Family Pathway

30/12/2025

Moving into 2026

As we close 2025, I’m clear on this:

This work is about people — children and young people, parents, professionals, and the communities and systems we belong to.

At Family Pathway, we work from a belief in human equity — that every person deserves environments that recognise their strengths, their identity, and their right to belong and participate meaningfully.

This year has been about shifting understanding.
Moving away from deficit, blame, and compliance — and towards connection, dignity, and shared responsibility.

We’ve focused on strengthening environments, not individuals in isolation.
Because people thrive when the spaces around them are safe, responsive, and designed with real human diversity in mind.

As we move into 2026, our ambition is bold and intentional:

to build equitable systems that enable people to thrive, not simply cope

to design environments where difference is expected, not managed

to support parents and professionals to work with confidence and compassion

to build communities where everyone has identity, purpose, and contribution

to move from inclusion as a concept to participation as lived experience

Alongside this, I’m coming to the end of my first year of doctoral study, focused on universal provision — a journey that is strengthening Family Pathway’s ability to bridge practice, evidence, and system design in meaningful, grounded ways.

This is about people being seen, valued, and able to take up space — not despite who they are, but because of it.

2026 is about strengthening the systems around us,
so everyone can show up fully within them.

27/12/2025

We’re looking for Volunteer Professional Mentors to support young people aged 14–25 as they take their first steps into the workplace.

At Family Pathway, mentors work alongside our staff, learners, and employers to help create positive, inclusive first workplace experiences — removing barriers before they become problems.

This role suits professionals from:
• Business or corporate environments
• HR or people roles
• Coaching, mentoring or wellbeing professions
• Employment or inclusion-focused work

This is not an education role and not crisis support.
It’s about relationships, communication, and helping young people and employers get it right from the start.

⏱ Minimum commitment: 5 hours per week
📩 Email hello@familypathway.co.uk
if you’d like to know more.

Please share with someone who might be a great fit.

23/12/2025

23/12/2025

🎄✨ Family Pathway – Christmas Message ✨🎄
Thank you.

To every family, young person, professional, and supporter — thank you for trusting us, walking alongside us, and believing in more human, person-centred ways of working.

This time of year invites a pause.

A moment to breathe, reflect, and recognise how far we’ve all come — often through challenge, advocacy, and persistence.

We know Christmas isn’t easy for everyone.
Wherever you are right now, we’re holding space for rest, care, and gentleness.

Wishing you a peaceful Christmas and a hopeful New Year.

We’ll be back and ready to go again on 2 January.
Until then — take care of yourselves and each other. 💛

With gratitude,
Family Pathway

11/12/2025

The MasteringME crew have levelled up again — this time through silversmithing with the incredible Dr Sue Haywood.
Watching our young people work with real tools, real materials, and real precision has been unreal. Silversmithing demands accuracy, patience, attention to detail, and creativity — and every single learner stepped into that challenge and delivered.

These aren’t “arts and crafts.” These are complex, skilled processes:
• measuring and shaping
• cutting and soldering
• filing with accuracy
• designing pieces with intent
• managing multiple steps and tools safely

And the best part? They’re creating their own Christmas presents — meaningful, handmade, and rooted in pride and effort.

Huge shout-out to Donna Newman and Chad Leaming for bringing the energy, belief, and proper coaching mindset. Their “we’ll make it work” attitude is exactly what young people need — calm support, high standards, and motivation that lifts everyone.

And of course, thank you to Dr Sue Haywood, whose skill, patience and generosity keep opening doors for our learners. The impact is massive.
This is MasteringME: young people building real skills, real confidence, and real futures — one handmade piece at a time.

11/12/2025

The MasteringME crew have levelled up again — this time through silversmithing with the incredible Dr Sue Haywood.

Watching our young people work with real tools, real materials, and real precision has been unreal. Silversmithing demands accuracy, patience, attention to detail, and creativity — and every single learner stepped into that challenge and delivered.

These aren’t “arts and crafts.” These are complex, skilled processes:
• measuring and shaping
• cutting and soldering
• filing with accuracy
• designing pieces with intent
• managing multiple steps and tools safely
And the best part? They’re creating their own Christmas presents — meaningful, handmade, and rooted in pride and effort.

Huge shout-out to Donna Newman and Chad Leaming for bringing the energy, belief, and proper coaching mindset. Their “we’ll make it work” attitude is exactly what young people need — calm support, high standards, and motivation that lifts everyone.

