Day 37 of Lockdown

Our Day 37 edition of Lockdown updates features a tribute to the inspirational Captain Tom who turns 100 tomorrow. Other news, starting with two pieces from ECC:

First a song for Captain Tom:

£1million funding boost for children in care

Essex County Council, in partnership with Hertfordshire and Norfolk County Councils, is set to receive an additional £1.1million from the Department for Education (DfE) to continue work to support young people in care and their families.

The project – Inside Out – which originally launched as a pilot in Essex in 2018, is aimed at improving stability for children and young people in residential care and supporting them to return home, or successfully ‘step down’ to less intensive care wherever appropriate and possible. It has now been expanded to cover Norfolk & Hertfordshire.

Coach Allocated

Each young person has a coach who provides 25 hours per week of intensive, personalised support. This support aims to create positive change for the young person and local authority, including:

moving to a less costly placement,
support to live well at home, and
increased stability.

Inside Out also runs peer activities that provide whole family support. A team from The Children’s Society recruit Inside Out coaches and train & support them. They also work closely with a coordinating social worker and placement providers.

Staying connected with Essex Youth Service

At a time when we’re all being asked to practise social distancing, staying connected has never been more important, especially for young people. Those that are no longer at school will be missing:

social interaction with their friends,
taking part in their usual clubs and activities, as well as
the normal outlets to express themselves so that they might normally have access to.

This will leave some young people – like the daughter of the Essex parent quoted below – feeling worried and anxious, and potentially unsure of how or where to share their feelings.

The sessions run by Essex Youth Service have been a tremendous boost for my daughter as she deals with her anxiety. The youth workers have all been friendly and encouraged her to talk…I really appreciate this resource being in place and have now recommended my other daughter to start using the service too.

Unprecedented Challenge

Essex Youth Service has risen to the unprecedented challenge of helping young people during the COVID-19 outbreak. They have introduced new ways to stay in touch and adapted lots of their existing sessions to be online so that they can continue to support young people and help them to manage their mental health.

The service is currently offering advice across a range of subjects for young people aged 13-19 years (up to 25 years for young people with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities), including how to stay motivated during lockdown, how to manage family relationships and where young people can access safe, online counselling.

Find out more about how Essex Youth Service could help your child’s mental health at this time and check out the Staying Well Children and Families resources for more information on supporting your child’s overall wellbeing.

COVID-19 Testing

There is spare capacity at the drive-through centre at Stansted Airport for:

anyone who has symptoms,
who is over-65s, or
has to leave home to go to work.

You can book a test through this link: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirusg.

Another Sound of Music treat

And here is yesterday’s one in case you missed it: