tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37783099444839224722024-02-07T08:34:25.814-08:00Cate's BlogCate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.comBlogger243125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-32039540076460585552020-06-26T01:42:00.000-07:002020-06-26T01:43:20.222-07:00Dave Hill - a tribute<br />
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I was deeply shocked and saddened to hear of the
death of Dave Hill, the Director of Children’s Services for Surrey. I have only
known Dave for two years, but he has had a large impact on my life and work.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Dave was passionate about children and getting it right.
When he came into Surrey, there were huge challenges across the services for
children across Surrey – social services, children’s mental health and services
for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The combination of these problems would have daunted a
lesser person, but not Dave; he has worked tirelessly for the last two years to
set a new vision and lead the county in a new direction. He has brought in a
new team of very talented, dedicated people who know that things can be
different, who have made things work in other places and know that they can do
it here. At the same time as leading the big picture, he would pay attention to
detail, paying personal attention to individual family cases to make things
happen. I often wondered how he had the time to be operating at the strategic
level whilst also down in the detail, but he knew that it was an important part
of his leadership to show how things needed to change, one family at a time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Dave was a System’s Leader – he knew that his job was not
just to change Surrey County Council’s services, but also to bring the whole
“system” -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>re-imagining how the various
public agencies and the third sector to work together as whole to serve children,
young people and families. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I personally owe a huge amount to Dave. He really saw the
value in the third sector – in all of the wonderful children’s and youth
charities across Surrey that I represent. He rapidly invited me to join various
boards and opened up space to work towards much greater third sector
involvement with council initiatives. He also saw the value in having a
“critical friend” on many of the boards and initiatives that he was involved in
and welcomed left field questions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I think that the best personal tribute that I can pay to
Dave is to show the legacy that he has left with me personally. I have gained
hugely in confidence from working with Dave – learning to trust my own voice,
to speak out, to believe that human kindness can trump bureaucracy, that we can
aspire to nurture each and every child in the system, that love and kindness is
what counts, not tick box exercises. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I had known much of this in my heart before Dave arrived in
Surrey, but hadn’t managed to articulate it very well, or had often been a lone
voice in the room. Thanks to Dave I am now bolder, more challenging, believing
in myself, having more clarity about how I can help ensure that every child in
Surrey gets the start in life that they deserve. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Thanks to Dave I am able to reach new levels of authenticity
and honesty in my working life. Thanks to Dave, I too became a System’s leader
– working as an equal with my colleagues to change the Surrey public and
charity sector landscapes to deliver better for children. The third sector is
now so much more valued than by the public sector than before and we are
working very differently together – I hope that this difference will be felt by
children, young people and families in new CAMHS (Children and Adolescent
Mental Health Services) Contract that is currently under re-procurement and
will start next April.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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I observed with wonder Dave’s personal resilience. He was
absolutely passionate about doing the best for children and faced a shedload of
challenges that would have daunted most – not just the challenge of turning
around services but also financially the council was in a really bad way so
there was very little room for manoeuvre. In the midst of this as he worked day
and night to change things, he told me one time how he had received a tweet
from a parent, blaming him for ruining their child’s life. He took it
graciously in his stride, carrying on with his purpose, I guess that he saw the
pain behind the parent’s anger. I marvelled at how he could carry on with
equanimity, it was a lesson that I had not yet learned from him how to do
myself and had still hoped I might learn from him. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I know that I am not alone in my grief, there are many, many
people feeling as I do. As well as bringing in new talented, dedicated people
to work with him, Dave has also strived to reset relationships in the county –
relationships between many organisations were extremely poor when Dave started
and are so much better now. I so hope that together we can build on Dave’s
legacy, to deliver on his vision to give every child a great start in life –
believing in them, nurturing them, helping them to shine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Below I attach the principles that Dave and I
worked up with some colleagues from police, health, other charities across the
county and the Better Way network. The best tribute that we can give to Dave is
to live and breathe these for every child in Surrey.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to his family,
I know that his strong home life was a key foundation of his strength. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The last two years have been the very best of my working
life – enjoyable, productive and learning so much. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you, Dave, from the bottom of my heart. I
will miss you deeply. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">TIME FOR KIDS SURREY – PRINCIPLES</span><o:p></o:p></h1>
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<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Our
five key principles will make the difference to all children and young people
and provide them the very best opportunity to succeed in life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Being crazy about the kid</span><o:p></o:p></h1>
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<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We
all need to be ‘crazy about the kid’. Every professional needs to focus on
human connection with a child, regardless of their background or circumstances,
with patience and passion to achieve the very best for all children and young
people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Every child/young
person needs a consistent relationship with at least one adult they trust.</span><o:p></o:p></h1>
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<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Many
young people feel lost and without direction, they don’t believe that they have
anyone to turn to. Building trust and confidence takes time and a persistent
and consistent approach. Often we hear stories of ever changing so-called
‘trusted adults’ in a child/young person’s life. How can we expect any form of
‘trust’ to be built when that person changes frequently and relationships have
to start all over again. We need to enable professionals and volunteers working
with children and young people to have the time and resources to provide stability
and earn the child/young person’s trust.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Every child needs to be able to tell their story and learn
to hope.</span><o:p></o:p></h1>
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<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Many
children experience trauma or loss. Others have a deeply unpleasant daily lived
experience. Those children who have a clear story about what has happened to
them are more likely to have develop healthy relationships going forward and
hence to flourish. Children and young people need to know why they are where
they are and to understand that they have choices and the potential to
experience a happier life; connection with their peers can often help with this
immeasurably. We all need to encourage young people to tell their story, and we
must listen, believe and help the young person to make the changes that they
need to make and to develop a sense of hope about their future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Every child needs a sense of belonging and encouragement
to shine.</span><o:p></o:p></h1>
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<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Children
and young people need to have a group of friends, a club, association or
school, which they look forward to going to. Where they can be themselves.
Where they feel people have an interest in their welfare and they can ‘shine’.