And of course, thank you to Dr Sue Haywood, whose skill, patience and generosity keep opening doors for our learners. The impact is massive.
This is MasteringME: young people building real skills, real confidence, and real futures — one handmade piece at a time.

11/12/2025

Yesterday at Railway Gardens honestly summed up everything MasteringME is about — young people showing up with their whole selves, building skills that actually matter, and turning their special interests into real entrepreneurial projects. No tokenism. No “pretend work.” Just the crew doing their thing and owning it.

Our learners (17–25) have spent weeks designing, making, testing, and perfecting their products — from vegan dog biscuits to handmade decorations and jewellery — and yesterday they put it all out there for the community. Confidence. Creativity. Graft. It was all on show.
Massive shout-out to Alyssa, who’s become an absolute star in her role as a Person-Centred Mentor. She’s stepped up big time — volunteering, supporting other learners, and proving what happens when someone is given the space to grow on their own terms. We’re ridiculously proud of her.

And huge respect to Donna Newman, who basically knitted this whole project together behind the scenes — planning, guiding, coaching, and giving learners the scaffolding they needed to shine.

We also want to thank our Non-Executive Director, Dr. Sue Haywood, who brought her beautiful silversmithing work to the stall. Her creativity, guidance, and belief in the young people adds so much to the MasteringME journey.
This is what getting ready for Christmas looks like at Family Pathway: community, empowerment, and young people leading the way.

10/12/2025

This is what youth-led actually looks like.

Young people designing, making and producing their own Christmas gifts for the Railway Gardens Christmas Market – 10th Dec 🎄

From raw materials to finished products — hands on, decision making, problem solving, real work.

This is:
• Making local
• Creating with purpose
• Developing independence and confidence
• Turning ideas into sellable products
• Learning how projects move from concept → community → market

No tokenism.
No sidelines.
Just young people doing the work and owning the outcome.

Come and support youth-led projects, local making, and the next generation of creators and entrepreneurs.

📍 Railway Gardens Christmas Market
🗓 10th December

06/12/2025

Our MasteringME crew is levelling UP.
Week by week, they’re building confidence, claiming their agency, and learning how to set healthy boundaries — all while sharpening the real-world skills that are gonna carry them straight into their March work placements.
🔥 We’re talking:
• Taking ownership of their choices
• Showing up with positive communication
• Creating independence one step at a time
• Practising healthy relationships that actually empower
• Designing their future with purpose + courage
👩‍🍳 And yes — they’re currently smashing their Lv2 BTEC in Home Cooking Skills, plus Lv2 Food Hygiene and Food Safety.
Skill-building? ✔
Confidence-growing? ✔
Workplace-ready energy? ✔✔✔
This is what happens when young people are seen, backed, and believed in.
MasteringME = Every Learning, Succeeding, Achieving — for real. ✨

04/12/2025

At Family Pathway, we don’t “fix” children — because children were never the problem.

What we fix are the systems, environments, and expectations that make it impossible for some young people to show up as their full selves.

When a child is struggling, their behaviour isn’t a defect to manage — it’s communication.

Unmet needs, unsafe environments, and unsupported neurodiversity create the conditions for distress.

Once you understand that, everything changes.

Our work is built on one core belief: every child thrives when the world around them stops working against them.

So we don’t swoop in with behaviour plans or compliance strategies.

We redesign the ecosystem — the relationships, routines, culture, and support structures — so young people feel seen, heard, and safe enough to learn.

This is system change, not child change.
It’s coaching that honours identity.
It’s advocacy that holds services accountable.
It’s person-centred planning rooted in dignity, autonomy, and actual lived experience.

At Family Pathway, our mission is simple:
Build environments where every child can belong, connect, and thrive — for real.

Because when the system adjusts, the child doesn’t have to.

08/11/2025

Remembering Victoria Climbié: A Name We Must Never Forget

On 2 November 1991, Victoria Adjo Climbié was born — a bright, joyful little girl whose life was heartbreakingly cut short at just eight years old.
Had she lived, Victoria would have turned 34 this month.

Her story stands as one of the most devastating reminders of what happens when systems fail to protect a child. In 2000, her death exposed deep cracks in safeguarding — and in her name, reforms were born that continue to shape child protection today.

But remembrance must never rest in history.
We honour Victoria by keeping her legacy alive — in every act of vigilance, empathy, and courage shown by those who protect children.

For every teacher, social worker, police officer, and advocate, her story reminds us why we must never stop listening, believing, and acting.

May her light continue to guide us.
🖤✨ Rest in peace, Victoria.