Home | Pick Your Own

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Pick Your Own offers;

- Personalised support to build a young person's confidence

- 1:1 socially distanced walk or dog walk and talk

- Meet-ups in your garden, local park, outdoor cafe

- - Digital meet up on a platform of choice e.g. text, email, WHATSAPP, Zoom

- Help to identify and nurture interests, help connecting up with physical, creative and learning activity

- Help to enhance understanding between parent and young person

- AQA interest-led learning units

- Support for school/college work

- Support for life beyond lockdown

- Information and advice around food, money, housing , mental and physical health support.

-Coming soon- Digital badges

What is Pick Your Own?

Pick Your Own (PYO) is a Community Interest Company offering free and low cost 1:1 support for isolated, withdrawn or stuck young people aged 13-21 yrs in Brighton & Hove. It is delivered by Elizabeth who has 25+ years of experience in education, SEN and wellbeing, including life as a teacher, SENCO, Head teacher, mentor, coach, an SEN and wellbeing manager in two local authorities and Young Carers team manager. She holds an enhanced DBS certificate. She is committed to using her skills, knowledge and experience to reach out to young people who don't always find it easy to get what they need to feel happy and supported. She wants to help young people to feel that they are strong, clever, funny and resourceful and to be able to use these parts of themselves to get back on their feet.

PYO provides a bespoke package of coaching, mentoring and befriending, offering neutral, non-clinical provision as an alternative to more formal support that many young people and families find doesn’t work for them and isn't easily available. It supports quieter young people who are less visible and not being noticed through more outward behaviour but who are, nevertheless, vulnerable and at risk of social exclusion and poor emotional health and wellbeing without sensitive, personalized intervention.

PYO supports young people at their chosen space and pace, with person-centred, strengths-based support. It connects virtually via mediums that the young person is comfortable with and face to face, with a COVID safe approach, including gardens, parks and outdoor cafes, as appropriate. It understands that a trusting and comfortable relationship needs time.

PYO works collaboratively with young people listening to their best hopes and working alongside them to facilitate these hopes through social, emotional and practical support.

If interested, PYO offers connectivity to local wellbeing enhancing activities including sport, art and craft to support the young person engage and experience the known physical and mental benefits of such activity, to develop their social confidence, build skills, nurture interests and passions and build a social network. The project is called Pick Your Own because young people choose what interests and activities they would like to try out.

Importantly, Pick Your Own recognises how difficult it is to try something new and to meet new people so PYO makes introductions to local activity providers and supports young people's participation, relationship building and anxiety management through accompanying them over several sessions.

Pick Your Own also offers support for learning confidence and motivation with 1:1 interest based and non-formal learning projects and is a registered centre for AQA Unit Awards. 'UAS is shown to motivate, encourage, engage, support and raise self esteem and can reward achievement which might otherwise go unrecognised, eg small steps or non-mainstream subjects.'

Finally, Pick Your Own is soon to be a partner in the Cities of Learning Digital Badge scheme, see blog here:

We hope to develop a badge recognising young people's engagement with PYO around building their social and emotional confidence and skills- watch this space.

September 2020

Stay safe & stay connected, Elizabeth & PYO Directors January 2021

Are you 13-21 years old in Brighton & Hove? Are you feeling a bit stuck? A bit isolated? Wanting to withdraw? Pick Your Own is here to help.

What we can do together:

What we do: Have a chat about well-being and how to live a life that makes you feel better about yourself.

What you do: Pick your own things that make you feel better about yourself, think about what you do already and what you might like to do.

What we do: Show you some activities that you might like ( these might be physical, creative, learning or just meeting others).

What you do: Pick your own activities to try out.

...... and then ....

When you have Picked Your Own activities, we will go with you (as many times as you want) and we will make sure that the people you meet are kind and supportive, hopefully a bit of a laugh and ready to show you what they do to see if you like it.

Here are some of the activities you can try out:

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brighton bricks 1

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lego

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What we do: Listen to your best hopes and imagine how you might make changes, it can be very hard to do this on your own.

What you do: Pick your own space and pace, we will come to you- your house, a local cafe, take the dog for a walk, chat over the phone- you choose.

What we do: Acknowledge your feelings such as anxiety and low confidence, explore your strengths and have a think about building you up.

What you do: Pick your own way to tell us how you feel now and how you'd like to feel- we look forward to listening to you.

What we do: Recognise that there are many reasons that you don't get out and about and think these through with you.

What you do: Pick your own ideas and ways forward-we look forward to building on these with you, we can make suggestions if you get stuck.

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