#CareDay – Edinburgh College staff undergo bespoke training in partnership with Hub for Success

The Corporate Parenting training was one of the most impactful learning sessions I have participated in. To hear the lived experiences, particularly of Edinburgh College students, really helps us to gain a better understanding of their needs and how we as a College can better support them in their educational journey. I am proud to work for an organisation which promotes the importance of listening to, and learning from, our Care Experienced students. Also, just to add, I still often reflect on the session – and in particular the exercise with the pieces of string highlighting just how very, very complex the system is – and how challenging that must be for the young person.  Having advocacy to support and help navigate all of that must be so important in that journey and supporting improved life chances.

I thoroughly enjoyed the session and, although I knew that the care system was convoluted and complex, the exercise with the child in care at the centre, and then multiple strings out to many, many bodies/organisations was very powerful.  At the centre of it all is a child who needs care but is often missing the basics most of us take for granted – a loving, supportive family who will protect you.  I know that many people try very hard to make the multi-agency model work but it often doesn’t. So, thank you for the training.  Having two former care experience students there was also very powerful – they have done so well but have clearly had difficult challenges. I would recommend this training to anyone – it really makes you think about the issue from a different angle.

The HUB for Success training session was one of the best training sessions that I have attended. The practical workshop, which was designed so simply, demonstrated the complexities a child experiences when they are taken into care. It was harrowing to see the vast amount of people that they come into contact with, some so fleetingly that it seems like a blink of an eye, which leaves them confused, frightened and let down as they are passed from pillar to post. What made the training even more emotive was that we had the great honour of having the lovely two ladies who were Care Experienced and now work for HUB for Success sharing their experiences with us, their challenges, emotions, lack of trust, and behaviours that are triggered by the detrimental memories of those experiences that will never go away.   The best way to understand an experience is to hear it from those who have gone through the experience, that is, if they are able to share their story, only then do you start to understand their journey and the ‘demons’ they face every day. As practitioners it is extremely important for us to have a better understanding of the challenges these students have experienced to allow some flexibility for that student to help support them to succeed.

The team at the Hub for Success really enjoy delivering the CPD workshop to our colleagues at Edinburgh College. The workshop, designed and delivered in partnership with our CE student ambassadors, is a great opportunity for rich discussion about care experience and learner experience. For us it is also an opportunity to hear more about the amazing work that so many of our colleagues are doing to support our CE students through their educational journey; we use this learning to share good practice across the rest of the partnership.