At St Christopher’s we are committed to involving our service users in the design, delivery and continuous improvement of services.
We believe that the children and young people who use our services are best placed to help us to shape them.
There are many different ways for young people to get involved, either for a couple of hours or as a more regular commitment.
Children and young people are encouraged to join St Christopher’s participation panel, Challenge 4 Change (C4C). Challenge 4 Change is made up of young people from across our services, members of the Council of Trustees and the Senior Management Team. The panel is charged with collecting the views of all service users to ensure that they are involved in the running of the organisation and their views are heard at the highest level within the organisation. C4C members also:
- Produce newsletters and film shorts
- Interview potential staff as part of our recruitment process
- Assess our services for quality
- Plan events
- Issue their stamp of approval on leaflets and policies that have met their readability / plain English standards
- Review policies and procedures
- Attend external events, such as the Associate Parliamentary Group for Looked-After Children and Care Leavers
What else is going on?
Employment: Service users are recruited to paid positions as Young People's Participation Assistants or YPPAs. YPPAs help us to encourage involvement, gather the views of children and young people, plan events and chair the participation panel.
The Wrap: Recent consultation with our service users was very clear - they want to be communicated with in a different way. They told us that young people don't read the leaflets we give them, but that they would watch film clips. With funding from Ashden Trust, one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts, and the Big Lottery Fund, young people from St Christopher’s are now working with professional film makers to create a series of films that communicate important issues in a relevant and engaging way. Find out more about the Wrap project or watch the films here.
C4C Approved: C4C look at all printed information that St Christopher's gives to young people and makes sure that it is written in a way that is easy to understand and avoids jargon. Only then does it get the C4C seal of approval.
Celebration of Achievement: These annual events take place regionally and nationally to recognise and celebrate the successes of young people, foster carers and staff who work for St Christopher's.
Service User Intranet: St Christopher's has its own dedicated intranet site for service users: Youth:Uploaded. This has information on e-safety, what's happening in St Christopher's, how to get involved and a chance to give feedback.
Trustees on a boat! St Christopher's trustees are linked to particular services and support their open days, celebrations and events. Our C4C trustees and directors even come on weekends away with C4C including our latest team building barge trip on the Grand Union Canal.
Caring for children and young people since 1870