As an organisation, we are committed to service-user involvement, and thus, we encourage the young people to suggest projects and acitivites for the homes to engage in.

Getting involved in projects is not only a rewarding way to spend time, but it is also a great opportunity for the young people and staff to engage with each other. Subsequently, the young people often take the lead in planning projects, and recently, a Yorkshire hub home resident formulated their own idea of a project to involve their home and local community.

Their idea was to create a positivity tree to lift the spirits of their local community during the coronavirus pandemic. As a home, the young people worked on putting together boxes to share around the local area containing a positivity bauble, wooden heart, a leaflet about the home, an explanation of the ‘Positivitree’ and a small sweet treat. They were then dropped off to houses around their local community.

In the box, there were instructions for individuals to write their own positive message or quote onto the wooden heart. The purpose being to hang these messages on the tree, thus creating an inspirational and happy place.

On a sunny evening in June, the local community were invited to drop by and hang up their positivity bauble and wooden heart. Whilst done in a socially-distanced and safe way, it allowed the community and home to come together and be introduced to each other. Furthermore, the staff shared with the community a little more information about what Care in Mind does, to help them understand why what we do is so vital.

The project was hugely successful and everyone had a lovely time. For the young people involved, it was an opportunity to showcase their creativity and kindness. The ‘Positivitree’ now symbolises the sense of community created that day as well as a place of understanding and inspiration. 

Due to the event being such a success, the young people of this home are now thinking of other ways they can engage with the community going forward!