We’re halfway through 2024 and what a year it’s shaping up to be!
OHOV has been part of so many great projects so far, and there’s much more to come. In particular, this year has seen many of our fabulous board members develop their public speaking skills, presenting their insights, expertise, and learning to a wide range of audiences. Read on to hear what we’ve been up to…
Pitlochry Residential Weekend
Towards the end of March we spent a fun-filled weekend in Pitlochry where we enjoyed working together on our magazine, recruitment campaign, and priorities for Hearings reform. Between work, we made time for white water rafting, art and crafting, and spending time together in the beautiful town of Pitlochry. We had a fantastic time and loved having the opportunity to bond as a group over a whole weekend.
Interviews for SCRA and CHS
OHOV board members were involved in formulating questions and interviewing for several roles in SCRA and in CHS recently. Board members considered what skills and qualities they value most in professionals who work with OHOV and were able to skilfully incorporate these into interview questions.
Language Animation Launch
Our big ticket event was the launch of our language animation, ‘Articulate’. This is a short film designed and voiced by the young people of Our Hearings Our Voice in collaboration with social enterprise Braw Talent. Darren and Lydia from Braw Talent met with board members and learned about all the work we’d undertaken on language in Children’s Hearings, and how this could be improved. These ideas fed into the script and storyboard of the animation. We invited around 80 professionals, friends, and family members to the launch of the animation at the CCA in Glasgow. Several of the young people presented to the audience, and staff from SCRA and CHS jointly launched their language guides during the event as well. It was a day of celebration and determination, as many adults pledged to use the animation in their work, and help spread the word about the power of language.
Panel Member Training
Two of our board members presented at a panel member training event towards the end of April. Andrew and Dylan shared examples of good practice with around 100 panel members in attendance, and talked about small changes panel members could implement into their approach to help children feel more at the centre of their Hearings. This was Dylan’s first time public speaking and he was a natural! One delegate described Andrew and Dylan as the new Ant and Dec!
Participation with CHS
Several of our group have been working closely with Participation Co-ordinator Angela from CHS. We’ve been discussing how OHOV could work more closely with CHS in the future to ensure young people’s voices are at the centre of improvement work.
Best Practice Guide for Solicitors
Liam and Lisa, board members with OHOV, are involved in ongoing work to create a best practice guide with solicitors involved in Children’s Hearings. In April, two events were held where they were able to share the findings of work, they carried out to gather what children and young people need and want from solicitors representing them. Interestingly, a parallel consultation with Panel Members shared similar themes.
Child Friendly Scheduling
SCRA has been trying out a number of approaches to ensure the running of Hearings is more closely tailored to what children need or want. This includes looking at scheduling them at times or places that best suit children, promoting greater use of pre-hearing visits for children and considering other ways of preparing children. OHOV board members have been involved in several of these approaches, including the use of a pre-hearing scrapbook, designed by Ciara and Achilles. Poppy, Ash and Andrew also shared their thoughts with the SCRA research team, who are evaluating the approaches.
Understanding My Hearing
Board members at OHOV have a longstanding interest in ensuring children can understand what decisions made in Hearings mean for them. Lisa and Gordon from OHOV have been working with Erica, SCRA’s Senior Practitioner in the Western Isles, to pilot changes to the way children are prepared for Hearings and offered personalised explanations of what Hearing decisions mean, in writing and in person. This new approach was launched in Stornoway in April and we will be measuring how this works for children and the professional partners involved.
Communications with Children and Families
SCRA’s ‘communications with children and families’ project is well underway, with letters being re-written from a more child-friendly perspective. OHOV were consulted on several of the letters and asked whether they had suggestions for improvement. Two of our board members were able to suggest several small changes that would make the letters more inclusive and friendly.
Hearing Room Improvement
Significant steps are being made to transform the physical environment that children’s hearings take place in, starting with Glasgow then spreading across Scotland. OHOV board member, Poppy, shared her lived experience and building surveying learning to support the architects in this work.
Participation (in)Justice
On the 20th May board member Abbie delivered two workshops at the Participation (in)Justice event at Strathclyde Uni, hosted by CYCJ. Abbie talked about the importance of rights respecting language and gave examples of how behaviour should be described in context rather than labelled. More public speaking success for our young people!
Language Masterclass in the Highlands
OHOV board member, Lisa, spoke at a masterclass held in Inverness about the importance of children experiencing language in their Hearings that is easy to understand, personalised and does not stigmatise. The event was organised by Highland Council for multi-agency partners as part of their drive towards Keeping the Promise.
Our Lives Our Language Conference
This conference was planned and delivered by Our Hearings, Our Voice, the National Leadership Network, and Each and Every Child. It was an opportunity for young people and professionals to learn from each other and celebrate positive developments that are happening around language in the care system. Board member Ciara created two fantastic illustrations for the event and spoke to delegates about what message she’d set out to convey. She and Achilles ran an exercise on label awareness and Achilles recited several poems they had written for the event. Achilles and Ciara also used this exercise to support awareness at the recent Participation Network: Power and Participation Event.
CYCJ Conference
Two OHOV board members, Ash and Andrew, co-facilitated a workshop with Angela and Kirsty from CHS, at the CYCJ conference in Stirling. We spoke about the specific needs of 16 and 17 year old children who are entering the Children’s Hearings System, and discussed the information, language, and support they might need to ensure their rights are met. This was Ash’s first time public speaking and they did a fantastic job!
SCRA Language Guide Rollout
SCRA consulted with the young people at Our Hearings, Our Voice when developing their new language guides. Having launched the guides at the Language Animation launch in May, the guides are now being shared with SCRA staff at meetings. Some of the OHOV board members attended two of these meetings to lend their insight and expertise and answer questions about why language is so important.