences. It is also an opportunity to receive up-to-date information and advice from Crossroads Care staff.
Pop in for a light lunch and a chat every Thursday from 12.30pm to 2.30pm at the Hampton Hill Theatre (Playhouse), 90 High Street, Hampton Hill, TW12 1NY.
Funded by Hampton Fund, the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Active Richmond Fund and the Middlesex Province Relief Fund.
Men Who Care
Crossroads Care is positioned strategically across the boroughs of Richmond and Kingston upon Thames. We work with all other voluntary and statutory services and strive to meet the needs of carers and the people they care for. This includes identifying specific ‘hidden’ and ‘hard to reach’ groups within our local community. One of these groups is male carers.
The Men Who Care and Dads Who Care projects were developed to specifically address the health, support and care needs of this vulnerable and particularly socially isolated group. Male carers who are caring for a partner, mother or child are invited to monthly male-focused social groups which provide friendship, specialist support and activities. They also provide care and respite for the person they are caring for.
We encourage discussion and offer advice and information that can help members live socially, emotionally and physically healthier and independent lives.
The project provides:
- Respite for the person they care for
- Social breaks
- Sign-posting (information and advice)
- Support through groups, sessions or discreet and interpersonal support.
The Men Who Care and Dads Who Care projects are funded by Richmond Foundation, Hampton Fund and The Barnes Fund. The first year of Men Who Care was also funded by The Victoria Foundation.
Nicola Wilson
Operations Manager
Its Good To Talk
Our Men Who Care Leaflet
Our Dads Who Care Leaflet
Mentoring & Support Services
Specialist Mentoring Project
This project is for young people with complex needs and their families. It focuses on holistic, preventative and sustainable support interventions, working with the family as a whole. It focuses on hard-to-reach, at-risk young people who may have special educational needs, exhibit psychological distress or mental health issues and antisocial behaviours, raising concerns around engagement (within school, home, health and/or social services) and family dynamics.
This project helps these young people to navigate their futures and overcome many of the associated short to longer term challenges and obstacles, as well as supporting parent carers to feel better equipped to look after themselves and their families by way of providing specialist and appropriate intervention.
Funded by Richmond Foundation and the Hampton Fund.
Peer Support Project
Crossroads Care offers tailored individual support for carers and/or the people they care for who are experiencing mental health conditions.
We assess, develop and deliver plans of support to carers that will optimise their ability to continue caring whilst maintaining their own health and well-being.
We work closely with the Community Mental Health Transformation Programme (CMHTP), the Richmond Mind Senior Carer Peer Support Development Lead, alongside South West London & St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust (SWLSTG) as part of the Carers HUB. The aims of the project are to improve pathways and coordinated services for carers experiencing mental health issues, often as a direct result of caring.
This new model of care has been developed to help remove barriers between primary and secondary care, promoting better integration between services. The model aims to reduce waiting times and the number of people going into crisis, as well as addressing inequalities and supporting transitions as well as offering holistic/personalised care and support to patients and their carers.
Holly Crosswaite
Peer Support Worker
Funded by NHS South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
A non-profit organisation, we can offer extended respite breaks beyond our charity services and provisions through private purchasing or match funding with direct payments, and contracts from health and social care providers e.g. NHS, Continuing Care Nursing team, Adult Social Services, Achieving for Children.
