Nottingham: Trampoline therapy aims to help disabled children

Victoria says her daughter Flo "loves bouncing" at the sessions

Trampoline therapy is being used in a bid to help children with additional needs and disabilities in Nottingham.

The free Epic Bounce sessions, run at the Oliver Hind Centre in Sneinton, started on 11 March.

They involve rebound therapy and sensory play for children between the ages of four and 12.

The Nottingham-based charities behind it, Footprints and Epic Partners, hope they can secure additional funding to keep it running in the future.

Michaela Castillo-Williams described the sessions as "very rewarding"

Michaela Castillo-Williams, a project manager at Epic Partners, said the benefits of rebound therapy included "fitness, flexibility, coordination and balance, along with regulating your emotions".

Victoria daughter, Flo, has Down's syndrome and was one of the first people to try Epic Bounce.

She added: "She absolutely loved it.

"It's great to be able to be part of a group where they cater to those needs and understand those needs and she can be free to run around and have fun."

Stephen Frew says the charities had been working on the project "for a while"

Stephen Frew, 47, charity manager at Footprints, said the sessions had started "really well", but he hoped they would develop and "become more tailored to the needs of the young people that are coming".

He said: "Too often when we're doing work with children with additional needs it becomes work, so the great thing about rebound is it's fun.

"It works with their emotions, their feelings, their muscles and everything at the same time in a relaxed atmosphere, as well as all the activities that we have going round that include sensory enrichment, so it covers a bit of everything in a fun way."

Mr Frew added the task for Epic and Footprints was to source money to keep the sessions going forward after the first year, which is funded by Sport England, and to make them "bigger and bigger".