Sheffield Music School

This initiative aims to support communication and emotional regulation among care-experienced youth, and will target those involved in the justice system or at risk of becoming young people Not Involved in Employment, Education, or Training (NEETs). Evidence from Fostering and Adoption (Department of Education), suggests that many care-experienced youth lack the ability to express their thoughts and needs, creating a risk that their voices will go unheard and their needs unmet. Rooted in the understanding that trauma often impedes effective communication and emotional expression, this initiative will seek to empower these young people by providing them with tools to articulate their thoughts and needs confidently.

This initiative will promote safe and supportive environments for care-experienced youth to engage with their peers and with adults, particularly those in positions of authority. By leveraging positive role models in music and sports, this initiative will support care-experienced youth to explore, process, and communicate their emotional responses to everyday experiences, thereby reducing the risk of emotional outbursts escalating into violent confrontations. Moreover, through strengthening relationships with foster carers, support workers, social workers, and schools, this initiative seeks to promote stability and wellbeing among care-experienced youth, ultimately empowering them to shape their own futures.