Collas Crill has become the official training partner of local charity Jersey Cares.
Established in 2019, Jersey Cares was set up for and by people with experience of care. At the heart of the organisation is the concept of advocacy - ensuring people with experience of care are listened to, understand their rights, and have a voice on the things that matter to them and the decisions that impact them.
As training partner, Collas Crill will be funding all the entry-level and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training the Jersey Cares team needs in order to deliver its advocacy programme. Jersey Cares will also be in a position to develop a talent pipeline for future growth, offering funded training and fixed-term traineeships to a selected cohort of people, some of whom have themselves been through the local care system.
In addition to funding, over the next 12 months Collas Crill will be providing ad-hoc support in areas such as piloting some of the charity's workplace schemes currently in development, offering advice on CV writing and interview techniques for children leaving care and providing the charity with hands-on social media and PR training.
Susie Richardson, Chief Executive Officer of Jersey Cares, said: 'The Collas Crill training partnership not only offers us critical funds but also meaningful hands-on support to enhance what we do.
'We have struggled in the past to engage with the very people who have experience of the care system – their feedback in terms of 'what good looks like' is integral in changing the system. Having this support from Collas Crill gives these young people the opportunity to develop their skills while working alongside us in making those changes.'
Collas Crill's Jersey Managing Partner Pamela Doherty, said; 'A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes to ensure our partnership with Jersey Cares delivers real value for the charity and, most importantly, for the young people themselves.
'We see this as a true partnership. The investment goes well beyond the financial and we will be proactively involved in our support. Ultimately, we hope that it will be transformational for the young people Jersey Cares works alongside.'
The announcement of this partnership comes shortly after Jersey Cares has been confirmed as the preferred organisation to continue to be funded by Government to provide independent advocacy for Children in Care in Jersey for the coming years.
Susie continues: 'This is a really exciting time for us as we continue to develop our model and relationships with young people in care and care leavers, while really focusing on ensuring that team members are recruited and trained locally in Jersey and, between them, have some real life lived experience of being care.
'The passion, commitment and resilience of people working with us with relevant life experience in working alongside individuals and ensuring that children's voices shape the service going forward is so positive and has the opportunity to be transformational.'
Pictured Susie Richardson of Jersey Cares and Collas Crill's Pamela Doherty.