We all need to find ways to build on the strengths of each child, not just
those who fit into the traditional mainstream educational systems and exams
that are prevalent in our society and help them to shine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We all need to
believe in the child or young person and what they can achieve. </span><o:p></o:p></h1>
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<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Believing
in yourself because others have believed in you is the recipe for success. Professionals
need to have faith in young people, to help them explore their individuality and
learn the tools and belief that they can do what they set their minds to, with
the power to change their world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>by Jon Savell (Surrey
Police), Trudy Mills (Children and Family Health Surrey), Dave Hill (Surrey County
Council), Chris Hickford (The Eikon Charity), Caroline Slocock (Better Way
Network), Steve Wyler (Better Way Network), Jon Hetherington (More House
School, Frensham), David Gumbrell (The
Resilience Project), Cate Newnes-Smith (Surrey Youth Focus), Joe Crome (Community
Foundation for Surrey)<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br />Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-46390809288523726722020-04-26T23:51:00.000-07:002020-04-26T23:51:42.638-07:00Mental health: complex problems require diversity<br />
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In one respect, I have missed my usual frequent
drives round Surrey. I usually use this time to listen to a range of materials,
some intellectual, some lightweight, occasionally music, to feed my brain with
whatever the mood takes me. This gives me a buffer between work and home, space
to wind up and wind down. It also gives me an opportunity to learn and be exposed to new
ideas. One of my favourite sources of inspiration is Matthew Syed, who has
written several excellent books. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Since lockdown, I have not managed to fit in my usual diet
of ideas and growth mindset podcasts. Between giving the children quality time,
trying to get a reasonable amount of exercise and being tired after long
periods videoconferencing, my brain has had enough by the end of the day. <o:p></o:p></div>
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However, I realised that this is not serving me and on Saturday I chose to go on a solitary walk for my
exercise and I carried on listening to the audiobook of Matthew Syed’s Rebel
ideas. The book contains the best explanation of why and how diversity is
important that I have come across. He does not start with the premise that
diversity is good, indeed for simple problems he argues that diversity is often not good (the men’s 100 metre final in the Olympics being a good case
in point). However complex problems require diversity of thought and that comes from diversity of culture and experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The best ideas, the best solutions, will come through a range of
different people with different experiences working together.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This has direct translation into the work that Surrey Youth
Focus is supporting around the re-procurement of Children’s Emotional Well being
and Mental Health services in Surrey. If ever there was a complex problem,
mental health is it. The mental well being of any one person is a result of a
complex mix of upbringing, culture, societal influences, life experiences,
social interactions and more. <o:p></o:p></div>
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At Surrey Youth Focus, we have long been believed that young people who are
struggling would benefit hugely from more social solutions, many led by the
third sector. (Note: I deliberately don’t use the term “services” because
services tends to imply a narrow range of professional led work such as
counselling, whereas solutions are much wider – peer support, whole school
approaches, social movements, encouraging participation in arts and sports,
etc). <o:p></o:p></div>
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However, it has gradually become clearer to me the
importance of joint creativity around the future use of the money spent on mental health. We will get the best
results if we work with a much more diverse group with different perspectives
on emotional health understand the societal root of the issues and to generate
new solutions. Young people, parents, commissioners, teachers, school nurses,
psychiatrists, police, social workers and of course the third sector…to name
just a few.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Together, we are so much stronger. But we need to find a way
to throw off the baggage of the past - the silos, the overstrong faith in medical solutions, doing "to" young people rather than with them. We need to start with a clean sheet of
paper and be creative together, painting a brand new vision of how to create a culture in our schools, our communities, our charities and our medical providers that enable every child and young person to thrive. The signs of change are afoot. There are some very strong cross-sector relationships being built, that will, I hope, lead to a very different way of serving our young people. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-29465005711256110012019-11-14T09:11:00.000-08:002019-11-14T09:34:00.433-08:00Hidden Talent<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I was invited to sit on a panel and do a short talk at Surrey County Council’s We
are Surrey event last week, which was aimed at companies wanting to do “social
value” in the course of their work – or to put it simply, to do good. The picture shows me with Bob Pickles of Canon and the other panel members. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Here’s the gist of my talk. <span style="font-family: inherit;">Many employers in Surrey are finding it hard to recruit and
are looking for new avenues to find talented staff. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If this is you, here’s some suggestions you may
not have thought of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Have you heard of Sabrina Hatten Cohen who has just been
made chief fire officer at West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service? According to
the Guardian, she is the youngest Chief Fire Officer in the country, aged 36,
and one of only six female Chief Fire Officers. She also has a PhD in
behavioural neuroscience and is writing a book. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">You may be wondering what she has to do with the title,
Hidden Talent? Age 15, she was homeless. She lived on the streets for some considerable
time, selling the Big Issue and going to school. These experiences have almost
certainly helped build her character – to help her become resilient and
determined – characteristics that employers undoubtably value. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So, if you are looking for new employees, may I suggest that
you may like to seek out Hidden Talent – young people who maybe do not fit the
traditional mould but who nevertheless could make you very good employees. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Others potential new employees that you may like to consider:</span></div>
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<ul>
<li>People with <b>Learning Disabilities and Difficulties</b> have
a range of talents and their disability does not mean that they person cannot
be a very useful employee, although in some cases you may need to make some
adjustments. Some very much like repetitive jobs and could be perfect for a
role that you find hard to fill long-term. Per the stereotype, some with high
functioning autism are brilliant with numbers or at testing software.</li>
<li>I know of a <b>blind person</b> who has been working as an
administrator for ten years for a multinational in Surrey. She is a valuable
employee and they particularly value her loyalty.</li>
<li>Have you been to have your keys cut at Timpsons recently?
They are very successful retail chain around the Country. They employ 1,200 <b>ex-offenders</b>
and say that have a high retention rate of these staff. Ex-offenders again are
another group that have lots of skills, often they just need to be given the
opportunity to use them in a law-abiding way.</li>
<li>The final group that I want to mention is <b>care leavers</b>.
