Children and Young People’s Partnership Board - January 2025 meeting presentations

Guiding Voices were next to present. As a group, Guiding Voices shared their thoughts on all areas of the Rotherham Together Plan.

For Inclusive Economy, it was felt that SEND young people need more opportunities for work and employment because it is hard to find a job, and even harder when you have an additional need. Employers may need help to understand how to make environments for SEND young people and the resources that they might need. The SEND Futures Fair is a way to help young people find support and the pathway that they need and will help to build an inclusive economy.

The Climate and Environment is also important and SEND young people thought it important to focus on developing renewable energy, as well as planting and rewilding areas to help to environment. Young people’s wellbeing may be improved by creating green spaces to go. We need to have campaigns to help people understand the problems of climate change and how they can help.

Young people with SEND should have readily available support for their health and wellbeing, and they explained how Guiding Voices had discussed this and spoke about how accessing support can be difficult because you have to explain yourself over and over again to different people. It’s the same with filling out lots of forms. They said that work needs to happen to prevent people from reaching crisis point as sometimes support is only available when a young person has reached crisis which is too late. A good idea would be to host walking and talking events to help young people talk about their feelings and make connections with other people, at the same time as experiencing nature which is good for mental health.

To build stronger communities, it’s important to improve the local area CCTV and make it visible so that people feel safe. It would also help to co-produce with SEND young people. We know that things do happen in Rotherham, but young people don’t always seem to know about them so this could be worked on. It’s important to keep reaching out to SEND young people in accessible ways and websites should be checked for accessibility. We need to work together to not leave SEND young people feeling isolated and lonely.