It’s been over twelve months since Autism Unlimited and The RiskSTOP Group joined forces in a rewarding corporate partnership, and what a year it’s been!
Spearheaded by Abbie (Team Leader and Neurodiversity Ambassador) and Natalie (Head of Social Responsibility and Sustainability) from RiskSTOP, the partnership was first established with the aim to celebrate and further support and consolidate the Group’s internal neurodiversity initiatives whilst also benefiting our mission to empower and support autistic people.
A year on, we believe we have achieved all this and more. Let’s take a look back at all the work we’ve accomplished together so far.
July - August 2024
An initial email from The RiskSTOP Group lands in our inbox and the rest - as they say - is history! On meeting we agree to build a focused vision for our work together. As our organisational values are virtually identical, this helps in making our partnership a perfect match.
September - October 2024
Abbie and Natalie join us for a tour around the educational services that we provide. Introductions to colleagues at Portfield School, Sixth Form and Futures are all made for future collaborative opportunities. Team members, students and learners proudly show our visitors around.
Our partnership begins in earnest with a generous show of support from RiskSTOP – a £1,000 donation towards the brand new E-sports suite at Portfield Sixth Form.
November 2024 - January 2025
We launch our Christmas Appeal to provide early years students at Portfield School with new playground equipment. RiskSTOP share our social media posts and make a wonderful £500 donation towards the campaign!
We share bespoke information, including statistics and myth busters on neurodiversity, to share with RiskSTOP colleague’s via their intranet.
Abbie and Natalie also help Futures Learners prepare for their future with CV writing and mock interviews. They continue to provide this support throughout the year both Portfield Sixth Form and Futures.
February - March 2025
The RiskSTOP Group visit Portfield Sixth Form to deliver important online safety information to our students on Safer Internet Day.
April 2025
April is a significant month for our partnership! Sixth Form student, Ollie, and Futures Learner, Robbie, record a podcast at RiskSTOP’s media suite where they talk about their own lived experience with neurodivergence.
Autism Awareness Day also takes place in April. For the occasion, Autism Unlimited join RiskSTOP at their Dorchester office, with Brew Crew in tow. Students work hard, serving teas and coffees whilst Ollie and Robbie give a talk to and answer questions from RiskSTOP colleagues. The podcast goes live on RiskSTOP’s website.
In addition, our training team provide a webinar on Understanding Autism for nearly 70 staff members from Ardonagh, the parent company of The RiskSTOP Group! We receive wonderful feedback from many on the call.
May - June 2025
The weather was perfect for our corporate volunteering day, where volunteers from RiskSTOP and Nationwide transform Portfield School’s field and woodland area by mowing, cutting and pruning.
RiskSTOP return to Futures and also visit Sixth Form, supporting students and Learners with further employability skills.
July - August 2025
The RiskSTOP Group pull together a team of twenty employees to take part in the 2025 Dorset Plane Pull, raising money and awareness for Autism Unlimited. The wonderfully named Flight Risk team work hard to pull a 35,000kg plane 50 metres in 29.9 seconds! These amazing fundraising efforts create an amazing group experience and together the team raise £5,208, including a matched donation from Ardonagh.
RiskSTOP are keen to provide insight and assistance with our proposed gaming fundraiser, and we hope they will actively participate in the 2026 event.
September - October 2025
Invited by Abbie to apply for a grant from the Ardonagh Community Trust, we receive confirmation that our bid was successful. The Trust grants £4,935 towards outdoor gym equipment at Portfield School, which we installed during the autumn half term.
What’s next?
We’ve enjoyed a fantastic year working together with Abbie, Natalie and all at RiskSTOP and are really looking forward to what comes next!
Over the last twelve months The RiskSTOP Group has supported our students and Learners with employability skills, provided opportunities for new experiences such as public speaking and podcasts, and educated the people we support on keeping safe online.
We have been able to create opportunities to share our knowledge and expertise; invite their staff to participate in fundraising events; arranged occasions for volunteering and helping to make our students’ environments better, raised and donated £12,364… and so much more!
We are proud of everything we have achieved together, how we have supported each other to uphold the values of both the charity and RiskSTOP, and delivered our goals for the partnership.
We are all looking forward to the next twelve months and continuing this fruitful partnership!
