Celebrating You

LIFESTYLE

Celebrating You!

Celebrating you is a space for you guys to tell us what you’ve been getting up to and to share anything you might be really proud of. We love getting stuff from you, so please send in your poems, stories, pictures, jokes or tell us about something you’ve done, your favourite hobby or a new pet, and we’ll include it in the next issue of SpeakOut.

membership@whocaresscotland.org 40 Wellington Street, Glasgow, G2 6HJ

Glasgow Caledonian University Students Raise £553 for Who Cares? Scotland

In March 2020, one of our Assistant Editors and Training and Education Officer, Emma BranniganMcQueen, ran a session with social work students at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) as part of the innovative Advanced Social Work Skills module, which was developed by GCU, University of the West of Scotland (UWS) and Strathclyde University. This module provides students with learning experiences to support their practical skills ahead of their final year placement and eventual move into their role as a social worker.

The session focused on access to care records for Care Experienced people and the journey this takes our community on. Emma’s input explored the emotional impact on the Care Experienced individual. The goal of the session was to help students understand the barriers and challenges involved in gaining access to care records, and this input focused heavily on how to bring love and human care into a process that can often feel cold, detached and daunting.

After the session, David Clarke, the lecturer in the School of Health and Life Sciences at GCU got in touch with Emma. He wanted to let her know that the students had really engaged with the input and were so moved by the session that they started a fundraiser for Who Cares? Scotland! Third-year student Barbara Czyrwik set up a JustGiving page for Who Cares? Scotland after discussions with David and her fellow students following the session.

Barbara said: “We received the guest lecture from Who Cares? Scotland and their input just made such a big difference to our learning. When a social worker compiles a record of someone who’s went through the care system, there’s the chance in the future that the individual would like to access it. I imagine it must be a really powerful moment for them to see so much information about their life and it’s amazing that the charity provides such great support - I never realised it was such an emotional process! The presentation really contributed to our learning, and it was great to see them take the time to talk with us. Our lecturer, Dave Clarke, realised we liked it a lot and suggested doing a fundraiser - I was desperate to help.” In the end, the JustGiving page raised £553 for Who Cares? Scotland. This is an amazing amount raised and we are so thankful to David, Barbara, the students and everyone who donated to our organisation. We will ensure that the money goes to helping our Care Experienced community even further.

We are so happy that our input has made such an impact on the students. Outcomes like this show how vital our work at Who Cares? Scotland is when it comes to influencing and educating those who have the privilege to support our Care Experienced community.

YPOC Group inspires Aberdeenshire with Latest Campaign

We are delighted to report that the Young People’s Organising and Campaigning group, also known as the YPOC Group won the Community Spirit award at the Inspiring Aberdeenshire award ceremony on 26th August 2021.

Hosted by the Provost and Fiona Stalker, presenter and journalist, the online awards ceremony celebrated the achievements of Aberdeenshire citizens in a range of different areas. Shortlisted with two other worthy candidates, we were absolutely thrilled when the YPOC Group won the award for their “Coming into care and moving placements - getting it right campaign.”

YPOC member Lauren said, “I was just so excited when our name was called out as the winners. It was such strong competition that I didn’t know if we would win, so when we did it was fantastic.”

Children’s Rights Officer, Laura Stewart, who nominated the YPOC Group for the award said, “I am so pleased for them. They worked so hard on the DVD and Guide and it’s such a great resource. They really deserve this recognition.”

The YPOC Group’s campaign is about coming into care and moving placement and gives guidance to the adults involved in supporting them at this time, about what they can do to make things easier for children and young people going through this experience.

The YPOC group drew on their own experiences and also surveyed other Care Experienced children and young people, to create a guide and a DVD which they hope will improve the experience for children who come into care or move placement in future.

The guide is available online at https://www.aberdeenshire.gov. uk/social-care-and-health/childrenand-families/childrens-rightsservice and there should be a link to the video on YouTube too.

If you are in Aberdeenshire and are interested in finding out more about the YPOC group, please contact Lynne Williamson Who Cares? Scotland on 07712 869 576 or by emailing lwilliamson@whocaresscotland.org

Grow Your Own Sunflower Winners

The North West Team launched a small participation project back in April 2020 to try and encourage our members to have a go at growing their own sunflower. Kits containing seeds, soil and instructions were sent out to over 40 individual young people and residential places who requested them. A big thanks to everyone who took part, and we hope you enjoyed nurturing your little sunflower!

We can now announce the winners…

Huge congratulations to all the staff and young people at Blairvadach for growing the tallest sunflower by far at a whopping 3.2 metres! Tremendous effort.

Our second prize goes to Jane (aged 14) – Jane worked really hard to look after her sunflower keeping it watered and cared for. Well done Jane!

We hope you all enjoy spending your prize money.

Blairvadach’s entry

Jane’s Sunflower