ENURESIS RESOURCE AND INFORMATION CENTRE

The Enuresis Resource and Information Centre (ERIC) is a UK-based charity that gives information and support on childhood bedwetting, day-time wetting and soiling.

During 1999 the charity extended its existing Helpline service to include advice for children with special physical needs and associated bladder and bowel problems. In November 1999 ERIC recruited a specialist nurse continence advisor to take the more complex telephone, letter and email enquiries and provide support and training to other members of the Helpline team. Overall the number of enquiries increased by 19% during the period 1^st April 1999-30^th March 2000, with a 68% increase in the number of more complex calls.

To complement the new advice service, ERIC published a book for parents entitled "Bladder and Bowel Management in Children with Special Physical Needs: A Guide for Parents". This 36 page book gives practical information on how parents and health professionals can help children to achieve bowel and bladder control, or to manage the condition effectively if this is not possible. The next book in this series will be published during the coming year to help parents of children with learning difficulties with the toilet training process.

ERIC was delighted to launch its new interactive website (www.eric.org.uk) in May this year. With the emphasis on fun, the new site features a number of zones including a play pit, a treehouse, a clubhouse and a teenzone where our younger visitors can swap jokes and stories, take part in a quiz and paint pictures as well as share their worries and concerns. There are also informative zones for parents and a separate area for professionals which contains research and practice articles, an events calendar and the facility to order research references. All zones have their own message boards (which for security reasons are monitored by ERIC staff) and "Frequently Asked Questions" sections - so there are opportunities to share tips and experiences and post up specific queries that can be answered by an expert. In response to demand, we have also incorporated an online ERIC shop, using encrypted code, so that goods can be purchased online with the minimum of fuss. We do hope that you will pay us a visit!

Penny Dobson, Director