Saturday 12 October 2013

Hampshire Scouting county conference - October 2013

Good morning everyone, and welcome to today's conference. I hope you are all feeling inspired and looking forward to the days events, where we will be thinking about how to drive forward Hampshire Scouting. 

I have been asked to kick things off for you, and get you thinking about the young persons experience. Now for those of you who don't know me, I am Fi - the Assistant County Commissioner for Youth Participation, and in my professional life I am a youth worker, and once upon a time I was a young person - which I guess qualifies me to talk about the young persons  experience. I hope you will indulge me now as I use my time to tell you some stories. 

As a youth worker, I have been humbled over the years to work with some of the most vulnerable young people in society. There was one young man, who we will call Brandon, who really stuck out for me. Brandon is an 11 year old boy, who comes from a home where his family survive on benefits, and his Mum regularly tells him she does not love him and has no time for him. 

Brandon was struggling in school and being bullied, not making friends, and not learning. I worked with Brandon in a group work setting, delivering activities to help him develop social skills and communication skills. This was still not enough, and I decided to do some intensive one to one work with him. We worked together to build planes, and kites, and learn spellings and bake cookies. One piece of work we did was called "my universe", and I asked Brandon to put into his universe all the things that were most important to him, one of the things he put down was "scouts". 

I asked Brandon about this, and he told me he wanted to join the scouts, having been a cub, but his mum could not afford for him to go and he couldn't get there either as he ad to pick his brothers up from school and no one could take him there. 

Let me tell you a story now about a little girl, who was desperate to join the cubs, but her Mum made her go to Brownies first. When that little girl turned 10, she joined the scouts, the same scouts that her brother went to. She experienced her first week away from family, her first camp without a real toilet, and her first go in a kayak, all when she was 10.

 When she was 11, her Dad died, and she had a really difficult time at school, being bullied. Her self confidence dropped and she felt worthless. When she was 12 she experienced her first taste of youth involvement, at a patrol in council. When she was 13, she experienced her first leadership role, as a patrol leader. 

When she was 14 she started working with a local cub pack as a young leader. When she was 15 she led the fundraising for her explorer unit to go to Guernsey. When she was 16 she cycled to an explorer camp and learnt to cook for herself. When she was 17 she completed her Gold DofE and her Queens Scout Award. 

When she was 18 she took out an appointment as an assistant Cub Scout leader. When she was 19 she did a work placement in a pupil referral unit. When she was 20 she started youthwork. When she was 21 she did something she never imagined she could do and climbed a glacier. When she was 22 she represented her country at a world conference and set up a platform for young people to have their voices heard. 

When she was 23 she became a trustee of a youth charity and volunteered as a camp counsellor at an international event. When she was 24 she ran a commonwealth youth forum. 

When she was 25, she stood here and told you how Scouting has changed her life. She told you that as an 11 year old girl, whose life was not easy, she went to scouts every Tuesday. Every Tuesday she had an escape from school, from bullying, from homework. Every Tuesday she had consistent adults who were able to build positive relationships with her, built on trust and respect. Every Tuesday she was challenged to try something new, and she was allowed to make mistakes along the way, like cooking too much rice (her mum still won't let her forget that one).

 Every Tuesday there was an adult with a smiling face waiting to help her learn new things and grow as a person.

Through the last 14 years of her life, she has had consistent positive role models in her life, and only through the dedication and support from these adults was she able to access life changing opportunities which undoubtedly shaped her future and chosen career. Over the past 14 years she has grown in confidence from a shy and very sad little girl, to a rather annoying and vocal young woman. She has been pushed far out of her comfort zone through outdoor adventurous activities, which has built her self esteem and sense of achievement and enabled her to be able to lead her own activities for young people.

The beauty of working with young people is that you never know what they will become, and the more positive intervention that we can get to a young person then the more likely they are to be successful in life. I am a firm believer that the time you invest you will get back, and am a good example of how the time that my scout leader invested in me has been got back - as I am now a leader myself and supporting young people to grow and develop. At the moot, someone told me that "you are tomorrow, but tomorrow has come and you are now today"

You have no idea what will become of the cubs or scouts in front of you, and by your own actions you are able to shape the lives of others, which is why it is so important that we get the young persons experience right and enable young people who join us to stay with us. 

For me, it was about having positive adult role models and leaders, who were the family that I desperately needed, which is why I stayed. 

Young people like Brandon. It's not too late for us to make a positive impact and turn this 11yr old around. We might need to be challenged to think differently about how we do it, to ensure every young person can access scouting, but I think that we are more than ready to make that journey. 

BP wanted us to leave the world a little better than we found it, and what better way to do that than to empower a generation and change the lives of those who need it most.