My Super Sweet 16 – a milestone to maturity and independence

Turning 16 is a milestone age but when you have a child with complex health needs this milestone is even more significant. For parents who never thought their child would reach their first birthday let alone their 16^th it is a time to reflect. One family I know wanted to celebrate their daughter’s special birthday by holding a big party. As well as sharing this birthday with friends and family they decided to use these important people in her life to help set goals to increase their daughter’s independence.

I was lucky enough to be invited and my role was to co-facilitate an action plan based on the principles of person-centred planning.

My involvement stemmed from running a project looking at how we can be more person centred in the way we support children and young people with complex health needs. The project is supported by local coordinators who are the link between the families and myself. In order to prepare for the party the local coordinator and I visited the young lady called Amy on several occasions to get to know her and to start the person-centred process.  Amy and her family described the important people in her life, her hopes and dreams for the next few years and began to list what is important to her. Ahead of the party Amy’s personal assistants and mum helped her to design an invitation and cut out star shapes and clocks because they wanted people to think about what they admire about Amy and what their dreams are for her for the future.

On her actual birthday, Amy’s mum expected around 30 people to attend but in fact it was around 60. Everyone had been diligent and brought their stars and clocks and we kicked off the planning process by reading out people’s contributions. People’s dreams were very much in line with Amy’s and those of her family and close friends – to start doing more things without her parents, to  go to a music festival, have a funky haircut, go on a weekend trip with friends and to go shopping in Oxford Street. Following this we did some action planning and some people present were able to sign themselves up to help Amy plan for the future. For example, three of her personal assistants agreed to work with Amy to plan to attend a music festival next summer and a member of the school staff agreed to help Amy look at options in and out of the school now that she has turned 16. The main areas of focus were to maintain and develop new friendships, look at ways in which she can be an active member of her local community and explore options around her education.

I left feeling uplifted by the whole experience. Not only was it a great party and a celebration of Amy’s life, but some foundations were laid to help her achieve her hopes and dreams. Many of these actions were the responsibility of others, not just her mum and dad, and this is a sign that her circle are looking at her as a young woman in her own right.

 

Recent blogs by Jill Davies

• We need to act now, not sleep on it - 11 October 2013
• When flying becomes a reality - 5 September 2013
• Flashback to the 70's - 28 May 2013
• Supporting students moving to secondary school - 17 April 2013
• Raise awareness on World Down Syndrome Day - 20 March 2013