Journey with an Unaccompanied Child is an interactive training delivered both online and in person, which shares seven years of expertise gained from supporting children and young people on the move across Europe. The participants follow real children as they are forced to leave home alone, travel across the globe and eventually cross the English channel to reach the UK.

As part of a movement towards more compassionate care and processes that avoid re-traumatisation, participants leave with an understanding of the common experiences of children, the impact of childhood trauma on the brain and practical guidance on how best to support unaccompanied children in the UK.

We are delighted to share that the project has now been running for over a year and has been delivered to over 400 people across seven different sectors including, social care, foster care, health and education. Collectively, those trained support over 1500 displaced children in the UK!

In line with our goal is to reach every individual and group that supports unaccompanied children in the UK, and given the quick growth in demand for the training, RYS made the decision in January to hire a Trainee Co-trainer. The main eligibility criteria for applicants was for them to have lived experience of arriving in the UK alone as a child. After all, who better to deliver training on children’s journeys than those who have taken the journey themselves! Of course, RYS was also motivated to create a new opportunity for young people passionate about training and facilitation.

Side note: Whilst it was made clear to each applicant that they would never be expected to share or discuss their own journey to the UK, almost all applicants expressed that part of their motivation for applying was in fact to have the opportunity to do just this.

We received several extraordinary applications, and undertook a number of interviews. The final decision was not an easy one to make, but we are delighted to welcome Massi Saffa to the RYS team! Massi is a passionate actor, director, trainer and facilitator and has already proven to be a great asset to the team. We are excited to continue this new chapter of RYS and are looking forward to working with Massi to further develop the training and achieve our ultimate goal of reaching as many people as possible in the UK.

To find out more about the training visit our Training and Events page.

If you would like to make a donation to RYS and support our work go to our Donate page.