Accessibility Info

We are committed to creating an environment that is both accessible and inclusive to young people. Here’s how we ensure that:

Non-Judgemental

We know that you may be worried about accessing support around drugs and alcohol as you are worried about the stigma. We actively work hard to reduce any stigma and we are here to support you.

Young People-centred

We design our service with the needs and preferences of young people. We actively seek your feedback and make amendments to the service from these.

Safe Spaces

We meet you in a space you feel comfortable and where you are free from discrimination. We also meet you at a time which is convenient for you.

Participation

This service is voluntary, which means that it’s your choice if you want to work with us. We also encourage you to voice your ideas and any concerns through our young people advisory groups, online surveys and 1-2-1 with your worker.

We are also committed to making our website accessible to allow a range of young people to access support for substance misuse. All our images have alternative text and videos have subtitling. We have also tried to structure our pages to best support screen reader use and make our website text as simple as possible to understand.

If you find any non-accessible content or have suggestions on how we can make our website accessible to a wider audience, we would love to hear from you.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility:

Researching with disabled users
Reduce the number of PDF’s we use on the website
Exploring accessibility add On’s

AbilityNet has a range of simple ‘how to’ guides to make your device easer to use. This includes how to make text larger, changing website colours and using speech recognition - Simple 'how to' guides to make your device easier to use | My Computer My Way (abilitynet.org.uk)

The Matthew Project pledges to continue helping children and young people flourish. For our pledge this year we

will create and develop opportunities for young people in our service to have a direct link to our Board of Trustees.

This will enable our service users to influence and help shape what we do through co-design and production. This gives young people a voice, enabling them to develop their knowledge and skills which will benefit them throughout their lives.

In 2023, we received the best news that we won the Safe and Secure Flourish Award. This award was for outstanding contribution towards keeping children and young people safe from harm.

In 2024, our senior practitioner in the Unity team, Zee was nominated for a Flourish Award and has been judged as Highly Commended in the Healthy Award Category. This is for outstanding contribution towards helping children and young people understand decisions that impact their health and be empowered to lead their happiest and healthiest lives.

Thank you to young people we work with who inspire us every day and work hard with us to overcome barriers to reach their goals.