A fantastic poem by Eileen, one of our contributors.
The Suit
Happy birthday she said as I ripped opened the bag…
My heart beating faster and faster as I’m peeling back the layers…
Ooh…I can see something…peeking out in the corner…
With one last pull the paper let’s go of its goodies…WOW…
I say as it lies before me…
What is it mum? I say…
Hold it up and you will see…
My hands touch the beige-coloured fabric…
Ooh… it’s so, so soft to the touch…
As I hold it up a piece falls down…
Mmm…. I say,
hold it up against you then…
Taking it out of my hands mum holds it up against my body…
Oh yes …looks lovely…
Now try the trousers on….
I put one leg in then the other and as my mum pulls me into them, I feel the soft silk lining touching my young skin…
It’s beautiful mum I shout…
Have a look then…have a look…
I head over the mirror with such anticipation for what I’m about to see…
I squeal…
There I stand in all my glory in my new beige camel coloured suit…
Soft to the touch and so, so elegant…
It’s the most loveliest thing I’ve ever seen…
Now look after it, she shouts…
Cost a lot of money…
OK mum, I reply still staring in the mirror…
Well…take it off now…
Go and hang it up, she says…
OK mum…
I slept well that night…
Happy I’d got a lovely suit for my party…
As the weekend comes…
I’m so looking forward to playing in the streets below…
I hear my mum call…
Eileen…
Take this to the pawn shop for me will ya…
All wrapped up in brown paper…
Mum…is this my suit …is it my suit…
Tears well up in my eyes as she nods her head …
Only this once …only this once…
promise…
the pain I felt on that long journey down to the pawn shop can never be explained…
tears running down my face as I hand it over to the man with the glasses on in exchange for the coins, he drops into my open hand…
It went on that journey often my suit…
And every-time the tears would flow…
Didn’t fit me when I finally got it back…
Ahh well, mum said …may as well take it back to the pawn man and get a bob or two ehh….
A tear drops onto my cheek…
You can discover more creative pieces from people we support in our Arts and Crafts Winter Showcase.
Sarah Smith is the founder of lightbulb.coach, a coaching company which supports people to build confidence and reach their goals. We spoke to Sarah to find out more about her work.
How did you get started in coaching?
My background is in finance. I was working for Aberdeen Asset Management for about 17 years in learning and development, and I was a coach in-house. I got the opportunity to take voluntary redundancy at the end of 2017, and started lightbulb.coach at the start of 2019. So I’m just in my fourth year.
What is your main goal?
To make coaching mainstream for young people. When I was working with executives and senior leaders in corporate organisations, I realised that what I was helping them with was the same struggles that many young people have in their early careers. And I thought, well, why are we not offering this to young people much earlier? So I started working with young people and trying to raise the awareness of coaching and the benefits. I’ve got a broad range of clients, though – basically anyone from the age of nine upwards – which is fantastic.
Coaching really is for everyone. Maybe some people have the idea that it’s only reserved for executives or very senior people, but in today’s world it’s becoming more of a solution for people who just want to make a change, and just need a little bit of an extra help. Coaching is available and affordable.
Is the process of doing coaching for children very different from adults?
Fundamentally, the themes are very similar, but the approach is slightly different. You have to be a little bit more directive with children, so you maybe use a lot more play: things like Lego and creating vision boards. But I use that with adults as well, because we all like to release our inner child sometimes.
So the approach is different, but the topics are very much the same. It’s about building confidence, self-esteem and self-awareness, and understanding our own personal triggers and our barriers and what gets in the way.
Are there many differences between coaching and counselling?
Yes. Coaching is forward-facing: where are you now, where do you want to get to and how can I help you get there? Purely by asking the right questions. Whereas counselling is very much looking into the past and unravelling the events that have brought you to where you are today, and helping you to understand that.
I always compare what I do to sports coaching. Everyone knows that if you want to jump higher, swim faster, run faster, your coach will help you do that. They’ll look at your technique, work out what’s holding you back and try to improve on what you’re already doing.
It’s the same with the coaching I do. It could be something that is holding the person back, like a particular fear or maybe not feeling confident in their ability. You often see imposter syndrome, for example. And coaching involves being really specific about what the goal is, and then working out the steps and strategies to get there.
What are some of the main reasons why people come to you?
For children, it’s through parents. Covid has changed things a lot. It feels like our young people are really struggling to get back into socialising: having the motivation to go back to school clubs or sports.
With adults it might be similar. Or maybe the person wants to change their career, because they’re just really unhappy in what they’re doing, but they don’t know what it is that they do want to do. So they will come to me looking just to explore what their options are, and to come up with more ideas and strategies of how they can make real transformational change in their lives.
People often think that coaches are like cheerleaders, and that’s really not what we’re there to do. We are very much partnering with the person, but we also provide the challenge if there’s a lack of motivation.
