In this week's episode of The Autism Mums Podcast we welcome Karen Mason to the show.

Biography

Karen Mason grew up in Hertfordshire with five brothers and built a 35-year career with Bourne Leisure, one of the UK’s leading holiday park operators. Alongside her professional journey, she supported three neurodivergent family members and cared for her father through dementia. These personal experiences highlighted the lack of support for neurodivergent families in holiday parks. Driven to make a difference, Karen founded My Safe Place, combining her industry expertise with her passion for inclusion. Her mission is to create safe, welcoming environments for all families to enjoy accessible and stress-free holidays.

Key Takeaways

Understanding Personal Experiences: Karen Mason's journey emphasises the importance of personal experiences in shaping her understanding of neurodivergent needs and challenges.

The Importance of Inclusion: Karen's mission with My Safe Place focuses on creating inclusive environments that cater specifically to the needs of neurodivergent families.

Recognising the Need for Support: The lack of support for neurodivergent families in holiday settings highlights a significant gap in accessibility and understanding within the hospitality industry.

Creating Safe Spaces: Karen's work is dedicated to fostering safe, welcoming spaces that allow families to enjoy stress-free holidays together.

Industry Expertise Meets Compassion: Karen combines her professional background in the holiday sector with her passion for inclusion, showcasing how expertise can drive meaningful change.

Mentioned in This Episode

www.mysafeplacesouthern.co.uk

Connect with Karen

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: @mysafeplacesouthern

Instagram: @mysafeplacesouthernuk

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Transcript

Creating Inclusive Holidays for Neurodivergent Families with Karen Mason

Victoria Bennion: [00:00:00] Welcome to the podcast. Karen,

Karen Mason: Thanks.

Victoria Bennion: could you start by talking us through your journey to starting my safe place please?

Karen Mason: Yeah, sure. So I've actually worked in the park industry, holiday parks for over 35 years now, and worked in various roles operationally, managing parks, all sort of jobs. I decided about 18 months ago after an episode supporting my brother and his neurodivergent children that I wanted to pivot where I was in the business and help and encourage parks to become more inclusive when it came to neurodivergent guests.

So I literally stopped what I was doing and. Spent now researching, talking to lots of families, working with local charities, and my Safe place evolved. And here we are. We're to ready to [00:01:00] go.

Natalie Tealdi: Oh, that's brilliant. Excellent. I understand you pivoted overnight. Your business was it the experience with your nephew that was the catalyst for that?

Karen Mason: Absolutely. So my brother has three neurodivergent children that I've helped support over the years and the stress of that situation actually led to my brother being admitted to hospital 18 months ago. So I stepped in to help support the family in many different ways. And it was a conversation one day with my brother where I was saying, look you guys.

Need a holiday break. He just looked at me in disbelief, said where are we gonna go? Nowhere is geared up for us and we've tried to have two breaks on holiday parks and it failed and it was really stressful. And I just had a light bulb moment because I work in that industry and why hadn't I, it was so true that there isn't [00:02:00] accommodation that's safe and secure for neurodivergent families. There's no provision in terms of staff training, sensory areas, and I went to bed and I woke up the next day and I said to my husband, I'm setting up a new business and it's called My Safe Place, and this is what we're doing.

Natalie Tealdi: how brilliant. Yeah, I can talk from my experience really. 'cause we used to have a caravan of our own and we. He took our son, I think only a handful of times, but every time was really difficult. I think he got overexcited and it just ended up being a really stressful experience for us. And I think you've really tapped into a gap there because if they were better set up, then there'd be places to go when they're dysregulated and just having that more supportive environment, you don't feel like such an outsider.

Karen Mason: Absolutely. I've heard from so many families now I didn't realize it was such a problem actually to get [00:03:00] away. It evolved because originally I thought, okay, what can we do? Can we maybe just look at encouraging parks to maybe have a sensory room on site, and then you go one step further and think actually that's not enough.

The main feedback I had from families was accommodation that wasn't safe. They were worried about. Damage to the property. Various other things. So because I've helped design a lot of park homes in my career and I've got a strong connection with the manufacturers, I was able to go and sit with them and design a diverse, friendly unit.

Natalie Tealdi: Brilliant.

Victoria Bennion: Yeah, could you talk to us about what that looks like?

Karen Mason: Okay, so it's still slightly under wraps a little bit at the moment. However it's say the heart of it really was based around safety. So I know a lot of the parents were saying the caravan doors and windows were not lockable, and so they. [00:04:00] Children were trying to escape. That was a big issue.

Things like in the kitchen, having safety door locks, the magnetic locks on the units. And we've also designed in things like robust furniture. With rounded edges. We've got flooring that's stain resistant. So all the things that as a mother, you'd be panicking a little bit about,

Natalie Tealdi: Yeah.

