A Project on Improving Emotional Wellbeing and Employability for Care Leavers in Europe

1. A Project on Improving Emotional Wellbeing and Employability for Care Leavers in Europe

2. aim: To improve the employment prospects of care leavers by addressing their social and emotional skills activity: To create a single model of social and emotional health and wellbeing training for care leavers across Europe To create five individual models of employability development for care leavers

3. funded by the EACEA Lifelong Learning Programme partners: North Lincolnshire Leaving Care Service Middlesbrough Leaving Care Service with Irish Association of Young People in Care Academy of Management, Poland Centre for Promoting Lifelong Learning, Romania Family Child Youth Association, Hungary

4. how is our project innovative? • Each country involved in the pilot has a different system for supporting care leavers but some common issues - including low self-esteem and confidence which can lead to difficulty in managing relationships and securing employment • Our innovation is to address emotional health and wellbeing and the development of social-emotional skills as a way to enhance employability • Each country is piloting employability opportunities for care leavers in their context • Jointly, we are developing a set of materials to use with care leavers to develop their emotional-social skills • We will show that we can help young people feel more positive about themselves and their relationships and therefore feel more confident to seek work

5. some examples of employability activity Each partner developed their own approaches to employability. Here are some examples. North Lincolnshire - A weekly drop-in service provided to children in care and care leavers. Gives advice and guidance from the qualified employability staff. Help includes assistance with resumes, job applications, interviews, student finance and moving on to Higher Education. Also provide the opportunity to talk about any issues, concerns or interests that arise such as general discussion about work and life. Work placements made available within the local authority. Poland - Diagnostic counselling interviews to establish young people’s needs, skills and interests. Young people then given a plan giving details of vocational training relating to their specific needs and given support with job searching and mentoring from both adult and peer mentors.

6. examples of employability activity II Romania - Young people working in teams to develop a farm business. Work together to create business plans, learn collaborative and business-planning skills, finance and marketing. Provides opportunities to develop self-management and reflection, also decision-making and team work. Ireland - Supported employment experience within IAYPIC, including training and induction, access to qualifications and further training in specific skills. Working with the IAYPIC team on projects, attending meetings, preparing and delivering workshops and presentations. Also working as peer advisors. Leading training on the Emotional Health and Wellbeing pilot.

7. piloting the social & emotional skills training • The Social and Emotional skills materials have been created collectively by the partners. They cover self-confidence, self-esteem, goal setting, communication, presentation skills and self-reflection • They are built on evidence from each country and some existing practice • Each country has piloted the materials with groups of young people, some with young people as trainers • Each country has used different methods to pilot the materials • All pilots have been evaluated by the young people and group facilitators, the final materials will be produced as a result of the pilots and the input of young people in each country

8. results from the social & emotional skills training Different partners piloted the training materials in different ways: Poland - The young people worked on the programme during a summer camp. This enabled them to learn from the materials and participate in group activities that reinforced the learning from the programme. Middlesbrough - The social-emotional skills programme was delivered over a series of weeks and focused on activity related to each topic. For example, young people built their team working skills on a high rope-course. Hungary - The social-emotional skills programme was delivered to groups of young people. The result of the work was a greater openness about the difficulties young people faced and a willingness to get to know and work with each other. Ireland - The group work on social and emotional skills was led by young people in the project over a series of weeks. The group worked together very well and as a result has increased in confidence and self-esteem. They will be exploring ways to campaign and influence policy relating to young people leaving care in Ireland.

9. Project Team in Lodz, Poland March 2009

10. Project Team Working Lodz, Poland

11. Hungarian Young People Using Trust Games

12. Polish Young People during the pilot on Emotional Health and Well-Being

13. some early messages from our project Some young people who have been very active in the project gave their views about the impact of their involvement in the project: “Our self-esteem has grown so much and we are proud of what we have achieved during the project.” “We now know how to speak in groups which helps with interviews.” “We have presentation skills, ability and courage to give presentations. We have new people skills and understand turn-taking.” “Professionalism has come from the project work which will help us greatly with employment.” “The project has been an eye-opener into how we deal with our thoughts and feelings.”

14. what to expect by the end of the project • All project resources available at no cost at http://leavingcare.org and • http://www.l-ifeproject.eu • Five evidenced employability models for working with care leavers • One set of training materials, piloted and evaluated across our European partnership, which support care leavers in developing their social-emotional skills • One set of facilitator materials to support the training materials • Independent evaluation of the work • Full final report, including project evidence

15. For more information about the project, including downloadable documents and resources, visit: http://www.l-ifeproject.eu or http://www.leavingcare.org To read our blog, visit: http://www.l-ifeprojecteu.posterous.com To follow us on twitter visit: http://twitter.com/l_IFEprojectEU Contact: lucy.sweetman@catch-22.org.uk for more information. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission (LLP-Leonardo da Vinci). This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.