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Our Children - 07 November

Welcome to the penultimate Our Children Newsletter of 2024

November is also our last network meeting of the year, we look forward to welcoming you on Wednesday 20 November 10am-12pm at KLAS Care CIC, Linwood, PA3 3SG.

We’ve had a last minute space come up on our agenda, if you would like 10 minutes to share your work, a call to action for the network, or to just give us a song, please get in touch with Jane – jhamilton@enagerenfrewshire.com

Whole Family Wellbeing Launch Events
KLAS Care CIC – ASN Respite Support
Art Wise Gallowhill
Money in Mind Tool
Inclusive Volunteers Pilot
Kings Award for Voluntary Service 2025
The Promise Present Drive
The Village
Aye Mind
National Improvement Framework Interactive Evidence Report
The Rights Detectives new pilot project
Statutory Guidance on Part 3 of the UNCRC Act 2024
Free online platform for child and adolescent mental health Professionals
Training

KLAS Care CIC ASN Respite Support

We are providing respite support for parents and carers for children 5-18 in Mary Russell School. All the sessions have arts and craft, active play and weather permitting outside play in a secure area. This is all child led. 

Children will be welcomed through the main entrance and collected from the main entrance of Mary Russell School. 

The Saturday group is slowly growing which is wonderful and parents are really appreciating the support. There are 3 sessions to choose from 9-11, 11:30-1:30 and 2-4pm. At a cost of £6 a session. We are on most Saturdays until the end of March 2025. 

We are offering a play club over the October break which will be from 9am -3pm Monday to Friday with a flexi drop off and pick up. Also from Mary Russell. 

The cost is £17.

Unfortunately we do not have any transport available for any of our play clubs.

Children are required to bring a packed lunch

We will welcome children that are not toilet trained and will do routine changes. 

A care plan will have to be completed

Spaces are limited to 16 per session. 

Booking link is below, a care plan can be downloaded  from the booking link and this must be returned to klascare@gmail.com before or on the day the child attends. 

https://bookwhen.com/roscn-playtime

The Renfrewshire Affordable Credit Alliance (RACA) and Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) support good mental health through improved money management. Research has shown that 83% of mental health and care practitioners have no formal training when it comes to speaking to clients about money, and do not know where to signpost to for support.

The Money in Mind Tool, developed by the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) in partnership with the NHS, aims to support mental health professionals explore issues an individual might be experiencing about money.

We have developed this webpage, based on the Money in Mind Tool, to sit alongside our other resources that offer support with money and the cost of living:

Food Fuel and Finance

Pregnancy, Maternity and Early-Years Staff Resource

Good Guide to Credit

Alternatively, you can download the Money in Mind Tool for your relevant nation from the MaPS website’.

 Who is Money in Mind for?

The Money in Mind Tool was originally developed for mental health professionals. However, we believe this webpage is a useful resource for a range of staff within health, social care and third sector settings.

What is the link between money and mental health?

MaPS highlight that:

74% of people who experience a mental health problem struggle to keep up with bills and payments1.

18% of people who experience a mental health problem are likely to be in problem debt2.

91% of people who are struggling with their mental health avoid talking about money, often because they feel embarrassment, guilt or shame3.

Money in Mind allows you to confidently explore money issues that may be impacting an individual’s recovery and signpost them to trusted sources of support. In turn, improving their financial and mental wellbeing.

The Money in Mind tool can be accessed to or downloaded from here:

Access

Download

Engage Renfrewshire Launches Inclusive Volunteers Pilot Project to Support Equal Opportunities in Local Volunteering

Engage Renfrewshire is excited to announce the launch of an innovative new pilot project designed to foster inclusivity in local volunteering. The Inclusive Volunteers initiative seeks to recruit and train a dedicated team of volunteers to help adults and young people with autism access meaningful volunteering opportunities across Renfrewshire.

The Inclusive Volunteers project is an essential step in ensuring that everyone in the community, regardless of ability, can contribute to and benefit from volunteering. The project’s primary aim is to break down barriers, enabling individuals who may face challenges in navigating public transport, accessing community resources, or participating in volunteer activities to thrive with the support of a volunteer mentor. Louise Walker, Volunteering Development Officer at Engage Renfrewshire, is leading the initiative and welcomes interest from potential volunteers who are passionate about making a difference in their community.

What will Inclusive Volunteers do?

Volunteers in this project will be paired with a local adult or young person who has additional support needs. Their role will involve:

Building a supportive relationship to help their match achieve their goals.

Assisting with navigating public transport and ensuring smooth travel arrangements to and from volunteering sites.

Attending initial volunteering sessions as a point of contact and source of comfort.

Collaborating with their match to decide when their support is no longer required.

Keeping in touch with the host organisation to ensure a smooth and gradual transition to independent volunteering.

