Award on the cards

Dave Stewart- Training Manager for Positive Steps Oldham.

A PIONEERING local programme designed to steer young people down the right path has won a national gong.

Positive Steps Oldham has won the Institute of Career Guidance award for Inclusion for its Common Assessment Framework (CAF) Card package.

CAF Cards, which were designed after consultation with local teenagers, use a series of images of help young people describe how they are feeling and the route they want to take in the future.

Dave Stewart, training consultant at Positive Steps Oldham, said: “All agencies working with young people use the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) to assess children and young people’s needs. Young people being assessed by services often feel that their assessments are one-way, this approach makes it a two-way interaction. The cards use a variety of images encourage young people to explore their own ideas and feelings, making them feel much more involved in the assessment process.

“Each pack of cards contains 19 specially selected and designed images, ranging from a mirror with a heart to a balancing scale with a burger and an apple, the idea is that the practitioner working with the young people will ask them to pick a card and talks through the associations made with that image.

“Another exercise asks young people to place the cards against three traffic lights to represent their life.”

The cards have proved so popular that staff across the country are being trained to use them in exercises.

Work is now under way to translate the programme for use in Germany, Denmark and the Czech Republic.

For more information visit www.caf cards.co.uk or contact Dave Stewart at davestewart@positivestepsoldham.org.uk or call 0161-621 9653.