On Friday 1st November, Josie and Rachael from CASCADE’s Public Involvement team, along with researcher Phil Smith, were lucky to get to spend the day at Voices From Care Cymru’s annual “PROUD to be me” event, which celebrates care-experienced young people all across Wales.
After an early start to make our way over to Swansea City Stadium (and some tense moments waiting for the go-ahead to start helping ourselves to the tea and coffee…) the team set up our CASCADE stand and got chatting to faces both new and familiar.
We said hello to lots of the young people who we regularly work with in our CASCADE Voices research group; it is always so lovely to see them outside of the setting of our bi-monthly research advisory sessions. There were professionals and representatives from a range of other organisations, including NYAS, Fostering Network, Cardiff University’s Class Cymru – and plenty of proud young people, families, and supporting staff from VFCC who showed up to take part in a day of activities and hear from the fantastic speakers.
Later in the morning, we heard some very moving and inspiring talks by care-experienced young people. Their stories and thoughts shaped the atmosphere of the day – showcasing the resilience and determination in the ongoing lives of those who have lived experience of the care system. This is something we are very aware of due to the nature of our work in CASCADE, but having a whole Friday to absorb it from other organisation’s work – and from young people themselves – was a privilege.
However, we weren’t just there to listen and get away from the office: Phil Smith, a CASCADE researcher, shared his plans for an upcoming project exploring the role of the Personal Advisor in the lives of young people leaving care.
We ran several side-by-side creative sessions to consult with the attendees of PROUD about their initial thoughts on what this research should explore.
These included a mask-making activity (to begin to think about what a good PA should look like); writing a postcard to the researcher (to tell them about what is important to ask and think about in the research project); and a graffiti wall brainstorming activity. The team heard some fantastic ideas and learned a great deal. Personally, for me it was a brilliant insight into the importance of early public involvement work right at the start – even long before! – a research project gets up off the ground and running.
We may have left a trail of glitter, feathers and postage stamps behind us as we left the stadium to drive back to Cardiff – but it was nonetheless brilliant to have been part of the day and to hear from the individuals who make up the Voices from Care Cymru team – and all the other organisations supporting and working with care-experience young people in South Wales.