Young people who have had a difficult start in life, perhaps suffered a
bereavement or domestic abuse which means they have had to leave their homes. I
often meet care leavers through work and my impression always is that they are
amazingly resourceful, wise beyond their years. They have had to duck and dive
and adapt to survive some difficult situations and these are skills which are
very transferable to the workplace. </li>
</ul>
So when you next walk past a homeless person I hope that the
first thought that pops into your head is Hidden Talent. When you next drive
past a prison, Hidden Talent. When you see a person with a disability, you
think Hidden Talent and when you hear that a person has been in care, Hidden
Talent. They could be the person that your organisation really needs.<br />
<br />My lovely colleague, Paula Neal, at Surrey County Council is looking for employers to interview about Hidden Talent to help generate ideas and solutions to enhance opportunities for employing Hidden Talent by Surrey businesses. Please contact <a href="mailto:paula.neal@surreycc.gov.uk" target="_blank">Paula</a> if you would like to take part. <div class="MsoNormal">
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<br />Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-17051004731206771012019-08-17T03:12:00.000-07:002019-08-17T03:18:40.671-07:00A mental health epidemic?<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am
often asked what I think is causing the current high level of mental health
issues in our teenagers and is the current “epidemic” real or manufactured by
the media and society. I think it’s a mixture of both. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On
the one hand, I think that today’s teenagers are facing a wealth of challenges
that previous generations haven’t faced. On the other hand, as parents we
somehow feel it’s our responsibility to make our kids happy all the time and
take away all their pain. It’s not and we can’t; it’s an impossible task and we
should give up trying. Having challenges and difficulties is a normal part of growing
up and they will only emerge as a mature adult once they have learnt to
navigate life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here
are some beliefs that I think we need to foster in our kids to combat some of the challenges that society is throwing at them:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1) Emotions
are a normal part of being human. You will sometimes feel sad, angry, lonely,
frustrated, etc. This is normal, it doesn’t mean you need have a mental
illness. However, it might mean that you benefit from the support of another
human being - a friend, a parent, a neighbour, maybe sometimes a professional
such as a teacher or a counsellor. Or maybe you need to nurture yourself, do
your favourite thing such as listening to music or playing sport. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2) Life
doesn’t always give you what you want when you want it. Being used to waiting -
saving up for that new bit of kit, waiting until tomorrow to speak to your
friend, watching that video after you’ve done your homework, will massively
help you to have the patience that you will need to get through life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3) Being
rich and famous doesn’t make you happy. In fact, there’s masses of evidence
that it does the opposite. Just think of all the famous people who have talked
about their mental health problems or taken an overdose. Those who are truly most
content know that the most important thing is what goes on in your head. Do you
say nice things to yourself? Or is there an inner critic constantly eating away
at you. Do you seek out genuine friends (however geeky they are) or do you
hang out with the “cool” crowd in the belief that it makes you a better person.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4) Having
a “perfect” body never made anyone happy either. And the most attractive trait
is an authentic smile on your face, radiating from being comfortable in your
own skin. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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I know that list isn’t exhaustive, but it’s a start. So how
am I doing on these in my own parenting? Not too bad on some of them, but I’m
not sure that I’ve found effective ways to teach the delayed gratification idea
yet….any tips anyone?<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-80967125455906480792019-07-01T10:16:00.000-07:002019-07-01T10:33:28.966-07:00Crazy about the kid<br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Why
are so many young people being impacted badly by society at this point in our
history when we are more advanced, healthier and wealthier than ever?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What
are the deep rooted causes as to why children get left behind? Why do some
people manage to overcome a difficult start to reach their full potential,
living relatively happy, fulfilled lives? Why do other people sink under the
weight of their problems, failing to fulfil their potential – living a life of
poor coping strategies such as taking drugs and being violent or exploited? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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do we break the generational cycles of sexual exploitation, domestic violence,
criminal exploitation, poor mental health, substance/alcohol abuse?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Chris Hickford
(CEO of Eikon) and I were pondering these issues, so we invited a small, group
of people with diverse experience and big brains to explore these issues with
us. We call this our "unofficial think tank." Thank you ever so much to the kind, thoughtful, intelligent people involved:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steve Wyler and Caroline Slocock</td></tr>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Caroline Slocock – Better Way Network</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Steve Wyler – Better Way Network</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jon Hetherington – More House School, Frensham</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">David Gumbrell - The Resilience Project</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jon Savell – Surrey Police</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Trudy Mills - Children and Family Health Surrey</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dave Hill – Surrey County Council</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Chris Hickford – The Eikon Charity</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cate Newnes-Smith – Surrey Youth Focus</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Joe Crome – Community Foundation for Surrey</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sharon Ward</span></li>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">As a result,
the group came up with a DRAFT set of principles for professionals and
volunteers that we believe could make the difference to all children and young
people and provide them the very best opportunity to succeed in life. We are just starting to tell the world about the principles... </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">SURREY UNOFFICIAL THINK TANK – OUR
‘PLAN ON A PAGE’</span></h2>
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Being crazy about the kid</h3>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We all need
to be ‘crazy about the kid’. Every professional needs to focus on human
connection with a child, regardless of their background or circumstances, with patience
and passion to achieve the very best for all children and young people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Every child/young person needs a consistent relationship with at least one
adult they trust.</h3>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Many young
people feel lost and without direction, they don’t believe that they have
anyone to turn to. Building trust and confidence takes time and a persistent
and consistent approach. Often we hear stories of ever changing so-called
‘trusted adults’ in a child/young person’s life. How can we expect any form of
‘trust’ to be built when that person changes frequently and relationships have
to start all over again. We need to enable professionals and volunteers working
with children and young people to have the time and resources to provide
stability and earn the child/young person’s trust.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Every child needs to be able to tell their story and learn to hope.</h3>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Many
children experience trauma or loss. Others have a deeply unpleasant daily lived
experience. Those children who have a clear story about what has happened to
them are more likely to have develop healthy relationships going forward and
hence to flourish. Children and young people need to know why they are where
they are and to understand that they have choices and the potential to
experience a happier life; connection with their peers can often help with this
immeasurably. We all need to encourage young people to tell their story, to listen,
believe and help the young person to make the changes that they need to make
and to develop a sense of hope about their future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Every child needs a sense of belonging and encouragement to shine.</h3>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Children and
young people need to have a group of friends, a club, association or school,
which they look forward to going to. Where they can be themselves. Where they
feel people have an interest in their welfare and they can ‘shine’. We all need
to find ways to build on the strengths of each child, not just those who fit
into the traditional mainstream educational systems and exams that are
prevalent in our society, and help them to shine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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We all need to believe in the child or young person and what they can
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Believing in yourself because others have believed in you is
the recipe for success. Professionals need to have faith in young people, to