Karen Mason: The safety.

And then we are going to be having, bedroom will be a purely sensory bedroom. So we'll have a safe bed in there and we'll have, a unit and various other items so that if the child is, needing to regulate you don't have to actually leave the accommodation, you can. You can just relax. And one of the main things I wanted was for the master bedroom and en suite to feel [00:05:00] comfortable and luxurious because let's face it, as parents, you need a break. You need to feel like you're at a holiday. So I didn't wanna design the unit so it looked like an accessible unit or clinical.

It still would very much suit. Young children because it's got a lot of safety measures.

Natalie Tealdi: Sounds

Victoria Bennion: I think it's, yeah. It's great that you've actually spoken to families and you've used that to inform the changes. 'cause they. Sound so well thought out.

Karen Mason: Yeah. I was really lucky as well to have worked with local charity, diverse abilities. They've been incredible. We spent some time with them talking to the staff. We actually did a photo shoot with them for our new website. So the feedback was great.

It's difficult, 'cause one size doesn't fit all. 'cause as you'll be aware, each child is so different. But I just wanted. To have some provision. 'cause something's better than nothing at all. So even if a [00:06:00] park doesn't have all of the provisions that I would like, if they maybe didn't have the accommodation but had the sensory room or a sensory garden and we did some staff training, that would be music to my ears.

Natalie Tealdi: Yeah. I think a big part of it is building that awareness, isn't it, as well, and the training's such a big part of that.

Karen Mason: Yeah, I'm actually working with a training provider who specializes in activities for neurodivergent children. Because again, on some of the larger sites where they have entertainments and activities we decided the training we needed.

Introduction to neuro diversity for seasonal staff and part-timers. Then we'd have training activity team leaders, management, and we would like them to have a site ambassador who is responsible for [00:07:00] overseeing all of the above. And if they tick those boxes that we then would benchmark them. Be part of our accreditation scheme that we'd like to roll out.

Natalie Tealdi: Brilliant.

Victoria Bennion: Yeah. Fantastic.

Natalie Tealdi: And you mentioned your modular sensory garden rooms. Could you tell us more about that

Karen Mason: so in the early days, because my husband is from a background of construction we. wanted to build sensory rooms for people at home actually in the garden. Because I felt if we'd had that for my brother and his children it would've had a more positive effect. Or we could have separated my nephew away from the main household hold.

So we started designing modular garden rooms and. We've just finished a sensory room for our local council, BCP council. And that actually was for a preschool charity where they are dealing with children before they get into school to [00:08:00] support 'em with their needs and the families.

So we've just finished a lovely little sensory room for them and we had a lovely time with them at their open event. We'd like to do more modular sensory rooms whether it be for local authorities or a family or a charity. They can be designed to any space size.

Natalie Tealdi: Sounds great.

Victoria Bennion: Yeah. It really sounds so positive for families as such a needed change. So what's it been like working with the local authorities and the charities

Karen Mason: The contact with BCP came via a referral and they were really great actually. And how they've supported the local charity, which is Dingles Promise. We had quite a a small window. They came to us and said, look, we need a room very quickly built within the six weeks summer holidays, ready for the kids in September. So yeah, off we went. Talking to manufacturers and thankfully managed to deliver.

Natalie Tealdi: brilliant.

Karen Mason: So yeah, we hope to do more. We're really pleased and we do turnkey package. So we design and build a sensory room, [00:09:00] and we also supply all the internal sensory kit. If that's what's required.

Victoria Bennion: That's so good. A really good idea. What mistakes do you see?

Karen Mason: From my experience, again, one size doesn't fit all. However you can go into a sensory room and sometimes it's just so overwhelming and I find it too much, let alone, the people using it. A lot of the bigger commercial companies that do sensory rooms, they offer some fantastic products, but quite often they're not always well thought out of in terms of the setting and the people that are gonna be using them.

I always try and just extract that information and have not the sensory overload and split it up into, maybe having a quieter area. As well, rather than trying to just put everything in one, one room. So yeah, it's just about listening to the client really.

Natalie Tealdi: Yeah, I know from personal experience, we've used a sensory room before at an airport and it [00:10:00] wasn't very well thought out. There was some broken things in there and things that weren't switched on, and it just, it felt a bit like it was just a place to shove people who were struggling rather than it being an actual well thought out facility.

Karen Mason: It doesn't have to be all singing or dancing and costing thousands of pounds. A colleague of mine had to do an audit on a local business. And they advertise, they have a sensory room, which actually it turned out to be again. Like what you are saying, not the nicest of rooms with some broken furniture and really just a bubble lamp.

However, in that moment of meltdown, that bubble lamp totally helped regulate my colleague son. Sometimes it's just the simple, small things which is better than nothing.

