Autistic Teens ‘Grow For It!’ Project

A new initiative, aimed at creating better outcomes for autistic teenagers in Sefton, has proved a roaring success thanks to local funding.

The Grow For It! project, created by Autism Ventures and run from their ‘We Grow’ site in Southport, provides much-needed school holiday activities for autistic teens.

Tailored to meet autistic differences in communication, behaviour, interests, and sensory processing, its aim is to level the playing field for autistic teens by offering a programme that builds confidence, skills, independence and wellbeing.

Focussed on horticultural activities, the programme features work experience in We Grow’s market garden, learning to grow food; time on rewarding project work, such as creation of raised herb beds; wildlife garden development; outdoor cooking workshops and even time to get to know We Grow’s resident chickens!

The initial phase ran from late July 2025 up to spring 2026 and offered provision across all school holidays during the period, plus special sessions on Mischief Night, Halloween, and Bonfire Night.

The Autism Ventures team are delighted with how roll out has gone. Overall, 23 young people have benefitted directly so far, and parent surveys estimate that a further 63 people, such as other family members, also benefitted indirectly too.

Outcomes to date based on daytime participants include:

• 76% of participants experiencing a reduction in isolation
• 41% of participants rating their employability skills as increased happiness of the young people rated by parents jumping from an average score of 5.5 to 9 out of 10 following participation
• A 41% reduction in screen time being achieved
• 100% of parents saying they either ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that attendance had increased their child’s confidence.

The initial phase of the project was made possible thanks to funding through The Youth Empowerment Scheme, which was created in partnership with the Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner and Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership. Facilitated through The Community Foundation for Merseyside, the fund aims to unlock the potential of thousands of young people across the region by providing safe, positive opportunities.

Youth Empowerment Scheme funding also helped refurbish a key piece of site infrastructure – one of We Grow’s polytunnels – which is critical to activities and will ensure We Grow is in great shape to welcome future delivery phases.

Following the successful initial roll, out a further phase has now been confirmed thanks to the support of the Sefton Mental Health and Wellbeing Small and Large Grants Fund through Sefton Council and Sefton CVS.

Speaking about the success of the project so far, We Grow’s manager, Daniel Curle, said,

“We’re delighted to have been able to build on our term-time offer for young people and add school holiday provision to our offer thanks to this funding.

The progress of the young people taking part has been incredible. The team and I have seen confidence grow, new friends being made and skills being built that will support the ambitions these young people have. Meanwhile, reduced time spent online and immersion into a supportive community for our participants really adds to the protective factors they benefit from by taking part in the programme.

We can’t thank our funders enough for making this possible”

Future delivery ambitions have already been mapped out for the next 12 months and beyond. If you or your organisation are interested in funding future rounds of this exciting project, then please get in touch by emailing holly.budgen@autisminititives.org

Visit our website find out more about Autism Venture’s work.