News

Positive Pathways Graduation Celebrations

16 Dec 2024

Positive Pathways is an evaluation programme to ascertain which interventions provides the very best support to young people in the West and East Midlands and what works to inform future policy. It aims to help educate, motivate, and inspire young people to change their negative behaviours, get back on track and move towards a safer future.

We were proud to host the first Positive Pathways graduation event at Teamworks Karting venues in Birmingham and Nottingham. These events provided a wonderful opportunity for parents, guardians, friends, and family to come together and celebrate the achievements of the young people who have recently successfully completed their Positive Pathway. 

As well as acknowledging everybody's outstanding efforts and accomplishments over the course of the project, there were prizes for the fastest three participants on the track! 

The ceremonies were filled with heartfelt stories and reflections on the residential experiences and the overall programme. 

Initially feeling constantly stressed and finding life challenging, Macey’s experience on the programme and residential and working with her mentor, Mirren, led to significant growth in her confidence. At the celebration event, Macey’s mother shared: “Macey has never left my side for 16 years and you wouldn’t class her as independent in any way. For Macey to go away for one day - never mind five days - it’s a miracle. I’m so happy that she pushed herself. She hasn’t stopped talking about it. You can see that she has changed before and after. I think it’s brilliant what you do at Positive Pathways. She’s opened up so much to her mentor, Mirren, they get on so well. It’s lovely to see.” 

Robert Bainbridge, Team Manager at Ingeus, said: “Positive Pathways is all about learning new skills and challenging yourself at such a pivotal age. The residential experiences, as well as the celebration events, showcased what Positive Pathways is designed to do: help young people thrive in life. Whether that is building confidence by challenging themselves to do something they thought they couldn’t or being given advice on how to make the most of the tools and connections to build towards a bright future. With our team of exceptional mentors, we continue our mission to provide young people residential experiences to learn skills and conquer barriers that typically would prevent them from accessing services or taking part in activities that would help develop their potential.” 

For more information about Positive Pathways, please contact the team at positivepathways@ingeus.co.uk.