Shine is privileged to be a part of the told stories of a growing number of Care Leavers who are choosing to work with Shine. Our engagement events over the course of National Care Leavers Week 2024 have shown that so much of the time our young people live the behaviours of this year’s theme ‘All of us, we are one’. This energises everyone at Shine to stay totally focused on driving up aspirations and connecting young people to the resources they need.
During National Care Leavers Week, a number of events took place for our Shine participants, the first being a trip to Drayton Manor theme park. The feedback after the day really highlighted how much these activities are appreciated by the young people SHINE supports, increases engagement and encourages camaraderie:
"Such a good day out and everyone just clicked and got on so well"
‘"haven’t looked at my phone all day, honestly cant remember the last time that happened its been a good day"
"Today made me see I want to do more like this like I’m definitely up for seeing these lads again we can help each other out"
We were also delighted to be invited by the Rees Foundation to the opening of another Rees Community Café at Three Trees Community Centre in Chelmsley Wood. It was an opportunity for the Shine team to meet colleagues from other services and spend time in a relaxed space with some inspiring young people.
Shine already uses this Community Centre for support sessions with young people and we see this as an ongoing opportunity to connect our care leaver community with the wider community.
One of our young people created a beautiful wreath during on of the interactive activities.
As National Care Leavers Week 2024 draws to a close it felt like the right time to re-launch our regular newsletter for SHINE. It will keep everyone updated from the young people we work with, to our colleagues at SJMT, the growing number of Shine volunteers and our colleagues from other services.
For more information about SHINE, visit the Young People section of our website.
Comments