Hadyn Cutler MYP

Hello all, hope the return to school has gone as well as it could! I know I’m not happy with 6am wake-ups, but the Ocotber half term will come soon, I’m sure. Anyhow, onto the monthly newsletter.

For you

I’m including this new section in the blog posts which will highlight any surveys, consultations, and other stuff you may be interested in.

Family hubs consultation

Do you use Youth Hubs? Is your local youth hub run by: the Canterbury Academy, Play Place, Pie Factory, Salus, the Grand, West Kent Extra, or Southern Housing? It may be at risk of closure!

KCC is proposing the relocation of council-run youth hubs to new centres which will also contain other services, known as “family hubs”. Here’s the services they may contain:

This consulatation serves to get your thoughts on this, so get responding now!

WHO? Anyone who lives in Kent. [Note: You must be at least 14 years old in order to register an account on letstalk.kent.gov.uk, which you need to do to answer the consultation online. A word document version is listed at the bottom of the page, which you can mail to KCC].

WHEN? By the 13th, so be quick!

Local Transport Plan

Think transport in Kent frankly sucks? Want to advocate for better buses in your local town? Give your thoughts on the Emerging Local Transport Plan!

Whilst the plan doesn’t propose any changes for specific bus/rail services, it may sway what directions KCC takes when it comes to public transport, so your voice could make a difference for your local area.

WHO? Anyone who lives in Kent. [Note: You must be at least 14 years old in order to register an account on letstalk.kent.gov.uk, which you need to do to answer the consultation online. A word document version is listed at the bottom of the page, which you can mail to KCC].

WHEN? By the 18th, so be less quick than you should be for the Family Hubs consultation, but still be quick!

Kent Youth County Council

Meeting with Kent Police

Early in August, I met with PS Andy Stringer along with some other members of the Child Centred Policing team for Maidstone. I’m pleased to hear of the work they’re doing, and the stats show that it’s making a difference. I also can’t wait to see how the new mini police station comes along in Brenchley Gardens!

Decorating the Big Mental Health Conversation

Later on in the month, other youth councillors and I gathered in Swanley to create decorations for the Big Mental Health Conversation. Some lovely art was made, and I’ve even scored myself a role at BMHC, so if you’re going be sure to say hi! Maybe I’ll even show you which art is mine…

Animation for the debut of the iThrive model in Kent

Finally, we all met in Folkestone to animate an ad for the debut of the iThrive model in Kent. iThrive is a model for young people’s mental health services, built using the THRIVE framework for system change, first described in Wolpert et al., 2019. You can find out more at implementingthrive.org.

The job’s not finished though, so the videos are not published yet. be sure to subscribe to find out when they do.

And that’s all for August! Next up, September. Let’s hope I can get back into the rhythm of balencing school and youth work…

Be sure to subscribe below to never miss another blog post!