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As a part of the new roles that we are seeing in the SEND Service, to support the Change Partnership Programme (CPP) work, we sat down with our third newly appointed Young Person's Champion. We sat down with our third Young Person's Champion, Alex. As always with these profiles, we talk about the role and what impact it will have for children and young people with SEND, their parents and the professional's that support them.
What is your role/what does this role involve?
My role as a Young People’s Champion is to put children and young people with SEND at the heart of everything I do. To work alongside, and represent the views, thoughts and ideas of the children and young people with SEND, what they would like to see in the services and support that they and their families receive. This could be anything from how they feel on school transport, what barriers they would like to overcome up to how or wanting to set up a bank account for their selves or keeping a house for themselves. This then ensures that the Local Offer website is co-produced and more accessible for children and young people with SEND.
Why is your role important to children and young people and families in Swindon?
My role as a Young Peoples Champion is important to:
- Ensure the services from across the local area are co-produced with children and young people.
- Raise awareness of and promote the services that are on the local offer website which benefit the lives of children and young people with SEND and their families.
- Ensure that services communicate effectively with children and young people with SEND and their families.
What are your goals in your new role?
- To ensure children and young people have as many ways as possible to have their voices heard about the services and support they receive.
- To make an ongoing process to collect feedback by gathering, analysing and sharing the changes necessary.
- To improve communication channels and make it easier i.e. on the Local Offer website to ensure the information is clearly accessible for children and young people.
- To make sure I represent and act on behalf of children and young people with SEND for any service improvement and planning that helps improve their way of life.
- To build as many relationships as possible with children and young people with SEND and external/internal stakeholders who commit to working with children and young people with SEND. This will allow me to network more easily and get results for children and young people quicker.
What do you love in your new role?
Being disabled myself this role and its aims resonates with me in a lot of ways. Understanding what it is like to not have a voice of my own at times, gives me the inspiration to be an example to children and young people with SEND. I aim to use my lived experience to show that you can achieve great things if you have big dreams, think outside the box, overcome barriers, develop your own independence and most importantly have your own voice. I love the idea of being an example of a positive person that some may need. Also, I love helping children, young people and their families aspire to do better and be better than the way they feel or have been made to feel. I love encouraging children and young people to also think big and not just limiting themselves to everyday jobs/things. Finally, I enjoy learning new things that can help me develop in the field of SEND that I will apply to any other role I enter.
You can get to know more about members of the SEND Service and view their 'All About Me' profiles, on the Meet the SEND Service page.
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