At Helping Kids Shine, we have devised our unique 3-step system, which we use with every young person and their family to ensure that they have the best experience possible whilst we are learning to understand their challenges and making recommendations on how to overcome these.
Identify
When families ask Helping Kids Shine for help, we put on our detective hats so that we can explore the challenges that young people are experiencing in their lives and identify the root causes of these.
We also explore the young person’s strengths and aspirations, along with understanding the existing support network that is available to them.
We ensure that those who know the young person best are fully involved throughout the process, enabling them to fully participate and develop their understanding of their young person’s needs.
This stage can take place in a variety of settings, depending on the presenting needs of the young person. Most young people will have the opportunity to visit our Therapy Space in Bridgend, as well as us seeing them at either their school or home. For families who live further away, we are sometimes able to complete this stage virtually.
Before any 1:1 sessions, we will share questionnaires for completion which will help us to understand the background for the young person, and help us begin to pinpoint where their needs lie. The 1:1 sessions then enable us to continue with this information gathering process and build a better understanding. Depending on the young person, some sessions will consist of a lot of play, whereas others may be more structured and focus in on specific tasks.
Support
Having explored and identified the root cause of a young person’s challenges, and with an understanding of their strengths and aspirations, we work on building a plan so that we can support them to develop the skills they need at this point in their life. This support is individualised to the young person and their family and will involve young person and those who know and work with them, to ensure that everybody understands and is able to engage in supporting their development with a consistent approach. This support is focussed on developing transferable skills which will enhance current and future abilities, rather than the “sticking plaster” approach of fixing one specific challenge.
As a minimum, we will provide recommendations and strategies on how best to support the young person. Where funding allows, and it is appropriate to do so, we will enter a treatment phase, working directly with the young person/family/school to support them in developing goals and working towards achieving these.
Empower
Empowerment can be considered in a variety of ways. First and foremost, the young person is empowered by being able to identify their aspirations and be supported to overcome their challenges to work towards these.
Families are empowered as they will experience the benefits of being listened to, with their observations being acknowledged and built into the Identify and Support steps of the system.
Additionally, those who support the young person outside of the family are also empowered to develop their own understanding of the young person’s needs, and to also develop their skills in providing support to other young people with similar needs.
We are also keen for the young person to start building their own understanding of themselves, and to begin to develop self advocacy skills, which are vital as they move towards adulthood to ensure that their needs can be met, and they can build the confidence to speak up for themselves.
As a minimum, we will provide recommendations and strategies on how best to support the young person. Where funding allows, and it is appropriate to do so, we will enter a treatment phase, working directly with the young person/family/school to support them in developing goals and working towards achieving these.
