Locations: Online resource
Summary
SIX STEPS is made by care-experienced young people for care-experienced young people.
Developed by The Verbatim Formula’s (TVF) team of co-researchers, this interactive resource offers you six steps with activities that invite you to check in with yourself, connect with others, explore your strengths and creativity, find your words, and create your story.
Access to SIX STEPS is free for everyone to use. It will be of particular interest to adults working with young people, such as Participation Officers, Youth Workers and Personal Advisors. It will help you get creative, learn more about yourself, and speak out about things that matter to you.
What is SIX STEPS?
SIX STEPS was developed with feedback from care-experienced young people at Newham Youth Empowerment Service and from Children in Care Councils across London.
The resource shares creative ideas and interactive activities in a fun and accessible way.
The six steps it guides you through are:
- Checking in with yourself
- Connecting with others
- Talking about your strengths
- Your creative powers
- Finding your words
- Creating your story
Each step contains activities that invite you to explore your identity, needs and interests; connect and collaborate with others; recognise your strengths and creativity; develop skills to advocate for yourself and others; and experiment with artistic practices.
You will find fun activities to reflect, talk, listen, create and explore different ways of expressing yourself and interacting with others.
For example, in Step 1 – Checking in with Yourself, you are invited to think about what you need others to know about you, what your needs are and what can support you. You can listen to recordings of care-experienced people talking about their own experiences and ideas.
Who is SIX STEPS for and how can it be used?
SIX STEPS is designed to be used with groups of care-experienced young people, facilitated by Participation Officers and Youth Workers. Some of the activities work for other adults involved in children’s care, including Personal Advisors and foster carers. They are great to try out with your young people.
Although a lot of the ideas are for groups, individuals can use Six Steps to get fun and creative ideas, and to listen to other care-experienced young people.
At its heart, however, SIX STEPS is about sharing and creating together, with opportunities for young people to have fun and connect with others.
TVF offers free access to SIX STEPS for you to use.
How to access SIX STEPS
SIX STEPS can be accessed via The Verbatim Formula’s website.
Access SIX STEPS and download instructions
The SIX STEPS page includes instructions for downloading and opening the resource.
Please note: SIX STEPS is not recommended for use on mobile devices. For the best experience, TVF recommends using a laptop or desktop computer, with a monitor or TV where possible.
About The Verbatim Formula
SIX STEPS was developed by The Verbatim Formula (TVF), a participatory arts collective based at Queen Mary University of London and produced by People’s Palace Projects.
TVF works alongside care-experienced young adults as co-researchers and uses creative approaches to bring experts by experience into conversations about policy, services and practice. We have worked with children’s services in many local authorities, presenting our work and delivering training that aims to improve care and education services. We have also shared performances and held events in museums, universities, town halls and theatres.
TVF has won the Theatre and Research Performance Association prize for Transformative Research (2023), the UK KE Award for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Knowledge Exchange (2024), and was shortlisted for a Times Higher Education Award (2024).
If you would like to get in touch with us, please contact Maggie Inchley on
m.inchley@qmul.ac.uk
.
TVF’s work is funded by Queen Mary University of London, The Portal Trust, Arts and Humanities Research Council, Arts Council England and UK Government.
