Guest blog from Stuart Muirhead: Facilitator of the Includem Group.
Jammers:
Stuart, Briege, Kathleen, Toni, Alana, Gavin, Alex, Kim and Keira
How do we ensure young people feel that getting back in touch with Includem is a normal thing to do, and they will be supported just like any other young person who has left home and come up against new challenges they are not sure how to deal with?
Toni and I started off the day by setting up our team space in the corner of the hall. Tools and prompts were pooled in the middle – plasticine, card, felt tip pens, a figure of Buddha, a picture of an elephant… all types of things to prompt discussion and encourage creativity.
We met everyone as they came in and joined us, saying hello over coffee as Frozen’s ‘Let it go’ played in the background. Fiona and Gayle gave us the intro to the day and we all scurried away to fill in our ‘break the ice’ session cards. The hardest question for people seemed to be answering ‘what are you most proud of?’ – in our group, family seemed to come up trumps, from parents and partners, to sons and daughters. We also had to draw animals that we most admire and this kicked off the most illuminating discussions. We had a fair selection of furred and feathered friends – otters that held hands, meerkats that looked out for each other, penguins who shared pebbles, albatrosses that pair up and bond for life, loyal dogs, cute cats and a ball of ring-tailed lemurs. We shared all our reasons and I think gained a bit of insight into each other!!!
As for challenging the question, we were lucky to have a whole range of people around our table who had key perspectives and experiences of working within (and with) Includem, as well as younger people who have been through the process of contact, and re-contact, with Includem. Please see Keira’s Includem blog for another and more detailed take on the day.
We discussed what the challenges were – did young people feel as if they could get back in touch with Includem once they had ‘exited’ from initial contact? First of all, we didn’t like the term ‘exit’ – too final, not helpful and not supportive. We wanted to see that language and use ditched. We then started to think about the why – why would young people feel as if they couldn’t get back in touch? Should Includem be following this up, what avenues are open to young people to contact them, is there choice? Are these choices appropriate? What’s more effective – phone calls, texts, social media, coffee shop meet-ups, fun day re-unions… we started to identify different routes that could be employed by both young people and Includem staff.
We then started to really focus in on a process that Includem staff could follow to support young people in their continued journey in life. We used a driving metaphor to try and illuminate what these journeys can look like – sometimes the road is clear and all is going well. Sometimes there are turn offs that are taken (for good or bad), every so often you hit a pot hole, and every so often you need to stop in a lay-by and have a pause. When young people come across these obstacles it is important that the door is open to them to connect with Includem (through any of the routes we discussed earlier). It is also important that Includem contacts them. We proposed calls to the young person after two weeks, one month, two months and six months. The thinking behind that was to not close the door on support, but at the same time, not to be oppressive in that contact.
To bring these ideas to life we staged a short play (starring Kathleen and Gavin, with Keira as narrator, Toni providing the props, and the rest of the team as diligent directors and sound effects specialists) to illustrate how this may look in practice. We used the driving metaphor to take the audience through the stages of what continued Includem worker/young person contact may look like. This was the starting point and needs further development and batting about.
The day itself was a great crucible of thoughts and ideas. The directions that each of the groups travelled in was testament to the melting pot flexibility of the Jam. As for the actions that came out of the event – it is now up to all of us to take these forward and keep the momentum going.
Stuart