Callum is a Child and Youth Care Worker in Kibble’s Safe Centre. He provides one-to-one support to young people, providing a friendly, familiar face and a constant source of care and support. He loves seeing young people change their whole attitude to life and their ability to turn their life around.
Can you tell us about your role at Kibble?
I’m with a young person throughout their whole journey at Kibble, offering them constant care and helping them transition out of the safe centre once they are ready.
What did you do before Kibble?
Before coming to the Safe Centre, I worked at The Experience and managed the Kids’ Clubs. This was a role that kept me on my toes but was good fun! After this I worked as a track marshal, helping with the day-to-day running of the race track. Before joining The Experience, I studied an HNC in Education and Childcare.
How long have you worked at Kibble?
Between my time at The Experience, and now as a Child and Youth Care Worker it’s been two years. It’s been great that I could transition from track marshal at The Experience to working in the safe centre at Kibble. I find it amazing that Kibble have so many services available to support children and young people and this creates good opportunities for growth in your career too.
What made you want to work for Kibble?
It was a role that matched my qualifications well and I always knew that I wanted to work with young people from a range of backgrounds. Also when I was working as a track marshal I met young people from Kibble on a weekly basis when they came down to race. I enjoyed getting to know them all and when the job came up for Child and Youth Care Worker, I jumped at the chance.
What is the best thing about your job?
Watching the young people succeed and knowing that I was a part of helping them get there. You see a young person at their lowest point, but with constant care and support you can see them changing their outlook on life. It’s amazing to see the tangible difference.
Tell us a defining moment or story from your time at Kibble
Literally changing a young person’s life. Meeting a young person at their lowest point then watching them become full of confidence and want to make something of themselves. Seeing them reach that stage is the best feeling!
What advice would you give to someone thinking of joining Kibble?
It’s tough but worth it! The good times far outweigh the tough moments. The staff here are brilliant, well-experienced and spend time teaching you.
Complete the following statement – “Kibble Inspires…”
#KibbleInspires people to keep going because things will get better.
We’re recruiting Part Time Child and Youth Care vacancies. Apply now to begin your career in care with Kibble.
Posted: August 27, 2019
On Tuesday 13 August, Kibble education staff attended a great training workshop by charity Winning Scotland Foundation, to learn tools and guidance on using sport as a platform for life learning.
The training was made possible thanks to generous funding from investment managers Baillie Gifford as part of the Positive Coaching Scotland Programme (PCS Plus). This is a new pilot project to support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to learn important life skills through informal sport, play and physical activity. The project will benefit young people in care, children from areas of deprivation and young people with disabilities.
The project will see up to 200 coaches, teachers and youth workers from a range of organisations including:
• PEEK, a charity who improve the life chances of children and young people in the east end of Glasgow through play and creative learning.
• Bike for Good, a cycling charity that helps young people access bicycles, and learn to ride and maintain them.
• Trust Rugby International, a charity that uses unified rugby, where players with and without disabilities play together, to enable participation for those who may otherwise be prevented
Delivering the programme will be expert tutors from the Winning Scotland Foundation, Scottish Rugby, the Scottish FA and sportscotland. Kibble are privileged to be part of the programme, thanks to the hugely generous support by Baillie Gifford. A really worthwhile project, it is addressing a gap where adults who support young people in informal sport often miss out on the training and development opportunities that their peers in sports like football and rugby enjoy as standard.
By providing this training to education staff, the aim is to equip young people with important life skills including confidence, perseverance and learning from mistakes, using sport as a powerful platform.
Tom Laurie, Head Teacher of Kibble, said: “The session provided education staff with coaching tools to engage young people positively in the learning process. Teachers were reminded of the importance of building a positive learning environment with young people at the centre. The emphasis on effort, challenge, struggle and learning from mistakes provided knowledge in helping pupils to achieve greater levels of success”.
Posted: August 7, 2019
Last week was a special week on the Kibble calendar as we welcomed guests to our new therapeutic primary school in Lochwinnoch.
A week of guest visits for staff, board members and external stakeholders accumulated in a fun-filled open day on Saturday 3 August as children, their families and the local community gathered to see the opening of the new primary campus.
The paint has now dried, the flowers are in bloom and the classrooms are ready to welcome the pitter-patter of excited little feet at the start of term. The open day on Saturday was a chance to show pupils and the wider community our great new facility. Around 50 visitors enjoyed a bouncy castle, balloon making, face painting and tours of the campus. The sunshine even made an appearance for us!
There was much excitement and praise for the new school which will provide a therapeutic setting for children aged 5-12 that have experienced trauma. All elements of the school have been thoughtfully designed to draw in elements of nature to create a calming, sensory setting to support learning. Alongside the school will also be a new children’s residential care house. We can’t wait to welcome pupils and staff next week!
