Reflect, Refocus and Reset

As we enter the next phase of The Promise, it’s important we take time to reflect on all the positive work we have done to #KeepThePromise throughout Inspire Scotland.

The Inspire Pedagogy reflects the critical importance of relationships and is underpinned by attachment theory; it is trauma informed and therapeutic. Inspire Scotland introduced the implementation of The Solihull Approach within our pedagogy in October 2021. In line with the recommendations identified within The Promise, The Solihull approach focuses on the importance not only on the value of containment for young people but provides a framework in to help ‘contain’ the workforce within their roles as residential childcare workers. The Solihull Approach further reinforces the foundations of The Promise as it is fundamentally based on listening to the carer and the young person so that, together, they can find the best way to move forward. Over half of our staff teams are now trained in The Solihull Approach, with more training dates scheduled for the upcoming months.

Our staff team are encouraged to utilise reflective sessions with our external partner who specialises in reflective practice and creative supervision services. These sessions can provide a safe space to reflect on practice, either individual or in teams, that affords opportunities to develop new behaviours and new norms in the culture of the staff team and home.

When recruiting the right people to love and care for our young people, Inspire recognise the importance of an individual’s values. We have a value-based recruitment process, and managers are encouraged to tailor the questions and interview process to adapt the individual needs of the young people and their home.  

We created our Events Team in 2021 and began creating a calendar of fun memories for the young people in our care. Since the creation of our events team, we have hosted Inspire’s annual football tournament three years in a row and Inspire’s Summer Fun Day twice with this years scheduled for August. Both days have proven to create a fun and positive space for our young people to get together, meet new friends and feel a sense of family and community. At our latest Football tournament, we had a turnout of over 250 attendants, made of up our young people, staff teams and their families. As of July, we have now had some of our young people attend our events meeting so they can assist with the planning of the events and share their ideas.

 In line with the recommendation from The Promise, which states there should be no barriers to relationships between young people and those that matter to them, we recently reviewed the way we keep in touch with young people who have moved on from our care. Acknowledging the importance of learning from lived experience, we created the new process alongside a young person and used her positive experience of keeping in touch to create our new process.  

Staff teams are delivering reflective training which focuses on the foundations of The Promise and how these links into the great work we do with our children and young people and begins discussions around what still needs to be done for Inspire Scotland to #KeepThePromise.

A staff member from each house has completed the ‘Framing’ training from Each and Every Child which aims to shift public attitude and improve the life chances of children, young people and their families. The aim is to embed the toolkit recommendations across our houses with the aims of creating a new narrative of care experience and the care system. Inspire have expressed their interest to collaborate with Each and Every Child through their training for trainer’s programme so we provide all our staff members with the training.

All our children and young people are encouraged to meet with an independent advocacy worker as they play a key role in helping young people understand their rights, share their needs and views, so they are listened to in decisions which affect their lives. Our staff teams have been reflecting on children’s rights, through reflective training sessions, and how they underpin all work we do with children and young people, reinforcing that children’s rights are often most realised through loving and attentive relationships with caregivers.

As we enter the next phase of The Promise, we are currently receiving feedback from our children and young people to capture their views on what still needs done by Inspire to #KeepThePromise. We’ll use this feedback to shape our plan moving forward, keeping what matters to children and young people at the core of our work.

 - Nicole Mulheron, Promise Development Worker.