What’s next for Raising Your Game?

The first phase of Raising Your Game is ending. From November, phase two will focus on helping offenders or those at risk of offending to turn their lives around.

Raising Your Game aims to help young people with a learning disability or communication difficulty who are at risk of offending to enhance their life chances. It has two phases.

Phase one is now ending. Its aim was to get young people with a learning disability to influence the services they use. It culminated in the development of participation guidelines, which help young people to take part in decision making within these services.

Another key objective was the development of ICAN’s Talk about talk communication difficulty awareness training, for professionals who work with young people with a communication difficulty. It was piloted in East Kent and will be rolled out across the regions from November.

A new phase

November marks the start of phase two. Over three years, it will deliver life coaching for those at risk of offending, in partnership with Nacro.

This course will have five modules, which have been developed with the young people from the first stage of the project. They relate to the things they think are important in their lives and might reduce the risk of them offending.

The course aims to empower participants to take control of their lives, understand the choices they make and recognise the options that are available to them. The five modules are:

• Choosing my life: understanding why young people may become involved in crime and the consequences of this.
• People in my life: understanding who may be involved in a young person’s life, the differing relationships they have and how they can access support.
• My healthy life: linking young people to healthy activities, explaining how drugs and alcohol can affect them and dealing with budgeting.
• Enjoying my life: connecting young people to meaningful leisure activities.
• Building my life: connecting young people to volunteering, work and education, to increase their employability.

 Phase two will also see young people delivering I CAN’s Talk about Talk training to organisations within the youth justice system. Plus, it will create a best practice model, based on the young people participating in the project’s partner organisations.

Young people from the Raising Your Game project across England went on an expedition, as part of their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

Camping, cooking and map reading were all on the agenda for 15 members of Raising Your Game, as they worked towards their Duke of Edinburgh’s Bronze Award. As part of the expedition section of the award, they had to complete an outdoor adventure, comprising two days and one night away.

A week in the country

Young people with a learning disability or communication difficulty from Raising Your Game groups in the south of England were the first to tackle the challenge. In July, eight young people spent a week at the Swattenden Centre in Cranbrook, Kent, and completed their practice expedition. The participants were Joe, 21 (from Avon and Somerset); Mike, 16; Javid, 16, and Dion, 15, (from Hertfordshire) and Kay, 16; Harley, 22; David, 19; and Jason, 16, (from East Kent).

By the end of the week, they were able to put the skills they had learned to good use in
the two-day practice expedition. They had also built on their teamwork skills, improved their confidence, increased their stamina, overcome challenges and achieved personal milestones.

Near completion

Seven group members from the north completed both their practice and assessed expeditions in August. Darian, 14; Vicky, 25; Dean, 21; and Lee, 23, (from Leeds) and Troy, 21; Lucy, 20; and Peter, 21, (from the West Midlands) went on a trip to the Peak District.

Their agreed aim was to complete a two-day expedition, from Moscar Lodge to Moorside Farm, camping at the North Lees Campsite in Hathersage. The 25km journey would be completed on foot. All seven young people completed the task and achieved their certificates at the end.