With over a hundred people attending our day in Glasgow, and a young person’s social the night before it was definitely a day to remember!
We had workshops around systems change, how we employ more care experienced young people to a workshop on Decider Skills- a CBT based tool. To make sure there was a workshop for everybody, we also had young person focused workshops around self-care, virtual reality and a blank space workshop for a young person to decide on the day what they would like to discuss!
Throughout the day, the soapboxes were flowing and we were lucky enough to have young people take the stage and rap, sing, share stories and have their voices heard.
The highlight of our May event it seemed was our care experienced speaker Nick Barwick. Nick's talk was honest, funny, and passionate and you couldn't hear a pin drop as he spoke. Young people attending enjoyed it so much, they asked for an impromptu workshop with Nick in the afternoon in which a large group of young people, professionals and Nick had an honest and deep conversation about healing and the care journey.
You can read more about Nick here https://www.facebook.com/NickBarwickConsultancy/
The five most important things we found after attending Nicks workshop were:
- “we need support to get through the healing process and help me forgive”
- Positive influences in care leavers lives “everyone needs someone who won't let you down/ cares where you are”
- “Barnardos is the only consistent thing in my life but when I’m 26 it’ll all be gone”
- “When I moved into my new flat, the light went and I had no idea how to fit a new lightbulb. I just cried”
- “I've had 64 foster placements since I was born”
So what Barnardo’s should do to make a difference is….
- Invest in counsellors- peer mentors
- Groups- more groups, care leaver leaver groups for over 21 year olds.
- “Hire more people like nick to talk to us, people who have actually lived it and talk like us, to help us and motivate us”
- Someone to help us with practical stuff/to care and help you unpack your boxes
- All care leavers should have someone like nicks boxing coach- someone who won’t let you down/ believes in you.