LEGO® Club at Healthy Mind Centre Launceston
register your interest below FOR OUR NEXT GROUP in term 4 2024
What is LEGO® Club?
LEGO® Club is a small group program for children, led by 2 HMC facilitators trained by Clinical Psychologist Emma Langley. LEGO® Club runs for 4-8 weeks, depending on the program.
What happens at LEGO® Club?
The focus of group sessions at LEGO® Club is developing social confidence, in a structured and supportive peer group situation. Social confidence includes a broad range of interpersonal skills relating to building friendships, managing conflict, problem-solving, requesting help, communicating boundaries and limits, perspective-taking, turn-taking, leadership, understanding others, self-advocacy, and managing changes in social situations. LEGO® Club participants are supported to develop and practice these skills in real-time with their peers through a range of activities, typically based around LEGO®.
Who can attend LEGO® Club?
Participants can be children aged 7-12 years (groups include similar-age peers) who experience challenges feeling confident in social situations. Often, participants are Autistic and/or ADHDers, and most participants experience anxiety in group settings. Prior to enrolment, participants must attend an intake session with a LEGO® Club facilitator, to make sure the group is a good fit for them.
Is LEGO® Club a Social Skills Program?
Healthy Mind Centre Launceston’s LEGO® Club is not run from a deficit-based approach. This means we do not consider social challenges experienced by our group participants as “skill deficits” that require training or correction. Rather, we operate from a strength-based and neurodivergent-affirmative assumption that each participant’s neurotype is just right for them. We know that interpersonal challenges are often related to a mismatch between the person’s neurotype and their environment and/or the communication style of others around them (see the “double empathy problem”). We do not consider our group participants to be socially impaired because they do not act like their neurotypical peers, and we do not promote nor teach masking behaviours. We consider the individual goals of each child and their families, and we help participants to understand and navigate their social environments. We support the development of self-advocacy, social confidence, communication, and personal identity.
Who cannot attend LEGO® Club?
Children who are outside the group age range
Children who experience significant difficulties with emotional or behavioural self-regulation who would therefore benefit more from individualised therapy
Children with significant developmental or cognitive delays
Parents
Does my child need a referral?
No, we do not require a referral for Lego Club. Every new child to HMC is required to complete an intake session prior to the group starting.
How much does LEGO® Club cost?
LEGO® Club costs approx $141 per 90-minute session. The total cost will depend on the length of the program and is payable in full to secure your child’s place in the group. Please be aware that the full fee is non-refundable within 7 days of the group start date.
The 50-minute intake session, with both the child and parent, will be a maximum of $156.16.
Is funding available for LEGO® Club?
NDIS participants may be able to claim the cost against their NDIS plan, depending on their plan goals and funding allocation. LEGO® Club is a Capacity Building Support related to Improved Daily Living.
NDIS participants who are agency-managed will require a service agreement and service booking.
Private health insurers may offer a rebate. We recommend you check with your insurer to confirm.
Do participants need to bring their own LEGO®?
No, we have all the LEGO® they will need for the program. We ask that participants do not bring their own LEGO® or other precious items to the program to avoid any accidental breakage or sharing concerns.