help them explore their individuality and learn the tools and belief that they
can do what they set their minds to, with the power to change their world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What do you think? Do these make sense? How can we make these ideas become reality for every child and young person across Surrey? If you are a professional or
volunteer working with children and young people in Surrey, please let us know what
you think. </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="mailto:Cate.newnes-smith@surreyyouthfocus.org.uk">Cate.newnes-smith@surreyyouthfocus.org.uk</a>
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<br />Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-71213855254472891932019-06-11T02:04:00.002-07:002019-08-17T02:49:08.305-07:00The Community Paradigm<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-US">As many people have commented, we cannot
afford to keep salami slicing the funding for services to people in Surrey. And
despite the ongoing passion and commitment of professionals across Surrey, many
of the problems that our children face – domestic abuse, mental ill-health,
substance abuse and more – are not going away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">There is increasing evidence across the country
that radically different models of engagement are proving popular. These models,
put much more of the power and responsibility in the hands of communities and the
charities that serve them. These bring huge benefits, they serve our citizens
better, with a holistic, preventative agenda, not a crisis response, they make best
use of community asset and they encourage individual responsibility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Across Surrey, people are daring to think
very differently, as was demonstrated at the Surrey 2030 Vision event
yesterday. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about projects from around the country
yesterday, particularly from Adam Lent of the </span>the New Local Government Network. I
thoroughly recommend reading their document:</div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.nlgn.org.uk/public/2019/the-community-paradigm-why-public-services-need-radical-change-and-how-it-can-be-achieved/" target="_blank">The Community Paradigm: Why public services need radical change and how it can be achieved </a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">However, this type of change cannot be driven
from the top. There are many thriving community projects and charities across
Surrey, which bring huge benefits to Children, Young People and Families (CYPF),
many of which the public sector is not funding or only partially funding. Many
of these have a very holistic view of people’s lives and do great preventative
and supportive work which is hugely valuable to individuals and to society at
large – making a huge difference to wellbeing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">For me, these are the starting point for an
engine for change. I believe that there is the potential to achieve far more
for our communities by working with our communities - bringing people and
professionals with energy, enthusiasm and skills together to share, learn and
work in a more coordinated way. To improve the lives of the most vulnerable, despite
shrinking public sector budgets, there is a need for all sectors of society to
work together. We need to achieve a cultural shift where people needing help
play a greater role in their journey – in decision making at a personal and
community level, in helping to support their peers and more. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">This will require change on all sides, both
within commissioners and within the third sector. In fact, I have heard the opinion
expressed that actually the third sector needs to change more than the commissioners
for this to work. Looks like we (Surrey Youth Focus) will have our work cut out
for us to help facilitate this change. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-77258285829781053032018-11-07T07:45:00.002-08:002018-11-30T04:42:10.057-08:00Solving the mental health crisis <br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The crisis that we have with children and young people’s
mental health is not going to be solved in consulting rooms and clinical
settings across our county. The crisis may be contained by professionals in
clinical settings, but it is not going to be solved there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It will be solved in
communities – in schools, in families, in friendship groups, in youth clubs, in charities. It will be solved by changes in attitudes, in cultures, in
beliefs and behaviours – not just in the young people themselves, but in their
parents, their teachers, their friends and their medical staff. It will be
solved by young people having access to and making use of healthy coping
strategies – exercise, peer support, long-term bond with a trusted adult,
mindfulness - and avoiding unhealthy coping strategies – substance abuse,
violence, abusive relationships, eating unhealthily. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Until we – councils, health services, parents, police, schools, charities – work truly in partnership with young people to understand their lives and address the underlying causes together, the situation will only get worse. </span></div>
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Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-70153459838430281582018-02-28T04:28:00.001-08:002018-02-28T04:28:11.964-08:00<h2 class="forum-post-title" style="border: 0px; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.111; margin: 10px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 1px 1px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Young people with learning disabilities collaboration </h2>
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<span style="font-weight: inherit;">Surrey Youth Focus is delighted to welcome Sally Stubbings to the team, Sally will be working on the </span><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hidden Talent project.<span style="font-weight: inherit;"> </span></strong><span style="font-weight: inherit;">This project aims to make it easier for young people with Learning Disabilities and other Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) across Surrey </span><b>to find work experience, work placements and ultimately jobs.</b><span style="font-weight: inherit;"> To sign up to the Hidden Talent bulletin please - </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://eepurl.com/dbQQCX" href="http://eepurl.com/dbQQCX" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">click here.</a><span style="font-weight: inherit;"> For more information please email </span><a data-cke-saved-href="mailto:sally.stubbings@surreyyouthfocus.org.uk" href="mailto:sally.stubbings@surreyyouthfocus.org.uk" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">sally.stubbings@surreyyouthfocus.org.uk</a></div>
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More about the project</h2>
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Given the high employment rate in Surrey, do you find it hard to recruit and retain suitable employees? If so, the good news is that there are “hidden” pools of talent that many employers are not tapping into – young people with learning disabilities. Many young people with learning disabilities are longing to work and make great employees if given the chance. </div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are many wonderful young people who happen to have learning disabilities leaving schools and colleges across Surrey who have the capabilities to do a wide range of jobs. Some are highly capable of doing challenging financial or technical jobs, as long as employers make adjustment for their social skills or other learning disability. Others may excel at doing highly repetitive jobs that others do not enjoy.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Employers benefit from employing young people with learning disabilities by gaining new talent and having a more diverse workforce which can bring useful insights to their organization’s strategy, products and services. It also gives employers an opportunity to demonstrate that they are compassionate and forward looking to their employees, customers and local community, thus helping both customer and employee retention. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s true that some may need more initial support than other employees, but this can often be funded by the state and many employers have achieved a long term return on investment with a hard working, long-serving employee. </span></div>
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We are aiming to create a win-win situation where employers get access to new pools of employees and some great young people get the work opportunities that they long for. For this to work, there needs to be new paths to employment for these young people, since the traditional recruitment practices typically act as barriers, not enablers. We believe that the best way to do this may be to create an email bulletin which contains requests made by charities/colleges for opportunities such as work placements for young people. If the work placements are successful, these young people might become valuable employees. We are currently doing a survey to find out employers’ attitudes to our ideas.</div>
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This project is being led by Surrey Youth Focus in consortium with an impressive list of organisations including Surrey Chambers of Commerce, Surrey County Council, employers, charities and schools & colleges across Surrey.</div>
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Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-76065053473681376002016-09-28T03:53:00.002-07:002016-09-28T03:53:23.329-07:00Employment for young people with Learning DisabilitiesAcross the country 6% of people with learning disabilities have employment.<br />