Audrey Baird, Head of Education at Kibble said:
“We’re really pleased visitors enjoyed the event and it was a great opportunity for us to showcase Scotland’s newest specialist education campus for primary aged children”.
Posted: August 6, 2019
Last month staff members Ruby Whitelaw and Mark Heron, alongside a team from Renfrewshire Council visited Malawi in Africa to help build primary school classrooms for local children. Read Ruby’s blog and hear about all the amazing people they met on this journey, along with the incredible experiences.
On Thursday 4th July 2019 at 04.00am I arrived at Glasgow Airport with two hefty suitcases and a petite hand luggage bag housing all that I’d need for the trip ahead to Malawi. The two large cases were laden with clothes, medical supplies, shoes, spectacles and some bits and bobs for those I would meet. I kept a blog of my travels but for anyone who hasn’t seen it, I wanted to provide a snapshot of what has been achieved with a little bit of effort and a lot of love and hard work. Of course, I travelled with my colleague Mark Heron and 14 others who were either employees of Renfrewshire Council or like me, friendly with someone who works there. The journey would not have been possible without the financial and emotional support from our families and friends. Not to mention the practical support from our employers who accommodated our travels and gave us the time and space to make this fabulous adventure possible. A lot of hard work, fun and tears went into the enterprising ventures that helped us to raise our thousands of pounds in funds.
It took more than a day to arrive in Malawi as our flights were changed twice prior to travelling, resulting in an overnight stay in Nairobi. We finally arrived at our destination on Friday the 5th around noon but our movements were restricted by civil unrest due to tampering in the local elections – votes had been tampered with using Tippex. The people had taken to the street, so it was unsafe for us to go out.
We were able to visit the site where we would work on day two. I can’t express how special the feeling was returning to William Village. The building we had constructed last year had been well maintained and painted inside. The villagers were also very pleased to see us.
By day three I had a wee jogging group going before
breakfast in the morning; if only the Scottish weather encouraged us to do the
same while at home. By the first weekend
we were in the training centre painting the classrooms. The centre has been funded by the Government
for Steka, a well-known orphanage currently housing 75 kids. This was run by Godknows
Maseko and his wife, with funding coming through generous donations. Steka supports
children and young people from birth to early adulthood who have been subjected
to trauma including; child sexual exploitation, trafficking, the death of a
parent or substance abuse.
This new venture is designed to provide training
opportunities to ensure that young people who do not go on to college or
university (Steka currently has three females attending university) are able to
find gainful employment. There are many similarities with early KibbleWorks –
our collection of social enterprises providing youth training and employment. Four
of those on the trip with us raise ongoing funds and provide monthly financial
support for one of the university students and to Patrick who is shown in the photos. I am hopeful that along with some colleagues
we can do the same to support one or more of the other children. While 18 of the children receive sponsorship,
most of them attend a variety of schools and colleges that require fees. For example, one of the young people is
attending the nursing college requiring fees of £1,200 per year. Unsurprisingly Godknows philosophy is that
God will provide so he is eternally optimistic that things will work out
favourably.
Patrick before and during Steka… He contracted Malaria after our last visit
and had to be taken into care as he was suffering significant neglect. He has a prosthetic leg now but you can see
him playing happily with his peers.
Most of our time in Malawi was spent building a set of three classrooms that would expand the current primary provision of the village. Since the initial school was built the roll call has risen to 814 children. Due to the limited number of classrooms and volume of children they are only able to attend either mornings or afternoons.
During our last visit in 2017 the village was relatively quiet but the success of the school has resulted in a more dense population and greater prosperity. Goats, pigs and chickens were increasingly common place with the odd guinea fowl and dog running around.
During the 2017 visit I met and had the privilege of being called “friend” of a young girl named Maness. I had planned to pay for her secondary education, but the local tour guide had been unable to locate her after we left so this didn’t amount to anything. Day one on the site and amazingly she found me! This led to me meeting all her family, two or her sisters and her older brother aren’t in the photo. I received a very special gift which I politely declined – with the support of the local interpreter so as not to cause offence. Maness has completed her exams for primary school and at the age of 16 years old she is due to start secondary education.
Mark wasn’t able to curb his dancing feet during the leaving ceremony much to the delight of the locals.
It wasn’t all work in Malawi and I spent two days at the weekend taking it easy and recharging the batteries, well deserved after climbing ‘scaffolding’ to lay bricks, paint and labour for more days than I can even remember.
