How I learnt that We Belong
Shabnam Karim from our Care Leavers Collective reflects on her experience of co-creating the We Belong programme
Building a supportive community and creative platform to empower children in care.
We Belong is a programme designed to tackle loneliness; building a supportive community and creative platform to empower children in care.
This will be done through a series of sessions that provide a breathing space and guide the young people to try new things, learn new skills, uncover hidden talents and creativity; all while empowering them to make change.
The programme is kindly supported by Co-op Foundation, part of the national Building Connections Fund supported by HM Government and National Lottery Community Fund
The programme was co-designed by a collective of care leavers in partnership with A New Direction in 2019.
Over the course of four creative sessions (March-April 2019) our Care Leavers Collective came together to co-design We Belong. Through creative mapping and research, conversations, creative writing, visioning, arts, and project design activities the Collective produced a series of four project designs. These designs centred on the themes of Healing (or Breathing Space), Creative Expression, Connections and Awareness, which emerged as core to the process and came to serve as the ethos and foundation of We Belong.
When taking part on this programme, I did not know what I was going to expect. This project helped me to build my confidence as I am shy and reserved individual. I met other people like myself from the care system which later developed into new friendships which is nice because I have never had a friend who went through the care system like myself. I learnt new things such as making short awareness videos. Overall it was an unbelievable experience and a memorable happening.
Member of Care Leavers Collective
The programme is for 13 to 18-year-old children in care / care leavers in the London local authorities of Brent, Harrow, Ealing and Barnet.
10 total sessions in total:
Over the Autumn we are working in close collaboration with Barnet, Brent, Ealing and Harrow local authorities to reach out to young people in care and invite them to join the programme in Spring 2020.
If you work for a local authority, or work with children in care in these boroughs, and can help us connect up to useful teams or contacts in your borough, please do get in touch.
Shabnam Karim from our Care Leavers Collective reflects on her experience of co-creating the We Belong programme
New funding confirmed to help us explore the benefits that culture and creativity can have on the lives of children and young people in care.