Connected Collective is a group of care experienced young people, who came together to create a Social Work/Care staff training session on how to better involve young people in decisions that affect their lives. Through conversations with and feedback from young people, as well as practice experience, there was a felt sense that young people could be better involved in decisions that impact their life, and that our workforce would benefit from training/reflective opportunities to support them to do this. It seemed fitting to co-produce with care-experienced young people a training session for staff, to reflect on the lived experience of young people and what could be done differently.
The group thought of a short, time limited project (maybe 3 months) that would result in a half day training session, rolled out within a year. Beginning with an information sharing session in February 2024 to find young people wanting to take part, a core group of five young people started on this journey. Fast forward to June 2025, and after numerous meetings, a name change and new people joining, we still haven’t created a training session (that’s to come), but what we do have is something so much more.
The group made a commitment to weekly, young person-led sessions, focusing on themes important to them. These themes included:
- First impressions, first visit
- Assessment
- Care-planning
- Privacy
Week on week they created a safe space that embraces:
- connection, sharing and reflection
- fun and creativity
- recognition of shared circumstances, thoughts and feeling; without losing the uniqueness of their individual experiences
- empowerment to make changes for other care-experienced young people, through encouraging non care-experienced people to think, feel and do differently
While we know we want to have a training session created, very little is planned within each session, although there are some rituals we stick to religiously. Creative workshops are embedded in every Connected Collective session; we usually start a zen tangle, but new mediums are chosen by the Artist in Residence. These promote relaxation, focus and reduce anxiety. This is also the purpose of our weekly pizza and drinks; the second ritual we religiously keep. Emotional and creative expression has been intrinsic to the ebb and flow of sharing experiences, stories and feelings. Despite our unstructured approach, each session becomes productive, with experiences and ideas shaped into tangible training content.
The young people in Connected Collective leave each week feeling proud to be part of it. They feel listened to, with a sense of familiarity, routine and structure. They also feel full up on pizza and drinks! Above all, they are supportive, compassionate and empathic of each other and others. It takes a lot of courage and strength to trust, be vulnerable and share your experiences with others. As facilitators, being part of Connected Collective has been thought-provoking, challenging, moving and humbling.
The group curated an exhibition, displayed at 2 Royal Avenue, from 17-21 February 2025. The exhibition showcases a number of creative pieces the young people have worked on as they shared their experiences and talked about their journey through care. It is an invitation for the wider community to step into their shoes for a brief moment in time; a snapshot to help see into what they are thinking and feeling. Over 3000 people visited the exhibition. The group was also approached and encouraged to apply for funding, and were awarded £3000 towards development of digital training content, which we are currently creating. The exhibition will be displayed in other venues throughout the rest of 2025.
The intention is for the training to be co-delivered by young people in Connected Collective. The group wants the training to be feeling based, to help staff be “comfortable with being uncomfortable”, and connect to their lived experiences. They also want the training to be hopeful and for staff to leave with a felt sense of a different way of feeling, thinking and being. We anticipate that the training, when rolled out will have a significant impact on social work/care staff, and contribute to service improvement and more positive experiences for children and young people with care experience.
