F1 heiress Petra launches £1.7m centre to help autistic children

Mission: Petra Ecclestone in Petra’s Place on Fulham Road. She created it after her daughter was treated for suspected autism
Alex Lentati

Formula 1 heiress Petra Ecclestone today attacked the “shocking” quality of treatment for autistic children in Britain as she launched a £1.7 million specialist pre-school therapy centre.

The mother of three said she was inspired to set up Petra’s Place, in Chelsea, after her daughter Lavinia was suspected of suffering from the condition because of her slow development.

The five-year-old was initially treated in the US and her mother said she was dismayed by the care she received when the family returned to Britain. “The doctors were not helpful, there was very little advice and few treatment options,” said Ms Ecclestone.

“One doctor even said to me, ‘If you think her behaviour is so bad just get a nanny.’ I was completely taken aback, it was quite shocking.”

Lavinia was eventually determined not to have autism, but the 29-year-old said the experience gave her the idea for Petra’s Place, which focuses on children aged 18 months to five years. Experts believe early intervention gives the best chance of major improvements.

The centre will offer diagnosis and treatment programmes for up to 100 children a year in a specially designed “low stress” environment, with calming lighting, muted colours and soundproofing to keep out loud noises.

Ms Ecclestone, daughter of motor racing mogul Bernie, said she wanted to create a “friendly and fun” centre where “children can learn through play and enjoy themselves. I want it to have a feeling of normality. I don’t want people to feel they’re coming into a hospital”. She hopes to open other centres.

Children will attend with their parents for two to 15 hours a week with most of the places provided free of charge and funded by the Petra Ecclestone Foundation, which funds the centre’s operations. Private fee paying places are also available.

Private therapy programmes start from £150 an hour. The price includes a minimum £70 donation to the Petra Ecclestone Foundation, which funds the centre’s operation. It was set up with gifts from the Ecclestone family and cash from a charity dinner attended by Winnie Harlow , Melanie Sykes, Rory Bremner and Jools Holland.

Located in a former estate agency in Fulham Road, Petra’s Place has six therapy rooms, a sensory area, a kitchen and cooking area for children, an open-plan group therapy area, an outdoor play area and a family therapy room. It will have seven staff including four therapists. An advisory team is headed by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University and a world-leading authority on the condition.

Ms Ecclestone’s comments came after latest NHS figures revealed that 250 children with autism or learning difficulties are being held in secure psychiatric units — up from 110 in 2015.

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