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We have many young people with learning disabilities who want work and have useful skills and assets that could be beneficial to employers. Many of these young people have the types of qualities that employers are seeking - they are reliable, loyal and hard-working. In a tight labour market, such as we have in Surrey, employers increasingly need to seek out the "hidden" pools of talent (a phrase that I have learnt from Louise Punter at Surrey Chambers of Commerce). Some young people with autism, for example, are highly talented in logic and numeracy and can bring huge value to IT and financial functions in an organisation.<br />
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This is why we are initiating a cross-sector collaboration in conjunction with Surrey Chambers of Commerce, Surrey County Council, Halow and a range of other charities and employers to address this issue. At the first meeting, one of the major issues identified was purely that employers do not know about the possibilities or, if they do, they have put it on the "too hard" pile. The collaborative group will be seeking to address these issues and others.<br />
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If you are an employer interested in finding out more about employing a young person with a learning disability, please do get in touch.Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-13661694703977375862016-04-25T02:05:00.000-07:002016-04-25T03:23:33.564-07:00Core-porate Social Responsibility<div class="MsoNormal">
There is a growing thirst in the private sector to do more
Corporate Social Responsibility or “Giving Back”. Companies are realising that
CSR makes good business sense – by helping key objectives such as recruitment
and retention, it directly serves their bottom line. In these cash strapped times, where the "rolling back" of public services is affecting the most vulnerable in society, this is good news. Indeed, we believe that
the contribution that businesses could be making as they go about their daily
business is huge. </div>
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Take Timpsons - the
key cutting and shoe repairing business – 10% of their 3400 staff are ex-offenders. These staff are employed on day release, whilst still in prison, thus easing their transition to a different life on the outside. The reoffending rate of these Timpson employees is 3% versus around 45% for ex-offenders in general. Whilst some of this difference may be down to careful recruitment on Timpson's part, surely not all? This has helped Timpsons to get a highly motivated, loyal workforce and done a huge service to society and the public purse: how much would it have cost councils and/or charities to turn that many people's lives around?</div>
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If you haven't heard it, I highly recommend listening to the John Timpson interview that was broadcast on Radio 4's Desert Island Disks a few weeks ago - you can download the Podcast from the BBC. </div>
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The key to really making a difference is ensuring that the CSR activities are part of CORE business, serving business objectives, and not just a bit on the side. </div>
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If you are a company or youth charity in Surrey and are interested in exploring this more, do <a href="http://www.surreyyouthfocus.org.uk/contact-us" target="_blank">drop me</a> a line.</div>
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Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-45098962081376521022016-02-26T02:31:00.000-08:002016-02-26T02:31:34.590-08:00Who would you turn to if you had a mental health problem?Well, looks like my resolution to write more often was broken pretty quickly? Still, I am pleased to say that I stuck to my dry January.<br />
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We have collaborated with our members on two different projects about young people's mental health funded by Healthwatch. I was struck by a discussion with a colleague this week that I thought worth mentioning in the blog.<br />
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Where would you
turn to if you had a mental health problem? Online? Family? Friends? GP? </div>
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Our sample of
young people would look online first and maybe go to a friend. Only a subset would go to a
professional such as teacher or GP. Few would go to parents. </div>
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I will say that again. Only a subset would go to a professional and few would go to parents.</div>
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This leaves us
with a real challenge as to how to support young people with mental health. We
can have all the services in the world but if they don’t make use of them, what’s
the point? This needs to be the starting point for all service designs.</div>
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Any comments? Ideas? Feel free to respond or email me.</div>
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Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-84617030791694401652015-12-14T02:09:00.001-08:002015-12-14T02:09:05.400-08:00New projects and new years resolutionsOops. This hasn't really been a weekly blog of late, has it? We have so many exciting projects going on that blog writing has slipped. Apologies... new year's resolution (is this the first one you've heard?) to write more often.<br />
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My wonderful team have been admiring the number of new ideas that I've been having... and gently and wittily pointing out that we cannot do it all. My response was to say that I used to have a boss who was a nightmare to work with because he was always excited by his latest idea..whilst I was still working on the last three that he had tasked me with, so I sympathise with their plight. New Year's resolution no 2: learn to prioritise and say no.<br />
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Anyway, here are a few of the things going on that you may be interested in...<br />
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<ul>
<li>Our Safeguarding conference went extremely well, with 100% of attendees satisfied or very satisfied. The feedback that we got from attendees is that they want more help with safeguarding...policies, seminars, briefings, etc. We will be talking to Surrey CC about how this might be provided.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>We are setting up a cross-sector collaboration of organisations who are keen to help young people with learning disabilities into work, in conjunction with businesses, charities, Surrey CC and Surrey Chambers. If you share our passion for this and would like to be involved, let me know. This will be followed by another to help other vulnerable young people into work.</li>
</ul>
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<li>We have been awarded funding by Healthwatch to work with a group of young people around the issue of a mental health issue that his bothering them. We will support the young people to take the actions that they want to take to address the issue.</li>
</ul>
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Did I say that I wasn't going to have any more ideas? Trying not to, but then other people give them to me. I went to an event at the House of Lords hosted by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Adebowale,_Baron_Adebowale" target="_blank">Lord Victor Adebowale</a> (CEO of <a href="http://www.turning-point.co.uk/" target="_blank">Turning Point</a>) and the very interesting <a href="http://collaboratei.com/" target="_blank">Collaborate</a> organisation. Victor kindly gave me an idea... a significant amount of crime in this country is committed by people leaving care... many of whom have had awful life experiences as children and who have not been given good role models or shown appropriate behaviours required to fit in and hold down jobs. He suggested that we sit down with young people leaving care in Surrey and ask them what they need in order to get a job, housing, self belief etc. I am sure that a mentor, someone that they can turn to when they are down, will figure in there somewhere. We can then get a cross-sector collaboration together to serve these young people in Surrey. There's no shortage of people wanting to help. The challenge is ensuring that the offer is young person focused, holistic and joined up. I am very excited by this. It's now on my list of things to do. However, I am prioritising. I won't start it until a few other projects are underway. Promise.<br />
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I wish for you whatever you wish for yourself this Christmas.... peace, joy, silence, laughter, fun, happiness, calm, energy, etc.....Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-68962913626660334612015-11-20T03:48:00.000-08:002015-11-20T03:48:12.282-08:00Reckless young people?I have heard a number of statistics about the current generation of young people smoking less and drinking less than previous generations. Here's a great <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-34872522" target="_blank">story</a> to back up the statistics:<br />
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The school council at Eythorne Elvington Community Primary School in Dover raised the issue of smoking by parents at the school gates, leading to the head asking parents to improve their behaviour in the school newsletter.<br />
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Go, kids, go! Let's get these kids sorting out world peace, too, I'm sure they can do a better job than our generation.<br />
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<br />Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-79852206659720001442015-11-02T01:15:00.001-08:002015-11-02T01:15:18.387-08:00The social and economic cost of mental health<div>
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Sitting in the office alone on a very grey Monday morning, I am reading some very depressing statistics:</span></span></div>
<ul>
<li>One in 10 children has a mental health problem at any one time.</li>
<li>More than a fifth of children referred to mental health services in England have been refused treatment.</li>
