Starbucks Wolstanton

Founded and artistically directed by renowned Circus Showman Phillip Gandey, Circus Starr draws on the highest quality circus talent from around the globe in a carefully produced performance created with the needs of our different audience in mind. We promote social inclusion and corporate responsibility by encouraging local businesses in the towns we tour to support. In this way we generate the funds to give away £1.3 million worth of tickets which we then allocate through a network of local special need schools and support agencies. The shows are the highlight of many of these families’ social calendars as they struggle to find other activities they can participate in as a family. We provide a safe, welcoming and accepting environment where families facing all sorts of challenges can escape into a world where anything is possible. Over the years we've seen first-hand the power Circus Starr has to transform lives and breakdown barriers. For example Harry is a cheeky 4-year-old who loves his baby sister, Aubrey, and is the apple of his mum and dad’s eye. Last year when Harry attended our circus panto he was going through the diagnosis process for autism. His sensory processing issues, fear of crowds and difficulty concentrating made family days out near impossible. His mum Hannah told us, “We went to a pantomime the year before at Christmas and it was disastrous! So, I was a bit apprehensive about taking Harry to the Circus Starr panto. When we arrived, Harry was running up and down the aisle and through the chairs unable to settle but no one batted an eye. If other places were this relaxed we wouldn’t have a problem!” The show really captured Harry’s imagination. He re-enacted scenes in his living room to his family for months afterwards and he even said he would like to join the circus. “It gave me more confidence that if a show like this could hold his attention for so long there will definitely be other things that he can do as well. We didn’t feel judged and Harry could really relax.” Harry has since received his full autism diagnosis as well as a diagnosis of focal epilepsy. Mum Hannah admits both diagnoses have come as a relief: “Harry needed that confirmation to allow him the support for the rest of his life should he need it. We are so proud of him and hope that with both diagnosis things can only get better for him and for all of us as a family!” When we asked if they’d like tickets to see the winter show again in 2018, Hannah told us Harry was elated and said "Can we go right now?”

Beds for Kids is our new campaign to ensure that the 24 babies we have waiting for cots, and the 88 children we have waiting for beds, have their own safe place to sleep in before Christmas. The vulnerable families that Alice charity supports consider beds a luxury, not an essential, which is hard to believe isn’t it? Who can believe that we have children sleeping on the floor within our communities in Stoke and Newcastle, or sharing a bed with several siblings… it’s obscene and we want to do our bit to improve the situation.

Primary Role of Centre. The centre will aim to get Veterans sleeping rough off the streets of North Staffordshire and provide emergency accommodation whilst supporting in gaining their own homes. The centre will also support Veterans living within the North Staffordshire area struggling due to time served fighting for their country and will also offer support for families including children on who the impact of living with a Veteran with such issues can be extremely detrimental. The Centre aims to provide a Three step recovery and support process for veterans and their families. It is important to understand that we support the person and not a condition. One of the biggest problems with the clinical model today is the restrictions placed on therapists, doctors and anyone involved with mental health system, is that they can only aim to treat a condition. You may "say well is that not the whole idea" and if it was a broken leg, a wound such as a cut, certain illnesses then I would agree, but these are actual physical problems, mental health is different and in Western medicine there is still a very Newtonian view in relation to mental health and approaches to treatment and support. Complex PTSD is chronic but our current clinical system can really only deal with a more standard PTSD, this meaning a singular event that has happened to someone and that traumatic event is causing distress in the persons life. More complex PTSD is different and can be seen as problems that may have happened in early years which later leads to people dealing with life's stresses later on in life, or and in conjunction with prolonged exposure to trauma style environments of which the person changes aspects of their core beliefs of which modifies the thought process in order to compensate. it is only seen later on in life when the person is not faced with such environments and or they start to slow down and not be as energetic and thus not burning off a lot of anxiety and frustration that the cognitive problems then manifest. Recovery is more about acceptance and rebuilding and learning the tools that help you lead a more happier life and this involves the person as a whole. It also includes helping loved ones to understand and how they may best support the person. Once again current systems very rarely involve family or loved ones, they are kept outside and in the cold, yet these are the people that will make the biggest impacts on a persons recovery.