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YPSU

Over the past few years, we have been running Young People Speaking Up (YPSU) projects in the East of England, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.  Due to funding cuts we are not currently running these services.  However, we are able to offer any of the below work and if you are interested in working with VoiceAbility, please contact Graham Fitzgerald on graham.fitzgerald@voiceability.org.

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School and the transition to adulthood is a challenge for all young people. Young people with learning difficulties, mental health problems and other disabilities can find is especially hard to have their voices heard and to make their own choices around how they progress into the adult world.

VoiceAbility work with young people, aged 11-25, in a variety of ways to ensure that they have a voice, provide them with an opportunity to learn new skills and gain confidence and to support them to speak up about what is important to them.

All of our projects are designed and led by young people and contribute towards meeting Ofsted requirements, as well as meeting the Every Child Matters outcomes and the Aiming High core objectives around participation and feedback.

Over 200 young people have accessed our services each year and our high-quality practice has been recognized through a number of awards including a national award from the DfES, a CSIP Award for Putting People in Control & a national Wavemakers award.

I have got better at working as a team and making choices Young person on YPSU project 

YPSU can offer 5 types of service:

1. Advocacy for Annual Reviews and Transition or for specific issues:

VoiceAbility staff are able to provide one to one support for young people prior to and at their annual reviews to help them to build on their self advocacy skills and ensure that their views are heard. This is particularly key at the transition stage when young people are making important decisions about their futures.

We are also able to deliver One2One issue based advocacy for young people. This aims to provide support which will enable the young person to speak up for themselves. The advocate will enable young people to gain access to information, explore and understand their options, and make their views and wishes known.

2. One2One Mentoring in Schools or Colleges:

VoiceAbility is able to work in partnership with schools or colleges to provide One2One mentoring to students on a wide range of issues identified by the individual.

This is a holistic and open ended service, and the issues may relate to academic or other life issues according to the needs of the young person. Our project workers can work as a link between the young people and college/school staff, enabling the young people to talk about any issues that were troubling them or that they wanted to tackle.

Some examples of issues that we have worked on with young people on are:

• Supporting them to arrange work experience
• Supporting them to take responsibility for themselves
• Supporting them to increase social activities
• Supporting them with getting along with friends
• Creating a support plan with them

3. Family Fusion:

VoiceAbility’s Family Fusion project provides families with a tailored learning programme that will address their specific needs and barriers, and enable disabled children and their families to achieve their goals.

The project can address specific individual barriers faced by children and parents and create the opportunity for families to learn together, build relationships and develop new skills.

4. Getting a Life:

VoiceAbility can offer group workshops which usually run weekly from one to three hours outside school provision, although the young people may sometimes want to plan longer trips out into the community.

As with all of our work, the young people lead the development of the project depending on what is important to them. They have focused on many topics, including:

• Making choices
• Social skills and communication
• Confidence and self esteem
• Team work
• Assertiveness
• Travel skills and safety
• Money skills
• Independence skills

It’s not just about planning and making things but also it improves other’s lives around us, for them not to judge us about how we are, but to treat us as equals.
Young person on Getting a Life project

5. YPSU in schools:

VoiceAbility can work with schools to provide a range of self advocacy solutions for young people aged between 13 and 19.

YPSU is aimed at young people wishing to build their confidence levels and gain new skills during school, or as an extended school activity.

The sessions enable young people to prepare for a more independent and active life in the community.

Our sessions focus on a range of topics, depending on the wishes of the young people. These include, but aren’t limited to:

• Making choices (work, housing, money etc)
• Social skills and Communication
• Confidence and Self Esteem
• Team Work
• Assertiveness
• Emotions
• Identity and Awareness

You can find out more about our YPSU work by viewing our YPSU brochure below.