Being Listened To

Being Listened To

As a child or young person, it often can be difficult to make your voice heard. At times, society does not always value the opinions or thoughts of children and they can be dismissed or ignored. For care experienced young person, there are an overwhelmingly large amount of people involved in their care. Often there are lots of decisions that need to be made and it can be hard to have a say in some of the big things that impact on our young people. Making their voice heard over so many different adults can be challenging. When a young person feels as though they are not listened to, they can feel invalidated, which can lead to emotional distress, feelings of frustration, anger, sadness and anxiety. This can exacerbate mental health issues and can have lasting damage on their mental health into adulthood. They can experience low self-esteem and self-worth, impacting on their confidence. It can make them feel isolated and lonely, lead to challenging behaviour and further vulnerability.

Inspire Scotland wants to counteract the negative impact that being care experienced can have on a young person. Therefore, we have prioritised “Being Listened To” as one of Inspire Scotland’s values. We want our young people to feel that their voice is important. We want them to know that their opinions matter, not only about their care plans, but in their everyday lives and the things that are important to them. We want them to know that we respect their thoughts, opinions and recognise their worth. We want to advocate for them, where they feel unable to do this themselves, to help give them more control over their lives. Where they are not able to have a choice over where they live at times, we hope to give them choices that can enrich their life and give them some ownership and autonomy.

Some of our young people have never been listened to before and therefore do not have the skills of recognising what think or feel, let alone the ability to voice their opinions or preferences. They need patience, understanding and dedication to work on building their emotional intelligence and confidence to express themselves. They need the consistent message that their voice matters and their opinions should be actively sought out repeatedly. Our young people will need support to ensure that their voice is heard in important meetings about their lives and that they feel it is actively listened to and seriously taken into consideration.

Where young people are told that their voice is important, it empowers them to speak up for themselves and gives them a platform to build and develop their confidence to participate. Their feelings, thoughts and beliefs are validated as legitimate and worthy, which can alleviate stress, anxiety and feelings of isolation. It will build a sense of trust with Inspire Scotland and the individual staff members who care for them and make them feel included and valued. It will help to reduce conflict in some situations, actively listening to the issues facing our young people and helping to address what is happening for them effectively. This teaches valuable life skills and ability to tackle challenges with a solution-focused mindset.

Inspire Scotland is always looking to provide the best experiences possible for our young people and we are interested in hearing about their experiences and learning how we can improve the care that they receive. We want to hear their suggestions and criticism to continuously improve our services and look at the way that we practice. Being listened to means that our young people are more likely to remain engaged with Inspire Scotland.  Research shows it is important for young people to have ongoing, supportive relationships into adulthood, particularly when they do not have the traditional sense of family and support.

We also want to encourage our staff to use their voice, as Inspire Scotland wants to listen to their thoughts and ideas as well to continue to improve our service. We want our staff to feel valued and a part of the decision-making process wherever possible. By working collaboratively, we want to ensure the best possible outcomes for our young people and our staff members.