A Taking Control of my Hearing pilot scrapbook – the brainchild of two OHOV board members – is already making a difference to children and young people in Fife.
Launched last month, the scrapbook is being sent out to children and young people aged six years and over who are coming to their very first Hearing in Fife. The scrapbook has been designed to better prepare children and young people and to empower them to take control of their Hearing.
Last week, two children used the scrapbook for the first time. Afterwards their parent said the children had used the scrapbook to write down their thoughts and said it was a safe space for them to write down how they were feeling.
The scrapbook includes pages for children and young people to write down how they are feeling, to customise their Hearing beforehand and to record Hearing decisions afterwards. It also contains information about their rights in the Children’s Hearings System and where to get help and more information.
The concept and design of the scrapbook came from two young Board Members from Our Hearings, Our Voice (OHOV) – an independent board of children and young people with experience of the Hearings System.
The OHOV board members, Ciara and Achilles, shared that the intention is for the scrapbook to come in an A5 binder so that “there is control from the young person about what they share.”
They envisage the scrapbook being used by the child or young person on their own, or with a “trusted professional that the young person feels comfortable talking to … someone to sit down and go through the booklet with them.”
Achilles and Ciara are delighted that their idea has moved from being something we talk about doing, to a real, practical and emotional support for children and young people attending Hearings and that it is already making a difference.