<li>Only one in 10 prisoners has no mental health disorder.</li>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Aside from the human misery of all this, how much money do we spend on the justice system and keeping people in prison? How much is lost by our economy on families supporting people with mental health issues?</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">The methodical researchers over at Public Health Surrey who are passionate about improving people's health have told me that a proven way of preventing mental health related issues such as self-harm, taking legal highs, etc, is to build resilience in young people. To expand the idea further, I thought I would take a quick look on the internet for a definition (thanks to Wikipedia....)</span></span></div>
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<i><b>"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_resilience" target="_blank">Psychological resilience</a></b> is defined as an individual's ability to properly adapt to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_(psychological)" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Stress (psychological)">stress</a> and adversity. Stress and adversity can come in the shape of family or relationship problems, health problems, or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workplace" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Workplace">workplace</a> and financial worries, among others. Resilience is not a rare ability; in reality, it is found in the average individual and it can be learned and developed by virtually anyone. Resilience should be considered a process, rather than a trait to be had.</i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">A common misapprehension is that resilient people are free from negative emotions or thoughts, remaining optimistic in most or all situations. To the contrary, resilient individuals have, through time, developed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coping_(psychology)" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Coping (psychology)">coping</a> techniques that allow them to effectively and relatively easily navigate around or through crises.</span><span style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 11.2px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">In other words, people who demonstrate resilience are people with optimistic attitude and positive emotionality and are, by practice, able to effectively balance negative emotions with positive ones.</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-apa.org_1-1" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">"</sup></i></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">This is a key area where all of the wonderful youth organisations across Surrey make a significant contribution to all of the young people that they work with. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">We strongly believe in Youth Social Action as a way of giving young people a sense of agency, and hence self-esteem and resilience. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">We would be interested to hear more of your stories/anecdotes/comments about building resilience in young people...</span></span></div>
Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-28404954600243835812015-10-12T04:42:00.003-07:002015-10-12T11:44:33.220-07:00Young people: risks, control and growthI think being a parent myself is a great asset to my job. I understand how difficult it is to be a parent myself, how you long to do the best thing for your kids, but so often its not obvious what the best thing is. How quickly or slowly to let go, to enable your child to learn for themselves, rather than be protected and told what to do? You also long to control the environment your child is in as much you can, to nurture and support, but lots of things are out of your control.<br />
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An example that my husband and I have faced recently. Due to circumstances beyond our control, our daughter has just started at a school at some distance to our son's school. Both schools are within walking distance of our home, but it is not possible to do the school run to both schools on foot given the start and finish times. So, we were faced with the choice: school run in the car - creating pollution, congestion and missing out on exercise - or school run on foot, letting our ten year old walk a mile to school by himself, crossing several roads which at school times get quite busy. As you may know, there is evidence that kids who walk to school perform better. So, we have opted to let him walk to school and I have alerted my mums network to let me know if anyone spots any concerns about his road crossing behaviour!</div>
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For now, the decision feels good. It is healthier and he is learning independence. But will I feel guilty and irresponsible if he has an accident? </div>
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Organisations working with young people, face the same issues as a parent. How much can they and should they control the environment? How much risk should they let the young people take?</div>
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There is evidence that young people naturally take more risks, it's hard wired into their brains. Ben Byrne from Surrey CC will be talking about this at our <a href="http://www.surreyyouthfocus.org.uk/safeguarding" target="_blank">Safeguarding Conference</a> on 12th November. If you haven't already booked a ticket, <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/safeguarding-young-people-conference-2015-tickets-18602955942" target="_blank">book now</a>, thanks to funding from Surrey CC, we have extended the number of places at the conference, but still only have a few places left.</div>
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Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-65923143006648214162015-10-05T02:12:00.002-07:002015-10-12T04:00:00.547-07:00Communilab in actionAs hopefully you have heard by now, we are in the middle of setting up a great new Community...called <a href="http://www.communilab.org/" target="_blank">Communilab</a>. It is bringing together charities, businesses, public sector agencies, schools and universities to solve problems and create opportunities for young people in Surrey. Communilab Community interacts both off-line (meetings, etc) and online at www.communilab.org. Two examples of collaboration...<br />
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<a href="http://www.communilab.org/blog/communilab-has-connected-young-people-are-now-benefiting" target="_blank">Youth work on the pitch</a> started on Friday night in Park Barn, Guildford. It is based on the Leatherhead Youth Project model of organising regular football sessions and having youth workers alongside to build relationships with young people, especially the ones most in need of a supportive adult relationship. The Guildford sessions have resulted from a collaboration of a number of organisations including Guildford Saints Football club providing the coaches, Guildford Borough Council providing the pitch, Lifetrain providing the youth workers, Kings College and Surrey CC youth worker marketing to young people, Surrey CC youth worker promoting, funding from the High Sheriff Youth Awards (looking for more though in case you know of any sources...), Active Surrey and Surrey FA providing guidance and kit, etc.The initial session on Friday night had 14 lads, a good start and a sign that this project is much needed in the area.<br />
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I am, sadly, only talking about boys football at the moment. As a former footballer myself, I am hoping that they might get some girls football going too. (Personal plea - I would still like to find regular 5-aside women's football in the Guildford/Godalming area. I don't have time to train or play 11-aside at weekends, but would love a quick one hour game an evening a week).<br />
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The second example of collaboration is Surrey County Council's volunteering programme. Surrey CC are keen to promote volunteering in the county and are leading by example, encouraging their own staff to volunteer. Their staff volunteer offers are being put on Communilab, for charities to see and take up. To see these opportunities you would need to join the Communilab Community. If you are a charity wanting access to Communilab... for members of Surrey Youth Focus then access to Communilab is provided as a part of your subscription, contact the team for your login. If not, join SYF to gain access to Communilab. If you are a business, public sector agency, school or university wanting access to Communilab then contact us now on communilab@surreyyouthfocus.org.ukCate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-14239147814116287822015-09-28T02:07:00.000-07:002015-09-28T04:42:59.923-07:00Bold new futuresThree of us in the office have had our youngest child start school this September. Generally things are going well, us mothers are adapting to seeing our little ones off to school (and the kids are doing too badly either!)<br />
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On the first day, a few weeks ago, one of my colleagues had a lovely experience as she walked her youngest to school on the first day. Along the streets approaching the school, on the pavement in chalk were encouraging words...<br />
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Dream big<br />
Be yourself<br />
You're a star<br />
You rock kid<br />
Have a great day<br />
Here is where your journey begins...<br />
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How nice to have lovely encouraging words, we could all do with a few of those in our working lives too I think.<br />
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On another subject, places at our <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/safeguarding-young-people-conference-2015-tickets-18602955942" target="_blank">Safeguarding Conference </a>are going like hotcakes... much faster than expected. We are going to see if we can make some more places available, but in the meantime book today if you want to be sure of a place!<br />
