Its been a busy few weeks here, with lots of progress! Unfortunately this has meant that the Now Including blog has suffered! So here is a little update:
One young person, in Glasgow, is working with me on the Participation strand of our project. Two young people, in Glasgow and Fife, are helping me to develop the ways in which Transitional Support communicate who they are and what they do to a variety of audiences.
We’ve taken over a wall in Includem’s Glasgow office, where we are documenting some of our thoughts, and have invited others to contribute (first picture).
A little more detail on each project strand:
Understanding:
We have identified a number of problem areas and barriers within this area, and have begun to develop a few solutions too;
Problem: Young people not feeling informed about TSS. It takes time for young people to build trust with their worker and Includem when they first move over from Core to TSS, or when they first begin with Includem. This will always be the case, but we want to ensure that road is as smooth as possible, to prevent young people from disengaging early on, before trust has had time to develop.
Potential solutions: A leaflet or ‘referral pack’ which a worker can deliver to a young person on their first meeting. Something similar already exists for Includem’s Impact team. This would include business card sized profiles on each worker a young person is likely to meet. These would be casual and personable in nature - to allow young people to feel they know a little about each worker before they meet them all. It would also contain a short synopsis of the TSS service, how it differs from Core, how it is the same and the helpline number would be clearly visible. The main page would contain the words of young people who have worked with TSS, explaining how TSS helped them and what it is they can do.
Problem: Young people can struggle to explain Includem and TSS to other services they link in with. Effectively explaining Includem and their work can be useful to young people when plans are being made regarding outside agencies they might also work with.
Potential solutions: A document which can be supplied by Includem workers to young people, who can then pass it on to outside agencies. This would need to be very clear and concise, and young people would be supported to make sure that the recipient read it there and then - to make sure the information is taken in, understood and that any questions are answered.
Problem: Outside agencies not fully understanding Includem’s work and taking this into account when making plans for support. Whilst work is done at a senior level to have Includem’s work recognised across the sector, young people would benefit from better understanding and stronger working relationships across agencies at the worker level.
Potential solutions: Something which helps workers to get the message about Includem out to other agencies they work alongside. This might be a well designed business card, a leaflet, or even a teabag. We’re not sure yet!
Problem: Includem’s website is not built with young people in mind. It can be hard for young people to find out information about Includem independantly. It is natural that those with internet access will “google” Includem - but all current results are aimed at professionals and can be quite inaccessible, or even off putting.
Potential solutions: The Includem website should be redesigned to function for young people. From this central page, professionals would be able to navigate to a “backstage” site, containing the same resources and information as the current one. The new young person’s website would also include information about what to expect when working with Includem, some information about teams, information about other young peoples’ experiences of Includem, information on how else to involved with Includem and an area to leave feedback on the service.
Participation:
As well as identifying areas in which both young people and Includem would benefit from young people’s involvement, we are developing a framework for participation going forward: How should Includem approach the involvement of young people? What are the principles of good participation?
Problem: How can we meaningfully involve young people in Includem recruitment and induction training?
Potential solution: A well constructed structure for Includem to follow when inviting young people to take part in recruitment sessions. They should be given the chance to contribute to the design of recruitment and training sessions, and be equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary. There should also be time for reflection afterwards - both on the process itself - what worked, what didn’t, and on skills developed and gained by those involved.
Problem: How can Includem gather meaningful, honest and valuable feedback on their service, as young people exit? The current “Your Views” questionnaire is not effective. It is not always completed, the purpose is not clear, and the information gathered is not well used.
Potential solution: We’ve taken time to consider a few different options for this. Should it be a game? Should it be face to face? Online? Paper based? On the phone? Who is the right person to deliver this? Should a young person do this in isolation? After a lot of consideration, we feel that the best course of action is that there are a range of “delivery agents” who can collect this feedback from young people. This is a decision which should be made on a case by case basis, and in consultation with young people, workers and team managers. “Delivery agents” could refer to workers, team managers, senior managers, support staff or self-driven. This is all still under review, but we are excited to develop a great solution for this!
Problem: How can young people and workers find out about participation opportunities? Opportunities for young people to participate in a variety of ways, both inside and outside of Includem, are presented to Includem frequently, and from lots of different places. How can we get this information out into the open, and ensure that young people are properly supported to take part?
Potential solution: There are a few solutions here. One: Participation in service development, or in another project should fall under “Eduction, Employment & Training” within the ABL programme. Two: opportunities should be included in Includem’s monthly newsletter. To gain readership, team managers should read these aloud at team meetings; this allows workers to discuss which young people might wish to take up the opportunities. Three: these should also be posted in a public space within Includem (perhaps in the “resource room” - where computers etc are available for use by young people) so that they are visible to young people and workers. Four: Again, these should be published on the Young Person website.
Sounds good. What else? How are we going to make this happen? How are we going to make this last?
We are prototyping several of these ideas already; this will lead to further development, and hopefully implementation! By working alongside different people and different parts of Includem, the word of the project is spreading, and buy-in is building!
Workers, team managers, service managers, development & communication managers etc all have an important role to play in making sure that this project has a legacy, and that the work put in by young people is respected and taken on board.
