Introduction to the training
In April 2025, a group of 14 newly qualified social workers attended a powerful training session hosted by four of Buckinghamshire’s Care Ambassadors.
Care Ambassadors are care-experienced young people and young adults who share their ideas and feedback to improve care services.
This article was co-written by the Youth Voice Bucks team and a young person called Joe.
Joe is a Care Ambassador who was involved in the training session. All text in purple has been written by Joe.
Getting ready
Kelsey is a Council staff member who helps to lead Buckinghamshire’s Social Work academy.
In March Kelsey came to our Care Ambassadors meeting, to talk about the training session.
Kelsey invited the young people to help train newly qualified social workers. The Care Ambassadors jumped on the opportunity! Kelsey provided key questions to help the Care Ambassadors consider what they wanted the training session to achieve.
There was so much work to do in such little time! However, as a group, we managed to brainstorm a bunch of ideas and comments to be taken forward within the training session.
The young people chose to focus the session on building good relationships with children and young people, including what they feel the current barriers are, and what needs to change.
Nearly all the group wanted to be a part of the training, so we had to put our names in a hat. Luckily my name got pulled out so I could be one of the first to make many differences within this project.
Four of the Care Ambassadors represented the wider forum.
These young people expressed that they would like the session to be hosted at The Grange School’s YouthSpace, to help get the social workers out of their comfort zone and thinking creatively, which Kelsey arranged.
The Friday before the training session, the four of us Care Ambassadors met with Kelsey and Angel to plan, prepare, and get everything organised.
Training day
On the day, we arrived, set screens up, and laid out the tables. Then it begun!
The day was structured around four sessions:
- Session 1: Our experiences of the care system
- Session 2: What makes a good or bad social worker?
- Session 3: Language and labels (role play)
- Session 4: How you can do better – with pledges from the social workers
We started by showing different memes that represented important points from our group.
After this was my bit; sharing the good and bad things that social workers do and things that need to change. One of the ways I did this was by playing a game of bingo, using some key words on posters and getting the social workers to spot them all. This really got them engaged with what was happening to young people – or should I say, what wasn’t happening? They were all very competitive!
In session 3, social workers were “labelled” with words that are often used to describe young people, such as: “disruptive”, “hard to reach”, “attention-seeking”, “resilient”, “kind”. Two of the young people gave these labels out to the social workers without any explanation, who were then treated according to their label, just as young people often are.
– One of the Young Trainers.
– Angel, Youth Participation Worker
Two life-sized posters created by the young people stayed up on the walls all day.
Mr Green – the social worker who listens, shows up, and builds trust.
Mrs Pink – the one who doesn’t listen, jumps to conclusions, or never has time.
These were a constant reminder of what young people want (and don’t want) from those in their lives.
Social worker pledges to young people
At the end of the day, each social worker made a personal pledge to the young people who had trained them. The pledges included:
“I will make sure your voice is heard at every step.”
“To be kind and clear about what I can and can’t do. And to answer your messages!”
“I promise to listen to you, to hear you.”
“I promise never to make assumptions from reading your file.”
“I promise to treat each child as an individual and give them the support they need.”
“I promise I will listen to you and give you the time you need.”
“I will always try my best to make sure that others in the profession put YOU at the heart of everything we do.”
“I promise to be reliable, honest and listen to what you are saying.”
Following on from this we had lunch and one of the new social workers made some excellent cupcakes! Then it was time to go home.
Small cost, big impact
Kelsey has submitted a proposal to run the training three times a year – during Easter, Summer holidays and October half-term – so that more social workers can take part without disrupting the young people’s education.
For those interested in running something similar, you can read the Learning from Lived Experiences Training document here or contact Kelsey Lentes at kelsey.lentes@buckinghamshire.gov.uk
– Joe
– Angel
– Kelsey