Natalie Tealdi: Yeah, definitely. So how could local authorities or charities benefit from getting involved in your scheme? And if they wanted to, how would they do that?

Karen Mason: I had [00:11:00] a meeting this week with one of our local mps Vicki Slate, who is very pro neurodivergency and send and is working very hard locally to help schools and support families. And we were discussing, that schools and nurseries, again, really could benefit from just a small sensory area away from the main school building, and that our modular setups are ideal for that purpose.

Vic is actually encouraging us now to contact as many local schools as possible. To share what we're doing to help support the children because we all know there's limited places in especially settings.

We're just gonna try and get the word out there. And we'd like to work with as many local authorities and charities as possible.

Victoria Bennion: Excellent. Yeah. How can we and anyone listening to this podcast help you in your quest?

Karen Mason: I think if. Your listen could go to our website. We have a [00:12:00] sign up for the holidays so that once we've got parks on board, we can notify families that there's gonna be neuro divergent friendly settings. Because one of the biggest battles for me at the moment is convincing the parks there's a need. So I. Can sit to blue in the face, giving them the statistics that I have nationally, and the numbers go into the millions. However, obviously a lot of the parts are just looking at this as a commercial transaction, which I get. They keep asking me, but what do the numbers look like? How many families would they actually be interested, Karen, if we provided this?

So I'd just love to hear from your listeners and families whether they want to email me or sign up or phone me. Perfect.

Victoria Bennion: that's excellent. We'll put all your details in the show notes that anybody who wants to get in contact can and [00:13:00] get on the wait list, which I imagine there's gonna be a lot for people. 'cause this sounds so good.

Karen Mason: Yeah, I hope so. I am in the early stage of talking to some of the major park groups. And I'm hoping that at least a couple of those will move forward. And if they do with the amount of parks they have nationally, because my goal, albeit it might be a bit of a big ask, is to have at least one park in every county within the next 12 months.

So doesn't matter where the families are, they've got an option whether they just want to go 20 minutes up the road to the local park for a quick break, or they want to travel into a new area. And we're also talking to local authorities and charities about using the accommodation of the parks out of season.

So for respite care for occupational therapists who seem to absolutely love the idea. So yeah, the more support we get from the families, the better actually.

Natalie Tealdi: Yeah, definitely. I think there's a lot of us that don't [00:14:00] go away because it's too stressful and we don't even entertain the thought of it. Or I certainly myself have to gear myself up for it. Can I face it?

Karen Mason: Yeah,

Natalie Tealdi: Because it's a lot more work and it's a lot more stress.

Karen Mason: Yeah. I actually had a mom message me a couple of months ago. I put something out on social media about what we're doing. She messaged me to say, Karen, we are currently. A holiday setting holiday. And she said, we've been here two days and we are already thinking of packing up and coming home because it's so stressful.

The accommodation is so unsafe. And she said, I'm exhausted. It's been like a military operation getting us here, and it just doesn't feel at the moment worth it. And I thought, that is so sad, it shouldn't be that way. And let's hope in the next few months we make a difference.

Natalie Tealdi: Yeah.

Victoria Bennion: sure you will. I, is that lead up as well? Like you said she felt it'd been a military operation. I know. We certainly have that when we're going [00:15:00] away. There's so much preparation that we have to do for my son to get him there in the first place. And the last time we went on holiday, he was so upset just by the change.

He wanted to call the police because we were taking him away. I know. Not a good start to the holiday and was saying to my husband, some families are probably really excited at this point, getting ready to go on holiday and we're being threatened with the police

Karen Mason: I know that sounds familiar.

Victoria Bennion: You certainly want to get there and then to have a good time and it order up and worth it for everybody, don't you? Which is what you are going to help people

Karen Mason: And also I'm trying to deal with a variety of different park settings. So obviously there's the big or dancing parks, which is not ideal for everybody, but obviously they have great facilities, swimming pools, et cetera. And I think if you've got two or three children, you need to accommodate everybody.

But I also deal with. Smaller family run parks and small [00:16:00] glamping sites. So I'm working with a glamping manufacturer. We've designed something so that, somewhere that's peaceful in a quiet countryside setting, that's not gonna trigger. But with all of the parks to be part of our scheme, we will be doing a social story.

So like you're with your. Six months before.

Victoria Bennion: Perfect. Perfect. We certainly have to do that. I usually make a book and there's no room for spontaneity when we go away. Every day is planned out. If we're going on a trip, it's booked so that it can go into the social story so that he can prepare himself. In advance and then look at it in the morning.

So we certainly had, when we went on holiday last time, there was a morning, he was completely paralyzed, couldn't get out of bed, couldn't eat, [00:17:00] and I said, would you like to look at the book? Would you like to see what we're doing today? And when he could see that social story of what today looks like, then he could breathe, then...