So what’s next? With the continued support of Kibble…
I’ve
definitely got the Malawi bug and can’t wait to go back
More
Stars in their Eyes fundraising events to help raise money whether this is for
further trips or to support Steka, I’m not sure at this stage
I’ll
continue to work with my colleagues at Renfrewshire Council raising awareness
and putting together fundraising events
I’ll
continue to work with Mark and John Austin to raise awareness at Kibble and
generate interest in supporting and promoting education opportunities for the
children and young people at Steka
I’m
pursuing opportunities to promote Maness attending secondary school and look
forward to a time when she will be able to attend university.
Posted: June 5, 2019
Last Friday was a memorable day in the Kibble calendar as we celebrated the outstanding achievements of the class of 2019.
The afternoon saw pupils, staff, friends and families gather together in their finest for a ceremony recognising the breadth of skills, qualifications and achievements of pupils. There was much praise in the room as head teacher Tracie McEwan, alongside key tutors presented certificates to the pupils and spoke of their long list of achievements throughout the year. For some pupils, the awards ceremony marks the transition from secondary education onto a new and exciting chapter for them.
Many of the pupils will be starting employment and further qualifications at KibbleWorks, Kibble’s collection of social enterprises supporting young people into employment. Some pupils will be moving onto further education at college or into full-time employment.
It was a day of much emotion, and above all an incredible sense of pride. Headteacher, Tracie, praised the resilience of the pupils for overcoming such barriers in life and going on to achieve so many great things. This is just the start of their journey, and the young people will go on to achieve so much more if they continue to believe in themselves. Amongst the pupils, we have future mechanics, beauticians, carers, landscape gardeners, and actors and actresses – so much talent in the midst!
This transition can be a tough time for many as they move further into adulthood and take on more responsibilities. That’s why we never close the door and continue to support the young people into the next stage. As one key tutor said, “you know that if you ever need me for anything, I’ll be in the garage and you can come and see me or call me at any time”. The relationships between staff and pupils can’t be underestimated – one key worker arrived in a tuxedo with a large bouquet of flowers for the young person he supports to celebrate this special day.
Congratulations to the class of 2019 – go out and be all you can be!
Posted:
Our star pupils and guest performers took to the stage this month for a glittering performance at the Kibble ‘Allsorts’ show. The annual event is part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival – a series of diverse cultural events exploring all art genres from music, film, visual art and theatre to dance and literature.
Audiences were treated to an evening of fabulous entertainment with performances from The Kibble Band, a Scottish Ballet film premiere, musical theatre showcase including Les Miserables, short films and a dance extravaganza from West College Scotland. Not forgetting the amazing Bigg Taj with his impressive beatbox sounds.
Events like these are of great significance on the Kibble calendar. They provide an opportunity for pupils to showcase their incredible talents and present all their amazing arts experiences throughout the school year. We are so proud of them and their ability to stand up in front of an engaged audience to express all that they are. They act, sing and dance their hearts out and the feeling they get from standing there under the bright stage lights with audiences smiling, clapping and cheering them cannot be measured.
In line with this years festival theme ‘Connected’, preparations for the Allsorts show began well in advance as we established connections with a range of arts organisations. Pupils were involved with Scottish Ballet’s The Close project – a programme providing enriching cultural experiences for at-risk young people. We also held an art exhibition in our school where all pupils contributed artwork based on a specific artist’s style. All of these arts activities contributed to the pupils Trinity Arts Award.
We’re already thinking ahead to next year and to making the event even bigger and better than before. In the theme of Les Miserables, and in support of the mental health arts theme “Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise!”. Here’s to the curtain rising next year on another great event!
Posted: June 4, 2019
Trauma experts from all corners of the globe gathered in the city of Glasgow in May to attend the annual EFeCT Symposium hosted by Kibble. The European conference which focuses on best practice for children’s mental health and wellbeing services was an overwhelming success. Delegates from the Netherlands, Germany, Norway Portugal, Belgium, Romania, Hungary, USA and Australia attended the three-day event to hear from experts in the field of trauma-informed care.
As this is the second time Kibble has hosted the EFeCT event, there was an opportunity to create a learning environment, bringing to the table our approaches and sharing them with global counterparts and vice versa. Representing Scotland’s care sector is of the upmost honour for Kibble, and as we are very much focussed on trying to lead with a trauma informed approach this particular EFeCT conference was invaluable to our practice. The keynote speakers created excellent discussions structured around the 3 pillars of the trauma informed model: safety, connections and coping, as well as creating a connection between young people and professionals in regard to harnessing lived experiences.