More information here: Inclusive Volunteers (engagerenfrewshire.org)

How to Get Involved

If you are interested in becoming an Inclusive Volunteer or have an individual you would like to refer to the project, please contact Louise Walker, Volunteering Development Officer at Engage Renfrewshire (lwalker@engagerenfrewshire.com)

Each year, the outstanding the work of voluntary organisations across the UK is celebrated through the King’s Award for Voluntary Service (KAVS).

Created in 2002 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee and previously known as The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS), the Award has been shining a light on the fantastic work of voluntary groups.

Equivalent to an MBE, KAVS is the highest Award given to local voluntary groups in the UK, and it is awarded for life.

Nominations are now open for the 2025 round! To find out more about eligibility and nominating a local group near you, click here.

KAVS nominations for the 2025 Award will close on 1 Dec 2024.

The Promise Champions Present Drive

The Promise Champions Present Drive will be taking place again this year, which involves supporting Care Experienced young people to receive Christmas gifts chosen by our Promise Champions. There is a lot of work involved in this project, and we are keen to involve Promise Keepers in different aspects of it.

If you are able to give some of your time this Christmas period, there are different stages of the Present Drive to get involved in with approximate dates. All of the below stages will take place at Youth Services in the afternoon/ evening.

2nd-6th December – Organising gifts that have been donated
9th-13th December – Wrapping gifts
16th-20th December – Delivery of gifts across Renfrewshire (access to a car/ vehicle is required).

For more information, please contact Sam Macrae - samantha.macrae@renfrewshire.gov.uk

The Village is a supportive online community for care-experienced parents with children aged 0-5 in Renfrewshire. We encourage you to share this amazing resource with the parents you work with!

As part of The Village, parents can:

Find someone to talk to when they need a friendly ear
Connect with other parents and make new friends
Join online groups like baby massage and yoga
Share parenting tips and advice
Get support from a team member or peer mentor

Help us spread the word! Learn more at whynottrust.org/the-village and follow @TheVillageScotland.

Contact The Village today for more info:

Text/WhatsApp 07850725740 or email michelle.craig@whynottrust.org

Aye Mind

Digital Wellbeing Conversation Starters for children and young people - Pilot

The Aye Mind Team at NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde have created a Digital Wellbeing Conversation Toolkit to help anyone working with or supporting a child or young person to start a conversation with their mental health and wellbeing.

The toolkit covers key areas of a child or young person’s digital wellbeing that you might want to check in with them about, mapped against the eight SHANARRI wellbeing indicators.

If you are interested in taking part in the pilot of this resource or have any questions, please do get in touch with the Aye Mind Team at ggc.mhead@nhs.scot   

Aye Mind - A Year On: Supporting children and young people's mental health & wellbeing

We re-launched our Aye Mind project just over a year ago and are sharing some highlights of what we achieved in that time. The attached visual captures some key highlights from the project from September 2023 – September 2024, including:

~111,000 times a user interacted with our website

~60,000 website views

56 local and national partners joined our Digital Collaborative network

There are lots of exciting things coming up to keep an eye out for too – each of our Digital Collaborative network sub-groups (Digital Mental Health Tools, Digital Skills and Media Literacy, Online Harms, Digital Inclusion, and Youth Engagement and Voice) have been meeting to agree on their work plans, so stay tuned for more soon.

If you would like to join our Digital Collaborative network, one of the subgroups, or share information about a project/resource of yours on the theme of digital youth mental health, then get in touch with us at ggc.mhead@nhs.scot – we’d love to hear from you.

Finally, we wanted to take the time to thank all of our incredible partners for coming together to look at children and young people’s digital wellbeing and online lives. It has been a real joy working with you all over the past year.

You can download the visual from our website - Aye Mind - A Year in Numbers

National Improvement Framework Interactive Evidence Report

The latest quarterly update to the National Improvement Framework Interactive Evidence Report (NIFIER) was published today.

The NIFIER brings together evidence from a range of published data sources, presenting national and local authority level data on 13 key measures, and additional sub-measures, to assess progress towards improvements for children and young people across all parts of the Scottish education system as set out in the National Improvement Framework.

The release includes updates to data from the Annual Participation Measure, Education Outcomes for Looked After Children, School Contact Details and School Healthy Living Survey.

If you have any questions or comments please send them to:  school.stats@gov.scot

The Rights Detectives new pilot project

This project by Together provides an opportunity for babies, young children, and their families to explore children’s rights in a fun and informative way. Partnering with Craigmillar Literacy Trust, Home Start UK, Play Scotland, and Starcatchers, the project has already hosted sessions featuring sensory play, music, movement, a children's rights photography exhibition, messy play, and engaging discussions to encourage family participation.

Our Children - 07 November

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