What Matters to Me

The Challenging Behaviour Foundation is launching findings from its ‘What Matters to Me’ project following an event at the House of Commons.

The national charity is the only UK charity specifically focussed on the needs of children, young people, and adults with a severe learning disability whose behaviours may challenge and those who support them.

It has been collating the experiences, preferences and views of young people to influence policy and practice as they make the transition from child to adult services.

Funded by the Blagrave Trust, BBC Children in Need and the National Lottery Community Fund, ‘What Matters to Me’ involved directly engaging with 11 young people who have severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities and working closely with their families and support circles.  

The ‘What Matters to Me’ project used innovative approaches to demonstrate that it is possible to find out what matters to and for this group of young people, and that it is possible to use what matters to drive change.  

The project ran over three years and involved individual and group activities at Ifield School (Gravesend) and Demelza (Sittingbourne) in Kent, using creative methods to gather young people’s experiences, preferences and views.   

The project findings will be shared via a multimedia manifesto consisting of photography and films, guides, case studies and resources. Four short films, which form the centrepiece of the manifesto, were launched at the Parliamentary event, sponsored by Kevin Mckenna, MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, and attended by MPs, academics, government officials, professionals and the young people and families who took part.  

More resources, including a practical toolkit, will follow before the project ends in June.  

“People with severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities have the same rights as everyone else to share what is important to and for them yet are so rarely included in consultation or participation activities,” said Jacqui Shurlock, CEO of the Challenging Behaviour Foundation. 

“We hope that ‘What Matters to Me’ encourages everyone whose work impacts on the lives of people with severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities to reflect on what more they can do to find out what matters and to use what matters to drive change.” 

To find out more visit https://www.challengingbehaviour.org.uk/