2025-2028
We’re excited to announce that we’ve received funding for our 18-25 Retreat and Mentorship Programme. Building on last year’s retreat, join us for another 4 day retreat filled with laughter, nature, and connection.
We know that life with an upper limb difference can get challenging, and sometimes you just need to talk and be with people who just get it! That’s exactly what we’re offering!
Dates: 12-15th September 2025
Venue: The 18-25 Retreat is returning to Fountain Violet Farm in Devon
Price: FREE
If you are a young adult with an Upper Limb Difference (ULD) aged 18-25 and would like to participate.
Please note you must have a Reach membership to participate. Not a member yet? Join HERE
Want to know more of what goes on first? Read about what to expect as a participant on the retreat.
If you’re over 25 with an Upper Limb Difference (ULD) and looking to help out
Please note you must have a Reach membership to participate. Not a member yet? Join HERE
Want to know more of what you’ll be doing? Read about what to expect as a Mentor on the retreat.
I think I want to participate but I need to know more?
Building on what we learned delivering the 18-25 Retreat Pilot in 2024, our project founders are delighted to be able to extend support for Reach adults aged 18-25 years over the coming 3 years. With the support of the VTCT Foundation and the National Lottery, the programme provides an opportunity for you to connect with old friends and new, gain sustained peer support, and hopefully have a lot of fun together!
You will gain access to a 4-day Retreat for Young Adults with ULD aged 18-25. The weekend will be facilitated by 5 Mentors who also have a ULD but are a little older than you. They won’t be paid for being there, they’re there because they want to help. If you went to RAW (Reach Activity Week) it’s a bit like a grown-up version of that… If you didn’t go on RAW and/or are new to Reach, don’t worry! We want you there too!
The Mentors are there to support you for the Retreat and also after the Retreat. This could be in a one-to-one capacity or in a group setting, whichever is more comfortable. They will be there for you for 9 months, not as a counsellor, not as an advisor but as a peer mentor, to be a sounding board, to share their experience of things you may have faced like dealing with the fear of hiding your arm, going on dates, starting at university etc.
The 18-25 Retreat & Mentorship Programme is new for Reach, as a participant you can help shape and grow this project, and how Reach helps adults with ULD, as well as children. In the future, this project might lead you to get involved with Reach in other ways, maybe as a Mentor on RAW, maybe as a volunteer at a branch event or as a trainee on our Reaching Out training pathways. Or maybe you just need us right now, and that’s ok too! We’re happy to be there for you.
Participation in the retreat is completely FREE but if you are still unsure about the project and would like to know more before signing up, please contact Jenna:
Email: jennaR@reach.org.uk
Tel: 07932 747 654
I think I’d like to be a Mentor, what will I be doing?
It’s a privilege of a lifetime that I get to mentor as part of the 18-25 Retreat. It’s exactly what I would love to have experienced when I was that age. To have been among peers and around those I could learn from would have made those challenging situations that we all get at that age that little bit easier.
Reach Mentor: Tony Addison
As a mentor, you’ll coach the participants while also getting to do some fun, amazing activities. You’ll be a part of a team of 5 mentors with upper limb differences supporting young adults with issues and difficulties around navigating life with a limb difference, and often times acting as an “older sibling like” figure. This is a unique opportunity to interact and support younger adults with upper limb difference and help foster their potential in the world and create strong connections.
You will be supported in your role as a mentor and helped through the process by our Programme Coordinator, Jenna Roper. You will also receive mentoring training from Chantell Smith-Minns at New Pastures Therapies, who is herself an adult with an upper limb difference. The programme will run online every 6 weeks starting in September 2025 through to May 2025.
Participation in the retreat is completely FREE but if you are still unsure about the project and would like to know more before signing up, please contact Jenna:
Email: jennaR@reach.org.uk
Tel: 07932 747 654
Research alongside the project
Over the next 3 years Durham University are also going to help us develop and grow this project by running a much-needed independent research project alongside. There is quite a big research gap in the experience of young adults with ULD and the young adults and mentors that get involved with this project are going to help close that gap!
We hope you’re as excited as we are!
This is a fantastic opportunity to both help Reach grow while getting the support you need in a safe environment. The details once more:
Dates: 12-15th September 2025
Venue: The 18-25 Retreat is returning to Fountain Violet Farm in Devon
Price: FREE
If you are a young adult with an Upper Limb Difference (ULD) aged 18-25 and would like to participate.
If you’re over 25 with an Upper Limb Difference (ULD) and looking to help out
