Can you believe it is June already...?

These strange times can feel like time is barely passing and passing quickly at the same time. So, it comes as both a surprise and no surprise at all that the Building Relationship Advisory Group has already met five times and achieved incredible things!

Nine fantastic young people have voiced their views and we have had over fourteen different organisations represented. This includes people from nine local authorities and from across Scotland.

Here is an overview of the meetings we have had so far:

The advisory group is creating a comprehensive tool that will support organisations to prioritise relationship-based practice. In order to achieve this, the group is collecting practice examples and experiences from across the country and across different settings.

So far, we have discussed what an individual worker can do to build relationships and we have also recognised that an organisation can create an environment that promotes or hinders relationship-building. We have considered topics such as: the physical environment, policies and procedures, recruitment and support and training.

To achieve sustainable and tangible change for care leavers, the resource needs to recognise the complex context in which relationships are embedded.

Over the coming months we are focusing on the design, layout and content of the resource. This will be an exciting and ambitious task, pulling together knowledge from across Scotland.

Want to get involved?

The next meeting is on the 18^th of June and will take place on Zoom.

Get in touch with Staf Learning and Development Project Worker, Papoula Petri Romão, via email if you would like to get involved: [email protected]

‘Building Relationships' is a Staf project focused on improving relationship-based practice across Scotland, funded by The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. The project's initial phase, 'Mapping Relationship' was completed in 2019 and involved extensive consultation in person, in workshops, online and at our focus groups. You can find out more about the background to the project here.