Making brave choices to ensure we keep the promise

Harmeny Education Trust, which provides therapeutic care and education for children and young people, has introduced a new service supporting former pupils to reach their full potential beyond their time at school. Here, Project Worker, Paul Henderson, reflects on the importance of being brave when developing services and approaches for children and young people.

Harmeny has a proud history of providing therapeutic care and education for children from across Scotland.  Since 1958, our beautiful estate on the outskirts of Edinburgh has been the perfect setting for our incredible staff team to support children to grow, develop and flourish. We pride ourselves on being innovative and developing practice that reflects the latest evidence-based research and legislation, whilst placing the child at the centre of everything we do.

Harmeny was delighted to be an associate sponsor of Children in Scotland’s annual conference in May.  We welcomed the opportunity to share our latest developments with others in the sector following a period of significant change within the organisation.

The effect that the COVID-19 pandemic had on society is well known. Social isolation, financial vulnerability, increased stress and anxiety, and barriers to education are just a few of the well-documented impacts.  Thankfully the days of social distancing and isolation are in the past, however one feature of the pandemic that has remained is the presence of online meetings and events. Online forums present many opportunities; they can remove barriers to participation, improve efficiency by removing the need to travel, and increase communication. However I, like many, have missed in-person events and the opportunities to connect and collaborate that they can bring.

Children in Scotland’s conference was a fantastic opportunity for myself and fellow representatives from Harmeny to step away from our laptops and network with others in the sector. In the exhibition area of the conference there was a sense of collaboration, rather than competition. The workshops that I attended were inspirational, delivered by people who are passionate about ensuring that Scotland’s children get the best out of life. I found it reassuring to hear that so much innovative work is happening across Scotland, despite the challenges that we all face in the current economic climate.

On day one of the conference, I hosted Harmeny’s workshop, which explored the brave choices we have made as an organisation to ensure we keep the promise. To be truly brave feels very similar to being scared, and I believe that this accurately reflects the excitement combined with uncertainty and risk that comes with developing new services and approaches in an established and well-regarded organisation.

I shared how we have invested in staff by increasing our employee wellbeing offering and developing our induction and learning and development programmes. Harmeny has traditionally supported children up to the age of 14, and I gave an overview of our Acorn Project which has increased the age that children can live and learn at Harmeny up to 18, with a redeveloped cottage for teenagers and a purpose-built Learning Hub that provides modern education spaces for our older children.  A personal highlight for me was introducing Harmeny Here4U, an exciting project that I have developed over the past two years.

Here4U is Harmeny’s transitions and keeping in touch service.  The project is committed to ensuring that transitions are person-centred and as seamless as possible, by working alongside each individual and the team around them throughout the process.  Our therapeutic approach at Harmeny, known as ‘The Harmeny Way’, recognises that relationships should not end when a child moves on from our care. Taking into account the child’s views, Here4U provides ongoing opportunities for our former pupils to keep in touch with Harmeny and important people from their time at the school through regular check-ins, visits to Harmeny, events, and support to reconnect with peers and adults from their care and class groups.

I like to describe another important aspect of the project as ‘continuing to care’.  We know that individuals with care experience can have less positive outcomes than their peers. Studies tell us that the care experienced population are more likely to come into conflict with the law, to experience homelessness, and to have no educational qualifications.  I could go on.  We believe that our former pupils will always be part of the Harmeny family, and are committed to providing the support they need to reach their potential beyond their time at the school.  Here4U works alongside local authorities to ensure that our former pupils aged under 26 are accessing the support and services that they are entitled to and have everything they need to thrive, and will support any former pupil regardless of age.

Through conversations with our former pupils, Here4U is also helping Harmeny to gain a greater understanding of the impact that our therapeutic approaches have had on individuals, and to learn from their experiences.  At the workshop I spoke about the experience of someone who lived at Harmeny in the 1960’s and recently returned for the first time. I spoke about a former pupil in his thirties who described Harmeny as the last place he really felt supported, and another who told me that Harmeny is the only place where he can talk about the things he did as a child, with the people that were there.

These real-life stories, and many more like them, undoubtedly had the biggest impact at my workshop. The journeys of these incredible individuals – which are often much tougher than they need to be - inspire me to continue to keep the promise, and make me proud to be part of the Harmeny family.

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