Learning Disability Week: CBF on their 'What Matters to Me' project

The Challenging Behaviour Foundation share more information about their upcoming project 'What Matters to Me' which engages young people with severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities gathering their experiences, preferences and views to influence local and national policy. 

Too often, young people who have severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities are not given the opportunity to influence or be involved in matters that affect their lives.

At the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, we are leading a project called ‘What Matters to Me’, engaging directly with young people with complex communication needs to influence policy and shape services through developing an understanding of their experiences, preferences and views. The project is led by a steering group of family carers and professionals including Mencap’s Policy Manager.

Investing time, building strong relationships with the young people and their support circles, and carrying out personalised creative engagement activities, has provided insight to what is important to and for young people with severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities.

The experiences, preferences and views gathered from young people through this meaningful engagement will be shared with key decision-makers to positively influence, shape and develop services at various levels and raise awareness of the importance and benefits of engaging with young people with severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities.

Learning will be pulled together into a multi-media manifesto to demonstrate how others can replicate the approaches and put in place the key principles needed for meaningful engagement with individuals with severe or profound and multiple needs. The manifesto will also demonstrate how young people with complex needs can influence policy that affects them, as well as capturing what we have learnt through this project about the topic area of transition.

What we are trying to highlight is quite simple – what matters to young people with severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities is likely the same as what matters to you or me!

You can find out more about the project, and sign up to the network forum here.