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Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-54866172137823471412015-09-23T00:54:00.001-07:002015-09-23T00:54:15.892-07:00Let young people play their partSorry for the gap in blog posts. One of my strengths (and weaknesses) is my passion for my job... I sometimes get involved in too many things at once!<br />
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It was our AGM this week and the undoubted stars of the show were the young people from Surrey Heath Youth Council who presented on the great practical work that they have done around preventing use of "legal highs" and anti-bullying.<br />
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I frequently go to meetings full of professionals (very often with not a single young person in sight) where issues such as self-harm, legal highs, mental health and bullying are discussed. The solutions that are come up with are generally the same... leaflets, messages via the professionals, a website etc.<br />
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Who are young people more likely to listen to? An old fogey like me rattling on about an issue on which I have no personal experience or a young person who may have directly experienced the issue or had a sibling or friend who has? I strongly believe that we should be turning to young people across the county to help with these issues. There are many young people who want to.<br />
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Often what is needed is not much more than the salary of a good youth worker to support young people in their work. The Citizenship Foundation ran a great session for us at a local school, where the young people were passionate about supporting their peers through issues. It was the kids who have had the tougher times in life, often from poorer backgrounds, who were the most engaged in the process. The Citizenship Foundation can come in and deliver, or alternatively train up local youth workers on their workshop materials.<br />
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Surely in these times of austerity it also makes economic sense? I am now looking for evidence that will prove (or disprove) my theory that it makes the best social and economic sense to create the conditions and support structures across the county so that many of these thorny societal issues affecting young people are being addressed primarily by youth-led initiatives. If you can supply any evidence either way I would be very grateful...<br />
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<br />Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-88451179961586478632015-08-12T06:27:00.001-07:002015-08-12T06:27:24.476-07:00A Plea to FundersI said that I was off for two weeks, but having taken an interest in all of the articles around Kids Company, I need to get something off my chest before I go.<br />
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It seems to me that the high level summary is about Kids Company is:<br />
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A long term successful charity needs Good delivery PLUS Good Fundraising PLUS Good Governance PLUS Good administrative systems.<br />
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The general media consensus seems to be that Kids Company made a fantastic difference to lots of young people's lives, although there were some practices ("pocket money" allegedly spent on drugs) which have attracted criticism. They also had fantastic fundraising capabilities.<br />
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The jury still seems to be out on the governance, the trustees are largely keeping quiet, presumably following due process for directors of a company that is insolvent, we don't yet know what was going on behind the scenes. What it certainly lacked was good financial and administrative systems - monitoring and evaluation of its' work, tracking its' finances, keeping a sensible level of reserves. There seems to have been a mantra that all money should be spent on the kids, not on administrative functions.<br />
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Funders are most usually willing to pay for Good delivery. But very often, they are not willing to pay for the other stuff - governance and administration. However, the Kids Company example proves that just being excellent at delivery is not enough. Every sensible funder should understand that a certain amount of money spent on administration is a good thing, not a bad thing. My plea to funders - please bear that in mind when funding charities!<br />
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<br />Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-49563725755394417602015-08-10T01:53:00.000-07:002015-08-10T01:53:21.492-07:00International Youth Day - 12th August<div class="MsoNormal">
I was asked by the Cabinet office last week if we could
provide examples of young people having a positive impact on their communities
and working hard to get on so they can be celebrated as part of international
youth day this week.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Whilst I know that there are lots of fabulous young people in
Surrey doing this stuff, I was concerned about whether the right people would
be around in Youth Organisations in mid-August to answer the call. However,
many of you are hard at work at your desks (or checking your emails on holiday –
naughty!) and our members have done us proud… there have been a flurry of
responses. Just a few:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<ul>
<li>Skillway nominated Josh Taylor – check out his <a href="http://www.joshingtalk.com/" target="_blank">website</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://eikon.org.uk/" target="_blank">Eikon</a>’s (@eikoncharity) Youth Development Board have been
working hard feeding back to trustees and organising an awards evening.</li>
<li>Through <a href="http://www.ymcaeastsurrey.org.uk/" target="_blank">YMCA East Surrey</a>’s extensive volunteer and
employability programme, called ‘Get Involved’, young people have been gaining
work experience and qualifications with a view to finding future employment.
Well done especially to the volunteers of the month – Frankie, Abbi and Sam.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.phab.org/" target="_blank">Epsom Phab</a> we have a fantastic group of young volunteers who
dedicate hours of their time to ensuring a wide range of activities are
provided for the children with and without disabilities at our club.</li>
</ul>
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Do encourage any young people you are working with to tweet
on the day (August 12) using the #aimhigh or #YouthDay.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Also, do use this to publicise opportunities that you have for
young people.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Just to give you some ideas about what you might
like to tweet about: </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Joe Bloggs from Surrey started her own social
enterprise at 20. Could you do the same? #AimHigh (including a picture with
with hashtag)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Under 25 and have a business idea? Here's how to start
(include link and hashtag)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Girlguiding gave me the opportunity to make a real
difference to my local community #AimHigh</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Could you be a volunteer and make a difference? Include
hashtag and weblink</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m off on holiday for the next two weeks, so there’ll be
a two week gap in my blog as I am away with hubby and kids to cycle in South Wales
for a week after which I will hopefully be relaxed enough to be able to sit still
on a beach in Cornwall for a week. See you in September.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-58685958507593395702015-08-03T01:37:00.000-07:002015-08-03T01:37:09.726-07:00Forgetting the pastSometimes it's good to remember and learn from the past (as individuals and nations). However, who out of us doesn't have something they would rather forget? Furthermore, who out of us doesn't have something we would rather the world couldn't find out about for the next ten, twenty, fifty years... that photo of me with a perm that I thought was so cool in the eighties...<br />
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Unfortunately the way that it has become the social norm for young people to live their lives online these days, their youthful indiscretions will often be exhibited or talked about online for all to see.<br />
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An interesting campaign called <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33690326" target="_blank">iRights</a> has been launched to allow children to delete their online past.<br />
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I am not sure how this would work in practice, but it's certainly an interesting idea. I am wondering whether there are any downsides (other than the logistics of achieving this), I can't immediately think of them. I would be interested to hear some experts discuss this!<br />
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Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-14630128284218135762015-07-27T00:37:00.001-07:002015-07-27T00:37:49.889-07:00Communilab - an idea whose time has comeI went to a meeting with David Hodge, the leader of Surrey CC, and a number of charity CEOs last week. These are regular meetings - about three times a year - to inform us about short and long-term financial planning and how it might affect the charity sector. The good news is that there have not so far been in the in year cuts from central government for 2015-6 that were once feared. The council will know more about the 2016 funding after 25th November. It is baffling to me how national finances are run. Councils, who need for efficiency reasons to give out contracts lasting, say, 5 years, do not know their next year's finances until a few months beforehand. <br />
