Inspire Highland group’s exciting plans for the future

Children and young people involved in the Inspire Highland group gathered recently at Rollerbowl in Inverness for an afternoon of bowling and strategic discussions.

Inspire Highland is a project run by Inspiring Young Voices, the charity formerly known as Highland Children and Young People’s Forum.

The group had a great time bowling and catching up with one another, but the main business of the day was when they got together to discuss and map out a strategic direction for the group in the next three years.

The group agreed that they want to reach more young people across Highland, with a wider range of needs and across a broader age range. They want to keep a blended approach of mostly digital participation but with some face-to-face meetings too.

The Inspire Highland group’s current work includes:

• A book about autism featuring Angus the Autism Bear, created by the young people working with a professional writer.
• A photography project, working with Cheshire House who work directly with disabled people to remove barriers they face to live, learn and work as they choose.
• Mental health sub-groups working to create a short film and art project promoting mental health awareness and working with the Personal and Social Education review team on resources for schools.
• The EyeInspire group raising awareness of issues around sight loss and working with drama students from UHI to develop live theatre pieces to raise awareness of sight loss.

Inspiring Young Voices is currently seeking funding to support the work of Inspire Highland to help it deliver on the ambitions of the children and young people involved.