Established in 2002 Develop Your Child CIC is a Community Interest Company (number 11623569), a social enterprise, which uses any profit to invest in it’s social objects:
- The Company’s object is to carry on activities which benefit the community and in particular (without limitation) to:
- Advance the education of the public through training, support and development of self empowerment.
- Promote and improve for the public benefit the economic and/or social well-being of people living and working in areas where the Company operates.
- Empower and inspire disadvantaged people in society and enhance their opportunities to participate in training, employment and society in general.
- Promote a respectful and trusting parent/child/teacher relationship throughout their education.
- Promote community integration in the areas where the company works.
- Undertake trading activity in pursuit of the objects of the company or to provide income from such trade for development and investment in the objects of the company.
And an excerpt from our CIC 36
The company’s activities aim to help overcome a growing national crisis relating to children from disadvantaged families who are the most at-risk group.
To the detriment of the ‘whole person’, education in schools focusses on academic achievement. Children from disadvantaged families are the least prepared for apprenticeships, employment and life.
As the 4th Industrial Revolution Artificial Intelligence and technology begins to handle all repetitive jobs, we must act now to empower children with life skills, personal development and self-realisation to avoid a national social disaster.
Introduction
It is important to emphasise the difference in our mindfulness, personal life coaching and emotional literacy approach. The conventional life coaching model is based on:
- A person realises they have a problem.
- They want to do something about it – TWO HUGE STEPs.
- They talk to a variety of coaches and agree terms.
- Pay one month’s fee in advance.
Our unique coaching model is a powerful combination of:
- Tailored mindfulness to calm the mind and experience living in the moment.
- Personal life coaching to empower one to step out of their comfort zone, identify and achieve their goals.
- Emotional literacy techniques to understand how thoughts, feelings, emotions and actions can be changed and managed.
Some Key Developments
- In
2002 I discovered the power of life
coaching to build self-esteem, self-responsibility and to empower the client to
step out of their comfort zone. I helped them realise they have all they need
inside to be successful in achieving their goals. I also identified my passion
to holistically develop millions of children globally, particularly those from
disadvantaged families.
Light bulb moment a conventional coaching model wont work, we need to create a mutually respectful trusting relationship with our clients before we start training.
- 2003 Go for Goals with a group of 8-year old ‘underachievers’. The Head said, “we spend our lives cramming information into children. This approach is completely different: we are asking the children what they think and want”. They improved their SATS test results in maths and reading on average 35%, compared to the year group.
Light bulb moment, these young children have unrealised potential when approached differently.
- 2003 Go for Goals and the Buddy System in a Youth Club with teenagers, similar content but we teamed them up on the basis of how they processed information from a NLP exercise. Some unexpected couples with very successful relationships, which continued out onto the streets.
Light bulb moment when we realised any child with a problem had a parent with a bigger one!
- 2004 Parent Champion to build self esteem and empower parents to take responsibility for themselves.
Light bulb moment there is a massive need for parents and carers.
- 2004 Parent Champion pilot for Foster Carers. A local authority proposed a further trial in each of their 4 fostering areas the following year.
- 2005 We WILL… a 2-day residential coaching programme at an Outdoor Ed venue, to empower parents, build self-esteem in children and enable them to connect and work together at a deeper level.
- 2005 formed a charity Every
Family Matters
to seek funding to develop a formal evidence base. We were relatively
successful with small grants and then in 2009 we won a £10,000 Big Lottery
grant for the Parent Champion programme to run in a Children’s Centre. The
Commissioner for Children and Family Services refused access to the Children’s
Centre on the basis our approach of life coaching wouldn’t work for these
parents. We had to return the money.
Light bulb moment, the parent and family support system sees disadvantaged families that are in deficit and need ‘fixing’.
- 2005 Parent Champion pilot for Teenage Parents, some challenges when the baby needs attention!
- 2006 offered a job as a
Parenting Tutor for Medway Adult Ed accepted providing I could run my own programme; we started
each session with a guided meditation.
Light bulb moment a great way to settle a group and prepare them to focus on the learning.
- 2007 Transition to build self esteem of 11-year olds using enhanced ‘Go for Goals’ techniques, practice with homework from parents during Summer break and then a refresher in new school.
- 2008 Whole Family Coaching working as a family was really revealing how much they didn’t know about each other. The mutual respect created over the programme was breath taking. One Mum who was on a cocktail of anti-depressants and used to go to bed when the children came home from school because she couldn’t cope, was volunteering at a school and looking for a part time job.
- 2009 The late Sir John Whitmore became Chairmen for our charity Every Family Matters.
- 2009 Family Coaching Cafe (FCC) project. We ran some FCC’s in the major cafe chains, which were successful in introducing the work and sometimes we would run a course in the cafe. In 2010 we explored the potential to set up our own premises but in the end it wasn’t feasible.
- 2010 Parent Champion, we found Medway Council were a more open local authority and re-applied for the £10,000. The success of this programme led to us applying for a Reaching Communities grant. In 2011 we were successful with a 2-year £76,000 project with an evaluation by Canterbury Christ Church University. This proved our unconventional approach was effective in empowering disadvantaged children and families in a deprived area
- 2010 Professionals training. A series of one day training for a wide range of Statutory and Charitable professionals who support children, parents and families.
- 2012 Whole School Culture Change pilot, the Ethos of Empowerment. Putting together all of our experience working with teachers, parents/carers and young people.
Light bulb moment whilst it wasn’t easy to achieve working with teachers and the parents/carers together it was very exciting for the outcomes it achieved. There is a report from the Deputy Head here.
The future is education, whilst we have attempted to find and run further Whole School Culture Change programmes, the commitment from the school to have access to the teachers and parents prior to training hasn’t been forthcoming, we haven’t given up, details of the programme are here.
- 2020 Heart Based Learning applying our innovative approach to empower parents and toddlers together, before they go through the school gates to become someone they’re not, for the rest of their lives.
Light bulb moment why on earth didn’t I think of this before, it took the pandemic to wake me up!
If you would like to know the back story see why I’m the luckiest Dad in the World.