What would be a typical amount of time that you would spend with someone?
That’s another difference compared to counselling. I would describe coaching as a short-term solution for long-term gain. You might work with someone for an hour or 90 minutes per month for, say, six to eight months. A lot of the work is done between the sessions. That, I think, is very similar to counselling. But whereas with counselling you might have someone support you for a long period of time, a coach will tend to work with you for a shorter period.
How did you start working with Future Pathways?
Someone got in touch with me to ask about coaching and coach mentoring. They said that they were working with Future Pathways and that I would be a good partner. I’d heard of Future Pathways before, through my work with a number of charities, so I was familiar with what they do.
And it was great to hear that coaching was being embraced. Because within charities, for example, there’s often a counselling service offered, but once you get to the end of that counselling, how do you move forward? You’ve done all of that work to get to where you are now: what is the next chapter? And I think that’s where coaching can really help.
You can find out more about Sarah’s work at lightbulb.coach
For a full list of who we work with, visit our Delivery Partners page.
We are pleased to share a piece of work created with Matter of Focus. Matter of Focus is a company that helps organisations to look at how they support people to reach their goals.
In 2018, we commissioned Matter of Focus to evaluate our service. This would support our learning and the ongoing development of Future Pathways.
Since then, Matter of Focus have helped us to track, measure and report on our work. They help us to see the difference we make and where we can improve.
Understanding our relationships
The way someone experiences a service (and the feeling they have about this) plays a significant role in how the person benefits from the service. It is important, therefore, to make sure we build effective relationships that foster trust. It is not just about delivering a service, it is about the interaction between us and the people we support.
Understanding the relationships between Future Pathways and the people we support is essential to how we learn. Matter of Focus created a simple framework which helps us to map a person’s journey of support. Through the framework, we consider:
- What we do
- Who with
- How they feel
- What they learn and gain
- What they do differently
- The difference it makes
The framework helps us to think about our service, show where we are making a difference and highlight areas we can improve. It also prompts us to consider the relationships we build. For example, how we build trust and how people respond to us. It also helps us to think about how we can support people in their goals, by considering emotional or practical outcomes.
The framework helps us identify additional context, like the person’s individual sphere (for example, values, habits and skills), their social sphere (such as networks, roles and relationships) and their material sphere (things like infrastructure, time or resources). Considering this additional context helps us to understand the diverse ways people experience Future Pathways. This, in turn, helps us to build and sustain relationships.
What we learned
The research showed how important it is for us to consider, talk about and understand the relationships we have. The evaluation approach from Matter of Focus has helped us clarify how Future Pathways make a difference. Their research also shows that establishing and maintaining trusting relationships with those we support is crucial to creating an environment where a path towards recovery becomes possible. In addition, by being able to use a framework that demonstrates evidence of outcomes, we have been able to make a stronger case for continued funding and ensure continuity for survivors.
In short, this work has shown that it is not just what we do, but how we do it that gets results. This learning is essential for other services too – we encourage partners and organisations to place people’s experiences at the heart of improvement work.
Collaborative research
This piece of work by Matter of Focus looked at the issue of trust and how important this is to the people we work with and to our own staff. Focusing on this specific theme helped to show how the evaluation approach can shine a light on the relationship between Future Pathways and the people we support. It also helped to show how we adapted in response to the findings.
Our collaborative piece has recently been published in Evaluation and Programme Planning, an international journal hosted by Science Direct.
You can find out more about the work and read the full paper on Matter of Focus website.
Someone we work with, Grant, is a keen and very skilled photographer. But his camera was holding him back: it was not good enough to let him use his talent to the full. We were able to help.
Grant first got interested in photography a long time ago – back when people still used camera film. After a while, he got out of the habit. “I just did snaps here and there with my phone. Then, about 10 years ago, my girlfriend at the time got me a new camera.”
Things went from there. Grant then bought a camera, a Canon 100D, that one of his friends was selling. It was almost brand new, and Grant started doing wildlife photography again. Grant explains, “the challenge is just to get an image, because most animals move so fast. You’ve got to find ways to try to work with them.”
Above: Juvenile Kestrels “These young kestrels were part of a brood that I had the privilege of watching from being chicks to fledging the nest. (In the interests of transparency I should say that in the original image the sky had washed out, so while editing on Photoshop I had used the sky replacement function.)”
Grant started by going to his local park and taking photos of the birds there. The park was the perfect place for this. It had lots of different wildlife, with the coast at one end and a woodland area at the other.
Grant found that the patient and slow nature of wildlife photography was enjoyable and of great benefit too. “Photographing wildlife, it really slows you down. Because if you’re jumping about and being noisy… they won’t come up. You’ve got to take maybe 20 minutes just to sit still… then you start to hear the noises of them rustling about – and then you start to sense the movement of them, you won’t actually see them yet.”
