Our Shoes is the result of a decade-long collaboration with young individuals. Their experiences, emotions, and unique perspectives have created a programme finely tuned to the diverse needs of a significant group of young people.
This could include young people professionals support, members of staff, colleagues or partners who staff engage with on a daily basis.
Our courses
Our Shoes – Perspective module
1 day (10am until 4pm)
Our Shoes - Perspective training is designed to take professionals and staff on a journey of discovery through a range of scenario-based experiences which highlight how young people, especially those with additional needs and disabilities, anxiety or other mental health issues, or who are part of the LGBTQ+ community, experience the world.
By applying this knowledge to their work, professionals and staff will be able to engage in a way that can be beneficial both to them, and to the young people they engage with.
Learning and outcomes
Understand: Better understand what it can be like for young people with diverse backgrounds or needs, in different situations.
Recognise: Key challenges that young people face in their lives, and how that changes young people's perspective on a situation.
Labels and Stereotypes: Experience what it's like to be labelled or pre-judged as a young, vulnerable person.
Our Shoes – Additional needs and disabilities module
1 day (10am until 4pm)
Our Shoes – Additional needs and disabilities training is a module which highlights some of the experiences of young adults with additional needs and disabilities, in various situations.
By attending this module, staff will gain a deeper understanding of how they can interact in a way that respects the young person and enables the best outcomes for all parties.
Learning and outcomes
Empathise: To better understand how different situations can be stressful for young people with additional needs and disabilities.
Reduce discrimination and bias: Our Shoes training addresses unconscious bias and helps staff recognise and mitigate these biases in their decision-making processes.
Language: Improve understanding of the impact of words and actions.
Adapt practice: Recognise ways in which staff can support young people with additional needs and disabilities during their day.
Our Shoes – LGBTQ+ module
1 day (10am until 4pm)
Our Shoes - LGBTQ+ is a training module that highlights experiences of young people from the community and helps professionals and staff to be better equipped to support and understand young people in various situations.
Learning and outcomes
Language: How language used could be seen as insulting and impact how a young person sees or feels about themselves.
Understand: Staff will better understand what it can be like for a young person growing up in fear of judgement or discrimination.
Recognise: Day to day challenges faced by young people, and how that can impact how they cope with situations and perceive the world.
Our Shoes – Respect
2 days (10am until 4pm)
Our Shoes - Respect training focuses on 'listening to young people and taking them seriously'.
Our Shoes - Respect has been developed alongside young people looked after and care leavers in Surrey to support professionals in understanding their experiences and what it is like to access various services.
Attending Our Shoes - Respect will enhance delegates capability to listen, consult and respect the views of young people and care leavers.
Learning and outcomes
Language: How language that we use can make young people feel uncomfortable, excluded, and anxious.
Communication: The importance of understanding that people can hear and interpret information differently, and not in the way intended.
Emotion: Understand frustration, vulnerability, and the feeling of helplessness, experienced by young people.
Adapt practice: Improve practice by using the voice of the young person in all work.
Our Shoes – Intro to participation
3 hours (9.30am until 12.30pm or 1pm until 4pm)
Our Shoes - Intro to participation is designed to highlight the importance of participation in the practice of professionals.
Participation is about being ready to listen to children and young people, to support them to express their views and to be ready to take those views into account when making decisions with and for them.
Learning and Outcomes
Understanding: Learn what participation means and develop an understanding of participation theory.
Adapt practice: Learn about the benefits of participation and how to embed it into everyday practice.
Recognise: The importance of allowing young people to have a voice and to participate in decisions that affect them.