Positive Steps

Since our last update, we have been creating some new sessions for the young people we support. All with the objective of

• Encouraging young people to think positively about life with and beyond their illness.
• Setting realistic goals to increase motivation.
• Developing skills such as team work, problem solving, public speaking and active listening.
• Gaining an insight in to a diverse range of businesses and experiencing the working world.
• Rebuilding confidence and motivation to return to education or employment and plan for a future beyond cancer.

We have been working with a Wellness Coach and Trainer who has been helping the young people to improve their communication skills and set some life goals. Through these sessions the Teens learned the art of active listening, identified barriers to effective communication, and learned the difference between coaching and mentoring. They picked up some great questioning skills too, which they put in to practice in the second session.

The second session encouraged the young people to set themselves two goals. With a partner they asked each other lots of open questions to work out how they might achieve their goal, making sure that they used the SMART criteria to understand how to clarify their ideas, focus their efforts and utilise their time to achieve their goals.

Outside of the workshops, we have been working with a new corporate partner who is offering structured work experience placements to the Teens who are looking to start, or return to, work and are considering a future in a trade, logistics & planning or a Customer Service role. We have a number of young people who had started their working life, but due to their illness are unable to continue, who are now looking forward to these opportunities.

A Business Coach has also been working with a number of the young people who are ready to return to the workplace, offering advice on CV writing, submitting a strong letter of application and coaching them ahead of interviews.

In the last few months, we introduced a new workshop, called The Escape Rooms, a physical “adventure game” where the Teens had to work together to solve a series of puzzles and riddles using clues, hints and strategy to complete a set of objectives.  This provided the young people with an opportunity to learn and utilise key transferrable skills, such as problem solving, time management, conflict resolution and team work, as they worked together to solve the clues, and escape the room in the given timeframe.  You'll see that we were only able to take photos outside of the room, just in case we give any clues as to what you need to do to escape!

It’s been a very busy few months, but we certainly feel like we have helped many of the young people to take some very positive steps, and we thank you for your donation which is enabling us to continue to support more of the seven young people, aged 13-24 who, every day in the UK, hear the words "you have cancer".

With kindest regards