The Your Life, Your Choices project was set up by the Local Authorities of Monmouthshire, Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent to support young people with disabilities as they progressed from childhood into adulthood. A key aim of the project was to promote the positive use of transition coordinators in transition planning. In 2009 we were commissioned to produce a DVD on behalf of the project team, which would be used to provide information about transition planning for young people, parents, carers and professionals.
It was agreed that the projects' transition coordinators and a group of young people they were engaged with, would be the main focus for the DVD. Thus, to ensure that everyone involved could benefit as much as possible from the experience it was decided to kick start the process by inviting a number of young people to attend a five day film making course. The aim was to introduce participants to the experience of creating digital films and more importantly, to get to know us and warm to the idea of appearing in front of a video camera.
The approach was incredibly successful and really helped to develop the skills, confidence and trust of the participants who now form a key part of the final DVD. As Mike Logan, the Your life, Your Choices project manger commented, 'We had nine young people who had never met each other before from three different local authority areas...we found them working together as a team much quicker than we had expected. And also, because they were then listening to each others voices as they recorded each other and as they planned some of the film clips, we found that they started to think for themselves about their own experiences. By the end of it they were comparing quite deep experiences, quite emotional experiences of things they had in common, like being bullied at school and some of the things they'd done about it...(we)found the whole experience extremely powerful, but it was also clearly powerful for the young people who were involved.'
The second phase of the process involved the actual production of a series of digital stories that documented the transition experiences of four young people, their families and transition coordinators. Three of the four stories were based on the experiences of young people who had accessed the initial training programme and at least two individuals volunteered to assist with the production work.
We worked very closely with the transition coordinators and the individuals whose experiences we were planning to film to ensure they understood why we wanted them to be involved. It was also important for them to understand that their contribution would be made public to other young people, their parents, carers and professionals who were interested in finding out more about transition planning.
The second phase of the project took approximately two months to complete and the first draft of the DVD is currently being reviewed by all the key stakeholders prior to it's final completion. The project was immensely rewarding and it was gave both John and I a great buzz to see how much the young people grew in confidence and self esteem, simply by getting involved. It was clear from the comments made by Mike Logan, the project manager, that he also valued our approach to engaging with the young people, 'From those very first training days, John and Sarah engaged with the young people really well. They recognised their skills and potential and brought them along. Their work was incredibly empowering'.
The Your Life, Your Choices project now has an extremely useful resource that can be used by any young person and their families who are thinking about their transitions into adulthood. It's also being used a as a training tool for practitioners working directly with young children with disabilities. 'John and Sarah really helped us clarify what we wanted the DVD project, and from our point of view they've helped us produce a really effective product' Mike Logan, Your Future, Your Choices Project Manager. If you'd like to find out more about the project, see the digital stories, or explore how Practice Solutions can assist you in the production of a digital media project, then please don't hesitate to give us a call on 01443 742384.