“And then after a while they get to trust you, and see that you’re no threat. Then they’ll start showing themselves. And now that I’ve been going to the same spot for about 2 years, animals will come up to me quite readily. I take things with me like bird food, bags of nuts for the squirrels and stuff like that, so they are quite happy. You learn a lot about animal behaviour.”
Above: Wren on a branch. “This is probably the clearest image I have of a wren, one of the UK’s smallest birds. They are incredibly skittish and devilishly fast.”
Above: Ravenscraig Castle at sunset
When Grant first started working with Future Pathways, one of the things he talked about with his Support Coordinator was his love for photography. He wanted to get better at it but the camera he had was too basic. This is when his Support Coordinator said Future Pathways could help.
Grant made a list of what he needed and got everything second-hand which saved a lot of money. He was now able to do much more and in many different light conditions.
As you can see, Grant has taken some amazing photos, and he clearly loves the process as much as other people love the results. “One of the most amazing experiences I’ve had was at a spot I know where kestrels go every year. About 2 years ago, I was there and a kestrel was sat in a tree quite far away. And the next thing, he flew to a tree about 20 feet from me. It literally just sat there and watched me, checking me out for a good 5 minutes. Enough time to go and get my camera set up and take an image right close up.” (The photo Grant took is below.)
Above: Kestrel. “This kestrel flew onto the tree closest to me and watched me for a few minutes.”
And it seems that Grant’s love for photography may be passing down to his kids. Grant sometimes takes his daughter out with him. She uses his old camera to learn. Grant told us that this has been an added benefit of Future Pathways’ help that he did not expect. “It has helped my daughter and me build on our relationship, by giving us a shared interest.”
Above: “A ‘macro shot’ from a day spent shooting insects and flowers.”
“It is a great experience. Everyone’s got their life stresses, and then I’ve got other mental health issues that I’ve got to deal with. When I go out with my camera, for that couple of hours I’m not thinking about any of that. What I’m concentrating on is the location I’m going to, what’s the light like, what kit am I going to use, what shutter speeds am I going to use, how am I going to set the camera up? I find that it takes my mind right away: just for a couple of hours, I have no worries.”
Above: A robin in the sun. “It was the end of the day and I was about to pack my equipment away when I noticed this wee fella. Next to kestrels, robins are my favourite birds. They are so full of attitude, curious, and furiously defensive of their territory. But once they get used to your presence they will happily stay about you.”
Check out another fantastic photograph by one of the people we support in the Sunrise photograph here.
You can view more creative pieces from the people we support in our Arts and Crafts Winter Showcase.
Our Registration Line closes at 4pm on Wednesday 5th April 2023.
It will re-open again at 10am on Wednesday 12th April 2023.
Until we close the line for the Easter break, you can register in the following ways:
Phone us for free on 0808 164 2005. Our lines are open 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.
Email us at registration@future-pathways.co.uk If you email, please include a phone number so we can contact you to complete the registration process.
If you’re finding things hard, you can contact one of the following services:
The Samaritans
The Samaritans offer a safe place for you to talk any time you like. You can talk in your own way about whatever’s going on. They have a helpline, email service, letter service and a self-help app.
Helpline open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Freephone 116123.
Breathing Space
Breathing Space is a free, confidential phone and webchat service. It is for anyone in Scotland over the age of 16 who is experiencing low mood, depression or anxiety. Open 6pm to 2am Monday to Thursday, and 6pm to 6am Friday to Sunday.
Phone for free on 0800 83 85 87
Shout
Shout is a free, confidential, 24/7 text messaging support service for anyone who is struggling to cope.
Text SHOUT to 85258
Cellfield helps people to improve their reading skills. We spoke to Fiona Macdiarmid who owns and runs the Cellfield Centre in Stirling.
How did Cellfield start?
It began in Australia, in the late 90s. It was invented by a clever man called Dimitri Caplygin. He was an engineer, and he wondered why so many people still had problems with reading, even when so much had been done to look into and help the issue. So he looked at all the research, and used it to create a computer program.
How does it work?
To be able to read, your brain needs to be able to do lots of different things at the same time. The technical terms are things like “auditory processing”, “visual processing”, “motor function”, “working memory” and “executive function”, but basically it means that your brain has to work in lots of different ways at once.
The program brings together all of those different things, and helps you to get better at each of them, so that they all work together well. That means that your reading skills improve very quickly.
Above: Cellfield Centre in Stirling
How long does the course take?
To start with I’ll talk to the person and discuss exactly what they want help with. That takes about 2 hours, and includes some simple testing to find out how well the person can read. I also tell them how the program works. If they decide they want to go ahead, it is quite a lot of work: about an hour or an hour and a half each day, for 10 days.
