Event will offer hope to parents of children with neurological conditions

Melvyn Joyce and daughter Ella.The Family Hope Center, an organisation that works with families whose children have a range of neurological conditions and brain injury, is holding “an interactive presentation for parents and professionals” in Bradley Stoke on Thursday 9th June. The event will take place from 1pm to 4pm at The West of England MS Therapy Centre (on Wheatfield Drive). The event has been organised by Melvyn Joyce, a parent who is currently following The Family Hope Center’s neuro-development programme for his daughter; he and his partner have found the Center’s exercises very beneficial.

Melvyn’s daughter Ella has “a random, non-inherited gene deletion that causes severe neurological dysfunction”. Melvyn and his wife, Claire, had been looking for a solution for their daughter’s condition when they came across The Family Hope Center, based in the USA but working with families all over the world. The Center shows parents how they can follow an individual treatment programme for their child at home.

Measurable progress

The organisation advocates a “programme-based solution that is measurable”, so that parents and carers can measure their child’s neuro-developmental progress in stages, rather than just managing symptoms on a day-to-day basis. The programme involves physical, physiological, emotional, social and nutritional treatments to target the area of weakness or injury and build new pathways in the brain.

Melvyn Joyce, who lives in north Bristol, attended one of the Center’s Parent Training Conferences last November, and says that “after only four months of implementing the programme at home for our daughter, Ella, we have seen a number of positive behavioural and developmental changes.” Melvyn says that through the programme, The Family Hope Center has successfully taken more than 3,000 children off their medication since 2002.

Local centre’s support

The Family Hope Center presents 'Your Child's Brain' at the West of England MS Therapy Centre, Bradley Stoke on Thursday 9th June 2016.When Melvyn learnt that the organisation aims to extend its reach to the UK, he expressed his interest in organising an informative event in Bristol. The West of England MS Therapy Centre showed its support for holding the event here in Bradley Stoke. Doro Pasantes at the MS Therapy Centre has said, “We are very happy to have been chosen for the Family Hope Center’s neuro-rehabilitation open house event on 9th June”. Doro points out that over the last four years, The West of England MS Therapy Centre here in Bradley Stoke has extended its therapies to “any person living with a neurological condition in the Greater Bristol area, including Fibromyalgia, Parkinson’s, stroke and ME”, and oxygen treatment is also available on site for children with neurological conditions.

The Family Hope Center’s presentation is titled “Your Child’s Brain”, and will be a three-hour interactive session in which founder and director, Matthew Newell, will begin to address the root causes of children’s neurological challenges, as well as steps to developing the brain, rather than just focussing on a child’s presenting symptoms. Melvyn Joyce told us that having hope for improving his daughter’s quality of life, rather than resigning himself to accepting her existing condition and symptoms, was very empowering.

The event is for professionals as well as carers; there will be time to ask questions, and refreshments will be provided for attendees before the presentation as well as during the break.

For more information about the event, please contact Samantha Tebb on 07816 251678. Please visit www.familyhopecenter.com for information about The Family Hope Center’s programmes.

Photo: Melvyn Joyce and daughter Ella.

This article originally appeared in the June 2016 edition of the Bradley Stoke Journal news magazine, delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to 9,500 homes in Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke and Stoke Lodge. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.

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