WE CLEAN PROUD TO SUPPORT JACOB’S JOURNEY
Everybody at we clean is really pleased that our long-standing employee Christine Checkley who has worked at the Company Head Office as a Payroll Administrator for over 9 years, was able to have a very ‘uplifting and rewarding’ experience recently in America with her family to support her youngest son Jacob who was diagnosed in 2014 with severe Autism.
After the initial diagnosis, parents Paul and Christine began searching for any sort of therapy to help their little boy. This is where Jacob’s Journey began, they came across an American programme called ‘Son-Rise’, which is based in Massachusetts at the Autism Treatment Centre of America. 
The ‘Son-Rise’ programme is a ‘play-based alternative autism treatment based on getting to know the individual child, and trying to understand their world rather than trying to make them conform to ours.’
Jacob’s Journey began as there wasn’t too much care available in the UK, and Paul and Christine felt that to help develop Jacob, their best option was to take him to Massachusetts to receive therapy. The only obstacle was the £18,000 it was going to cost for both the trip and the therapy.
Paul and Christine visited London to attend start-up courses and learn more about the programme, which they felt Jacob responded well too, and they set up a playroom at their home to help develop Jacob.
Paul and Christine set up a GoFundMe page ( https://www.gofundme.com/wx7h7fc ) to try and raise money and put on various fundraisers including: obstacle courses, pub quizzes, sponsored walks and coffee meetings. As a Company, we clean has made donations and has offered their support to Paul and Christine along with all of the staff by attending fundraisers and helping out where possible.
Thankfully, after a lot of hard work and 18 months of fundraising, Paul and Christine were able to go ahead with the trip and get Jacob over to America for a week of intensive therapy. 
Whilst at the Autism Treatment Centre they were set up in a house, where Jacob had his own playroom and both Paul and Christine could see the therapy in action. Jacob responded well to the therapy and since enrolling in the programme he has become a lot more sociable and even started playing with his older brother, Noah. Jacob has also begun using a few clear words and making eye contact with those he feels most connected to. They were both incredibly pleased to have gone on the trip with Christine commenting that:
“America was amazing, we’ve seen great changes in Jacob and it was just such a great thing. we clean have been really supportive, through donations and allowing me the time off. All the staff have attended fundraisers and showed their support.”
Once the therapy had finished Paul and Christine received a DVD from the playroom allowing them to see the therapy and try to mirror it back in England and they also learnt lots of great techniques that they could apply themselves. 
Paul and Christine are incredibly grateful to everybody that helped fundraise and donated to this great cause and if you would like to donate then please visit Jacob’s GoFundMe page https://www.gofundme.com/wx7h7fc and you can learn more about their American Journey on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Jacobs-Journey-504082706452758/
