Thursday 21-11-2019 - 12:05

The life changes trust is a charity, that aims to make positive changes in the lives of people affected by dementia and their carers and young people with care experience.

As part of their work with people with care experience, the Trust has an advisory board that consists of people with lived experience of the care system. The purpose of this advisory board is to bring their expertise and experience to the Life Changes Trust. This is a collaboration between the advisors and the Trust itself (at all levels) to help the Trust hold a relevant position in the care experienced world. The group helps in this way by advising on much of the work the Trust is embarking on with regards to people with care experience.

Aspirational Awards

One particularly prominent way the advisory board has impacted on the work of the Trust is by developing the Aspirational awards, the awards aim to fund young people with care experience who wish to do something in life that they believe to be Aspirational. This could be anything from starting a business, undertaking new training or volunteering abroad (or anything else they can think of).

This award scheme was developed and delivered by the advisory board in full, from the application questions, to seeking financial investment from the Trustees through to the application review system.

Each application will be assessed by an advisory board member who will then explain the reasons behind their decision to the rest of the group, making sure that all decisions are fair and thoroughly thought through.

WE have had some incredible applications to date and hope more people will apply.

What do I mean by care experienced?

By “care experienced person” I mean anyone that has experienced

• Residential care (living in a group home environment)
• Secure care
• Kinship care (living with a family member for an extended period)
• Foster care

If you have any issue with the definitions above or you are unsure whether you meet the criteria, please don’t hesitate to contact the Life Changes Trust.

If you self-define as Care Experienced, join the Care Experienced Students' group. You can also contact the Care Experienced Officer, David Grimm, at CESofficer@gcustudents.co.uk