After that, we look at how much progress they have made. We then check in with them again 6 months later.
How much better can people get in 10 days?
It depends on a lot of things. But some people improve their reading a little. Others improve it by a huge amount. It’s amazing. I have been working in education for 35 years, and I have never seen anything like it.
A great example is the very first person I worked with using the Cellfield program. He was very smart, and I had already been working with him, using other teaching methods, for 18 months and getting nowhere. I used to say, “If I could just get inside your head and rewire it, we would be onto a winner.” And that is pretty much what the Cellfield program does.
Above: inside the Cellfield Centre
Can you work with anyone?
Yes. I have worked with people who really cannot read at all. I also work with people who can read but find it difficult to remember what they have read.
Are there lots of other Cellfield organisations?
Yes, all over the world. As well as the UK there are centres in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia. There are also centres in America and Canada.
How long have you been worked with Cellfield?
Since 2009. I actually went to New Zealand to do my training with Dmitri.
How did you start working with Future Pathways?
Through a client of mine. His mum worked for Future Pathways, and she told Future Pathways about us. And then Cellfield, the Community Brokerage Network and Future Pathways all worked together to help someone who was registered with Future Pathways. Since then, we have worked with one other person so far.
And can it make a big difference to people’s lives?
Yes, a huge difference. The Cellfield program teaches your brain to work better, and that has lots of other benefits other than just reading. It’s like if you work to get better at running. You would also get a bit better at cycling, rowing, and lots of other things.
And also, of course, because being able to read better is really useful in your life.
You can find out more about the work of Cellfield at www.cellfield.co.uk
For a full list of who we work with, visit our Delivery Partners page.
We strive to enhance the service we provide. So, we decided to look at how we can improve the experience of the people we support. We did this by asking for feedback from people who access the service. Journey Associates helped us with this. They are a company that helps people to improve their work. They created the project for us.
Making Pathways Together
The project was online and ran from 2020 to 2022. These online workshops gave people the chance to give feedback. They looked at key areas. Different themes came up:
- Communication
- Our structure and approach
- Our support and resources
- Engagement events and socials
- Promoting our service
- Alliance Leadership Team
- Working with other services
- Services that suit different people
- Support for life-changing events
- Support across a person’s life
- Personal resilience
Then three broad topics became clear:
- Communications
- Future Pathways’ Structure
- Engagement Events and Socials
Each of these topics had a range of actions. For example, making sure more people know about us or explaining our support more clearly.
The people who took part created posters. These were like the front page of a magazine or a newsletter. They showed their ideas for how to improve Future Pathways.
Then Journey Associates created a report for us. It included all the posters that people made. It also showed all the steps of the project, the things people discussed and what people want us to do. We have read this carefully. We have thought about the things we have done since the feedback. And we have also thought about what we can do in the future. You can view a summary of this below. It covers: Communications, Structure and Engagement.
We would like to thank everyone who took part in Making Pathways Together. Their feedback helps us to improve our service for the people we support.
Read the full Making Pathways Together report.
We always want to hear your views about our service. If you would like to share them with us, you can fill in our feedback form or email us at engagement@future-pathways.co.uk
“Being thankful for a new day with a stunning sunrise.”
by Joanna Muir
You can view more creative pieces from the people we support in our Arts and Crafts Winter Showcase.
Fly On, a wonderful poem written by Eileen, one of our contributors.
You can discover more creative pieces from people we support in our Arts and Crafts Winter Showcase.
The Book Whisperers is a community of people that helps writers of all kinds to self-publish their work. Future Patwhays has partnered with them on several occasions to help people with their writing.
Here, The Book Whisperer’s share with us their Top Three Tips for writing your first book.
1. Be clear about why you want to write a book.
Is it for money (book sales), for your friends or family (understanding), for other people with similar life experiences (to share what you learned along the way), or something else? Knowing what you want to achieve by writing your book will keep you thinking about the bigger picture. Also remember that a book does not need to be written for the public. Sometimes a book is written simply to tell the story and get it out of your head onto paper, even if you never show it to anyone. Writing can be cathartic just in itself.
2. Your first draft doesn’t have to be perfect.
Writing is a craft and a learned skill. No-one expects your first draft to come out fully formed. Have confidence in the story and allow it to come out on its own. Planning helps – such as creating a timeline and/or chapter headings to keep the whole story in mind. It allows you to know how far you have come and how much more there is to do. The editing process comes later so don’t worry too much about the details and just get the whole story out and into words.
3. Get support.
It is useful to have a writing coach who can help to set specific and measurable goals and deadlines. Working with an editor can help you polish and refine the story. You might also consider joining a writing community, as this can really help a lot. Having peers to talk to and support your writing journey can motivate you to keep going. This is what the Book Whisperers is all about!
Find out more about The Book Whisperers in our Meet the Partner feature.
