Partnership with LCET

Aimhigher works closely in partnership with LCET, a local charity that aims to support young people in Luton to help them meet their full potential by offering a range of initiatives to meet their needs.

One key area of engagement for LCET is supporting young people in care, in particular those aged 16-19 who are due to make the transition to independent living.

Their Therapeutic Director, Lynsey Johnston, sits on the Aimhigher Reach Your Goal Steering Group chaired by Roisin Kendall of the University of Bedfordshire. The steering group was established 5 years ago and brings together professionals from all sectors who work with young people in care. Through this focused partnership working, local organisations and agencies work together to develop a range of opportunities to help inspire, motivate and raise the aspirations of these young people along with helping to develop their life skills.

Following on from the successful Reach Your Goal residentials at Shuttleworth College, where young people in care from across Bedfordshire accessed a range of opportunities to help them develop their independent living skills, LCET recognised that  residentials are not suitable for all young people and developed a similar 6 day non-residential course running over a period of 3 weeks. 

Roisin Kendall and Jane Osborn of Aimhigher both worked as support staff on LCET’s recent 6 day programme in October, together with a social worker from Luton 16+ team and LCET staff. Young people were referred by their social workers and following an informal interview process, 7 boys aged 16-19 and one 19 year old girl were offered places. 

The course content covered a range of topics including budgeting skills, how  to retain a tenancy, sexual health, drug and alcohol awareness, developing assertiveness, housework, next steps, anger management, fire safety in the home and finance. Sessions were informal, fun and interactive and all participants completely involved themselves in the activities and helped develop the groups knowledge further by their individual contributions.

The course culminated in a celebration event on the evening of the final day when the young people were presented with a folder of their work and a certificate to recognise their achievement. Monthly reunion meetings have been planned to offer on-going support and the young people are already looking forward to meeting up again in November.

Feedback from the group has been extremely positive. Seeing their confidence increase over the 3 week period made it a very rewarding experience for all the staff involved and Aimhigher look forward to future partnership working with LCET and other members of the Reach Your Goal Steering Group.