Hear from some of the YES team here in a blog written by the young people themselves!
Youth Empowerment Sessions (YES) are for young people 11 to 25 to explore communication, identity, values, challenges, and strengths. Everyone is empowered to achieve group goals to make a difference and inform change across our communities. YES aims to help young people grow confidence, have a voice in day-to-day life and wider decisions that impact individuals with additional needs and disabilities.
JIGSAW Thornbury, working in partnership with South Gloucestershire Council Youth Participation Team, facilitate opportunities for everyone to share views with key decision makers across our communities. Our YES team take part in opportunities for change, entrepreneurship, volunteering and fundraising.
Our first project as a group was developing and running a training workshop. This helped youth providers understand what it is like to be a young person with additional needs or disabilities. Maybe one day we could deliver something similar for your team?
Sensory Box Enterprise
Recently we have been developing a sensory box that local businesses or groups can buy to have in their setting. This is a box full of sensory items that we have chosen based on our experience and research. The box helps more people feel comfortable accessing spaces in their community, feeling more able to manage sensory and anxiety needs. You can see details of how to buy a box at the end of our blog.
The sensory box committee stemmed from Youth Empowerment Sessions (YES) to finalise the creation and manage the production of the sensory box.
The sensory box committee values are Respect, Innovation, Success, Empowerment (RISE). We worked together to choose these to guide us through our journey.
Our goals as a committee are to:
- Sell the box.
- Help anybody with additional needs going into different settings.
- Progress to make more sensory boxes, which leads to future scaling.
- Continually review and improve the product.
- More awareness for JIGSAW.
- Raise money for JIGSAW.
- Create future paid jobs to manage the business.
Our future vision is to sell boxes to businesses and schools and anyone who wants one and make it easier for people to access these places. The first step in making this vision a reality was applying for funding. We are grateful to the West of England Impact Alliance for supporting our application and helping our ideas come to life.
Now let’s meet our committee members…
Riley
My name is Riley and I’m the chair of the Sensory Box Committee. I decided to apply for the role as I’ve been very active in the creation of the box and really want to help evolve it and make it successful.
My role entails: preparing and running the meetings; supporting the other members of the committee and planning and overseeing the production of the project. I also planned the budget and lead the creation of the grant application email – which was accepted.
I’m really enjoying being part of the committee and I’m looking forward to seeing the project become extremely popular in the community.
Grace
Hi, my name is Grace and I am the secretary and shopper of the sensory box committee. I decided to go forward and apply for these roles as I am very passionate about the progression of the sensory box, and I am a great shopper!
Being the Shopper entails: Researching products, finding the best value and considering environmental issues and sustainability.
Being the Secretary entails: Writing notes from our meetings and keeping the team up to date on events, meetings and decisions.
I am thoroughly enjoying being a part of the sensory box committee and cannot wait for our special project to launch soon!
Harley
I am the Sensory Box Committee treasurer because I was in YES group who created it and this felt the most natural for me to become the treasurer. The role entails me allowing people to spend a specific amount. This helps me in becoming an accountant as I can find good prices and give reasonable amounts of money to people.
Jack
My role in the sensory box committee is a marketing role. That means I have to let people know how to get one of the sensory boxes. The box is for people that would like to have toys to play with when they are waiting for an appointment, that makes them feel more relaxed. For example, when you are at a dentist, you can feel scared. Sensory toys can make you less nervous when you are at the dentist.
Hattie (JIGSAW CEO)
My role on the Sensory Box Committee is Project Champion. This means that I give the committee advice when they need it and help them to connect what they are doing into the wider JIGSAW strategy. I was very excited to take on this role as I believe that the sensory box is a fantastic product that will make a big difference in our community. Seeing the young people step up as leaders for change has been truly amazing.
How do I find out more about the Sensory Box?
The sensory boxes are a beautifully engraved wooden box with 12 items to suit different sensory and anxiety needs. They will be available for organisations to buy for just £35 on the JIGSAW Thornbury online shop or in person at JIGSAW very soon.
You can email us at admin@jigsawthornbury.org.uk if you would like to pre-order one.
Thank you for supporting our enterprise and helping to make the world a more inclusive place.