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Surrey CCs overall income is remaining roughly flat over a number of years (increasing council tax receipts but decreasing monies from central government). However, the outgoings are increasing massively for reasons out of Surrey's control. Surrey has the largest population of 100 year olds in the country! Of course, with a particularly large elderly population comes the associated costs of care for conditions such as dementia. Furthermore, more babies with serious health conditions are surviving through to adulthood, also with associated care costs. Finally, lots of families with young children move into the county from London.<br />
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So, the council's finances are going to continue to be squeezed. This backs up a quote from NESTA:<br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">•<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i>“We
face seemingly intractable long-term economic and social challenges … radical
innovation is needed in public services to respond effectively to these
challenges.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">•<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Radical
new approaches require radical new actors. We need to combine the ingenuity and
initiative of a diverse group of innovators – from the public sector, private
companies and third sector, alongside users and communities – to find new
solutions to pressing economic and social problems.” </i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Michael Harris and David Albury. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The innovation imperative." <i>NESTA, London</i> (2009)<o:p></o:p></div>
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As many of you know, our Communilab community is bringing together just such a diverse group of innovators - public sector, private companies, third sector, users and communities AND also we plan to involve schools/universities. Communilab aims to create opportunities and solve problems for young people in Surrey. As budgets get squeezed further, we believe the potential benefits from Communilab will be huge. Already we are getting some great examples of collaboration - <a href="http://www.communilab.org/blog/youth-work-pitch-guildford-its-getting-closer" target="_blank">click here for more information on Youth Work on the Pitch,</a> our football collaboration between Leatherhead Youth Project, Lifetrain, Surrey FA, Active Surrey, Kings College and others. <a href="http://www.communilab.org/forum/collaborative-working/collaborative-issues-and-questions/youth-work-and-football" target="_blank">Click here to see the original collaboration conversation</a> that led to this work.</div>
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Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-4148719035240672222015-07-20T01:23:00.003-07:002015-07-20T01:23:39.159-07:00What is good mental health?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Apologies
for the lack of blog for a few weeks. A family bereavement followed by a couple
of weeks with a full diary playing catch up and my blog got neglected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">A
theme that comes up time and again in my work is young people’s mental health
in Surrey and it seems particularly appropriate to think about this now. I have
had discussions with various people and no one has come up with a definition of
what good mental health looks like. We have an idea of measures about good
physical health – body mass index, heart rates, cholesterol – and what we need
to do to achieve this – exercise, 5 a day, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">In
other areas of public activities there is a clear focus on the positive – a sense
of safety rather than a fear of crime. We have the much more proactively named “Supporting
Families” work rather than the “Troubled Families” programme. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">So,
with respect to mental health, I believe it is important to know what we are
aiming for. What does good mental health look like? And what can we do to get
there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">So
far, I have not managed to find an official definition of what good mental
health is. Can anyone provide me with one?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">In
the meantime, we do have some excellent feedback from the CAMHS Rights and
Participation team who asked young people what they thought it meant to be
emotionally healthy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">After a
discussion here is a list of what they believed could define good emotional
health: <br />
- Good independent coping mechanisms <br />
- Balanced range of emotions<br />
- Being able to stay positive even when times are tough. <br />
- Having the ability to learn from experiences and move forward positively.<br />
- Having a “Thirst for life” (Looking forward to the future positively).<br />
- Accepting there are bad days as well as good days. <br />
- Healthy understanding of your own thoughts, feelings and emotions.<br />
- Knowing your possibilities and being realistic.<br />
- Being able to make goals, and having hopes and dreams.<br />
- Feeling motivated.<br />
- Not being hard on yourself. <br />
- Being able to feel comfortable in "your own shell"<br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">A young person
also wrote a piece of text to describe what good emotional well being looks
like:</span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Good emotional
health is having good independent coping mechanisms to be able to successfully
deal with any situation that might arise in daily life. Good emotional health
is to have a balanced range of emotions, and to be able to express them all
healthily, whilst also learning from all experiences and move forward from them
positively. Good emotional health is staying positive even when times are
tough, and being aware that everyone has bad days from time to time. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Please do let me know if you have seen an official definition of what
good mental health looks like.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-63353826529820033062015-06-22T00:53:00.000-07:002015-06-22T00:53:03.352-07:00The Football World Cup...no, I'm not going to launch into a discussion about bribes ...and the whole FIFA scandal...don't get me started on that one...<br />
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The Football World Cup is going on right now. Did you know? It's in Canada. England are through to the last sixteen and are playing Norway at 9pm tonight (22nd June). You can watch it on BBC3. In case you have no idea what I am going on about, it's the Women's World Cup. I'm very glad that England's matches are being shown on mainstream TV, a big improvement over a few years ago.<br />
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So, why do I think it relevant to mention this in a blog about young people? The benefits of sport on mental health, physical health, resilience, etc, etc, are too well documented for me to go into here. It still goes to show the difference in role models offered up by society to young women and young men. So, it's very important that young woman are exposed to the right role models to consider that sport is for "people like them".<br />
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I hope that you will be encouraging the young people, especially young women, in your life to watch the football and be inspired by it.<br />
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<br />Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778309944483922472.post-5319623366096779792015-06-17T09:11:00.001-07:002015-07-20T01:22:28.834-07:00Equality and inequality<div class="MsoNormal">
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week of sharp contrasts. Last Thursday I went to a highly informative and
thought provoking seminar on child poverty organised by Surrey County Council
and The Walton Charity. The two speakers were Professor Tess Ridge from the University of Bath and Helen Caldwell, the Strategic Development office from North Somerset Council, who between them have extensive experience of understanding and overcoming child poverty.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Some
of the points that stood out for me:<o:p></o:p></div>
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- Living in poverty touches so many aspects of a child's life experience as they grow up.</div>
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- Children
as young as six living in poverty will try to protect their parents by not
bringing notes home from school that ask for money for, say, school trips.<o:p></o:p></div>
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- Low
income homes are often doubly hit because the work that they do get is highly
erratic, unstable and hence their already low incomes vary from one week to the next, creating a lot of uncertainty for the child.<o:p></o:p></div>
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- Participation
of poor children in after school informal learning is key to giving them better
life chances.<o:p></o:p></div>
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At the other end of the financial spectrum, on Monday I was highly privileged to be invited to attend the celebrations of the Magna
Carta at Runnymede in the presence of the Queen, Prince Philip, Princess Anne, Duke of Cambridge, David Cameron, the Attorney
General of the United States, and
MPs. It was a lovely event with lots of young people from schools around Surrey
participating in musical and ceremonial activities. It was a great opportunity to reflect on how most of us are lucky to live in one of the safest and most affluent countries in the world. Reflecting
on the actions of those barons 800 years ago, I particularly liked the closing
words by David Cameron: "What we do today will shape the world for many, many years to come."</div>
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What
we need to be doing today is working together to ensure that young people growing up in poverty here in Surrey (yes, there 23,000 of them in Surrey) have the same opportunities and life chances as the rest of us.<o:p></o:p></div>
Cate Newnes-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502441492200370076noreply@blogger.com0