Care experienced young person (CEYP) Saffron, designed and delivered care experienced awareness training to Leicester College’s Student Support team and mentors.
Saffron recently undertook work experiences at Leicestershire Cares where she was tasked with creating training resources which could educate decision makers and other young people about her community’s experiences and contribute to structural changes in the way care experienced young people’s services are developed and delivered.
Power to change
Through our Power to Change model, we support young people to understand more fully the situation they are in and why so many of their peers are in a similar situation. It is this moment of discovery that can be a powerful catalyst for change, when they can deliver Power To others.
Saffron interviewed CEYP to hear their experiences of college and reflected on her own time in education. She identified the struggles CEYP have in staying in fulltime education and a common thread emerged in the stability of their home lives at that point in time. She designed the training around what home life is like for CEYP at 16, 17, 18 and 19 years old, exploring the positives and negatives of the different types of living arrangements CEYP have - Foster home, Children’s homes, unregulated semi and independent living.
Download: Working with Care Experienced Young People in College Training. By Saffron
I’m proud of myself.
I want to raise more awareness of care experienced young people and the challenges they face in colleges. The support that I have received hasn’t always been what I needed sometimes, but being able to teach staff at Leicester City College about issues we face makes me happy. I hope they can go and support young people in my community succeed at further education.
I’m just happy I have helped others.In the Q&A I was asked: “How do you get through life with all the things that have happened to you?” I answered I set myself goals to complete. When I set my mind to something I can achieve it, and I am proud that I have completed the task.
Saffron, care experienced young person
Outcomes
Saffron gained a number of positive outcomes from this experience. Exploring her peers situation around college, synthesize that data and creating and delivering training resources boosted her human fulfilment in: developing confidence in professional situations and gain a sense of achievement; Empowered to influence how businesses and professional see young people in the workplace; Develop lasting relationships. It also promoted her professional positive digital footprint and gave her experiences to talk about in future interviewers.
Saffron is interested in a career in helping and supporting people. This experience put her in contact with Student Mentors in Health and Social Care at Leicester College, opening new professional networks which Saffron can explore with an eye on entering full time education.
Our work with care experienced young people
- Find out about the work we do with care experienced young people: mental wellbeing, employment and training, campaigning for Care Leavers rights, building social connection.
- Promise to Care Toolkit
- Sign our Promise to Care
- Hear the voices of care experienced young people in our Podcasts
- Taking Hold of Our Heritage project. Get a digital download of the book
- Become a mentor to a care experienced young person
For more information about our work with care experienced young people, please contact Jacob Brown: jacob@leicestershirecares.co.uk