Over the past four years, almost 90 young people have been supported by the Positive Transitions Team into their own tenancies. Positive Transitions aims to enable young people to be completely independent, thrive and manage their own tenancies. However, even after they are formally closed to the service, young people are always able to contact their Positive Transition Officer for advice, guidance, reassurance or, more seriously, in times of crisis. This ability for officers to ‘scoop’ a young person back up is integral in long term tenancy sustainment.
A small number of these young people have terminated their tenancies with our help and in a planned way, for instance to move out of the area, but the majority continue to live successfully in their homes. The team has also been instrumental in offering a continuation of support as some young people have had babies, working closely with the Family Nurse Practitioner service and Social Care, young people have been supported to move from their one bed property to a two bed property, ensuring suitable, quality housing, crucial for the well-being of both mother and baby.
Strong and positive partnership working has been forged with the Leaving Care Team at Blackpool Council and a great example of this is our participation in the 'You Rock' awards, an annual Awards ceremony held in November which celebrated the amazing achievements of our children and young people. Seeing the young people we have nominated walk proudly up on stage to collect their award is the highlight of our year and such an incredibly positive night to be a part of.
This year, the award for Motivation in Employment was presented to Abby who recently joined the BCH Sheltered Housing Team as part of the Kickstart employment programme, a real joint effort between teams within BCH to offer young people every opportunity to succeed.
Maggie Cornall, Director of Operations for BCH said, "I am exceptionally proud of our team and how they have responded to the needs of young people and supported them with their journey after leaving care. The service aims to set our young people up for the best start to independent living and therefore live fulfilled lives becoming positive contributors to the community. Our approach is to support our care leavers in the same way as any caring parent would do with a young person leaving home for the first time.’’
I’ve found the extra support really helpful. My Positive Transitions Officer has helped with loads of different things and also encouraged and supported me to apply for a DWP internship; I got the job which has made a massive difference to my finances. I’ve been able to pass my CBT course and get a small motorbike so I’m more independent. I think Positive Transitions really helped my transition to adulthood and made living alone a lot less overwhelming.One of the very first young people to be supported through the Positive Transitions programme speaking about their experience