One of the many things I have realised as I pass through my early forties is that I have now officially spent more of my life as an adult rather than as a child or (even by the most generous definition) a young person.
This thought, among others, has recently been brought into focus for me in a profound and impactful way.
It has been my absolute privilege over the past few weeks to work with some hugely inspiring young people from around Norfolk in a short development programme devised by Norwich Theatre and led by actor and practitioner Joe Arkley.
The aim of the short series of sessions was to support five young people in preparing to be the hosts of Norfolk’s first ever Flourish Awards, a fantastic initiative created by an alliance of organisations celebrating outstanding contributions from both individuals and organisations towards helping children and young people in Norfolk to flourish.
When you lead a large charity, it can be easy to spend so much time focussed on pursuing your vision, sustaining your mission and living out your values that you can lose connection with actually realising that vision, delivering that mission and putting those values into action.
Part of my role in this project was to support the brilliant young people on the night of the Flourish Awards at Norwich City Football Club and help them give of their best as hosts and, on a selfish level, it was one of the most rewarding things I have done and I learned as much as our young compere team did.
Standing on stage as hosts was a big ask for this group in front of an audience of not only ‘important people’ (their words) but also their peers as well as individuals from statutory services, agencies and voluntary organisations whose individual work has helped them to genuinely transform or even saved their lives.
I am no stranger to speaking in public or having to talk to ‘important people’ but I was both humbled and utterly in awe of how Alex, Cerys, Heidi, Travis and Will commanded that room as their authentic selves and also so bravely shared parts of their own stories.
First and foremost, these were stories of phenomenal individual resilience and, during the exploratory sessions at Norwich Theatre Stage Two leading up to the event, it was agreed by us all that these stories would only be shared if they were genuinely a part of building on that personal resilience, they would never be shared just for the ‘important people’.
However, it was clear that at the heart of each of these stories was the demonstrable impact that had been achieved for and with these young people through the active collaboration of organisations in Norfolk, whether through referrals, signposting or partnership working. This was something that we knew the ‘important people’ were interested in hearing and truly demonstrated Norfolk’s Flourish ambition in action.
Returning then to my opening reflections upon my own ageing process, being part of this project also reminded me that many of us in leadership positions cannot truly relate to the complex and inter-sectional challenges faced by young people today and so we must listen and hear.
My lived experience a quarter of a century ago (gulp!) was in a society and media context that I would never commit to being easier or harder than today but was simply different.
I am reminded of the words of advocate and activist Helen Keller telling us that ‘alone we can do so little’ but ‘together we can do so much’ and this is utterly vital to supporting young people to truly flourish, which is all of our responsibilities.
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