Global EFeCT members also got the chance to delve into Kibble’s Scottish heritage with some whisky tasting at the evening dinner, held at the prestigious Merchants House. Delegates were also greeted by a young piper and there was even some impromptu ceilidh dancing for good measure! This was a great way to connect with the global counterparts where all members toasted in their nation’s language. Overall the EFeCT conference was an outstanding success and showed that Kibble are continuing to put their best foot forward.
Posted: April 30, 2019
An enthusiastic group of children and staff from Kibble’s Arran Villa took on the mighty Kiltwalk challenge to show support for Who Cares? Scotland. The group joined a record breaking 13,000 people walking the scenic route to raise funds for hundreds of great causes.
The team of four excited young kids and seven adults donned their tartan kilts, trainers and their big smiles to take on the Wee Wander – a six mile stretch from Levengrove Park to Balloch. They were among 1000 people supporting Who Cares? Scotland – child and youth care advocacy charity supporting care experienced young people. High praise has has been given by all across Kibble and the kids will be coming round the campus asking staff to give what they can for this worthwhile cause.
There may have been a few blistered toes as the young group made their way along the route but the encouragement amongst all the tartan clad walkers kept spirits high. Along the way the kids were elated when they met all the furry mascots, patted dogs in tartan jackets and even spotted deer swimming in the loch trying to catch a glimpse of the action!
As the finish line came into sight, the group held hands and crossed the line together. Recognition of a great achievement and the importance of teamwork. Queue shiny medals, pipers, highland dancing and puffy candy floss, and the celebrations got into full swing. It was a fantastic day of achievements, friendships and happy memories. We’re now on the countdown to next year’s Kiltwalk and the next charity challenge – go team Kibble!
Posted:
Multi-award-winning chef and MasterChef: The Professionals Champion 2016, Gary Maclean visited Kibble Safe Centre last week (26 April) to talk to staff and young people about how to make the most of locally sourced, healthy and affordable food. The Safe Centre supports young people aged 12-18, many who have experienced trauma, and are at risk of harming themselves or others.
The talk and cooking demonstration were delivered as part of Scotland’s Good Food Nation ambitions which aims to promote access to, and understanding of, the benefits of healthy local foods. Scotland’s National Chef Gary cooked up a storm and presented young people and staff with chilli pesto pasta and chocolate fondant pudding to sample. For some, it was the chance to try new foods, with one young person commenting on the unusual colour of the pasta – it was green pesto. Everyone agreed the food was delicious and plates were soon cleared. There was also time for young people to chat to Gary and find out more about how he first discovered his culinary talents and how his love for cooking has taken him all over the world.
He then moved on to a ‘masterclass menu’ session with the catering staff at the Safe Centre who cook for the young people each day, as well as the home economics teachers who ensure healthy meal prep is embedded within education.
Claire Lunday, Depute Head of Education at Kibble, said: “Of course when you are providing care for young people, the most pressing factor is ensuring that the individual is safe and happy but it’s also extremely important to prepare them for a healthy future when they leave care.
“It was great to have Scotland’s National Chef Gary Maclean at our Safe Centre to deliver a positive message to the young people that live there, inspiring them to think not only about fresh and healthy cooking, but the different options available to them when they leave care.”
Gary said: ‘It was fantastic to be at Kibble today and meet the people there. It is clear they do fantastic work. Speaking to the group and talking to them about food and cooking really brought out their enthusiasm and interest, and I hope I helped them understand how easy it is to eat good quality, healthy food.
“The reality is that no matter what young people go on to do, they’ll need to learn the skills to do so. It’s vital that we’re allowing them to try and test different industries to increase employability and enhance their future.”
Posted: April 9, 2019
Siblings Day originated in America in 1998 and it’s now celebrated around the world on 10th April each year. It acknowledges the strong bond that brothers and sisters often share. Kibble Shared Living Foster Care recognises the importance of this unique relationship and that’s why we try, if circumstances allow, to keep brothers and sisters together.
Shared Living offers foster care placements for children and young people (aged 5+) who have faced adverse childhood experiences and multiple placement breakdowns. It provides a family home for young people who need intense levels of support and whose needs are best met in a small, family environment. Foster carers and young people are closely supported by our qualified, experienced key workers who are there for them 24/7. Funded by the Scottish Government and the ESF Social Innovation Fund, the initiative is a collaboration between Kibble, University of Strathclyde, CELCIS, Who Cares? Scotland and The Fostering Network.
Launched in December 2018, we have so far supported four young people including two brothers whose lives changed drastically when their dad passed away and the family struggled to cope with their loss. The brothers began to abscond from school, turned to substances and were known to the police. Shared Living Foster Care support has given the brothers the safety, structure and stability they need to move forward. Along with the support of their mum, the boys are making great progress. Their confidence is beginning to grow, and they are really starting to believe in themselves. Read their full story.
