Hampshire County Council transition weekends
Movie making at jacksplace
Older children and young teenagers from Naomi House enjoyed an exciting “transition weekend” at the newly opened jacksplace. The weekend, only the second of its kind, provided the older children and teenagers who visit Naomi House with an insight into what it is like to stay at jacksplace, the hospice for young adults near Winchester.
jacksplace was opened a year ago and the team working in the new facility has welcomed young adults to the new facility for respite visits during that time. More youngsters, who are currently visiting Naomi House, are just begining the transition process and will visit jacksplace for respite stays as they reach their 18th birthdays.
Here at Naomi House and jackspalce we are working alongside Hampshire County Council on a joint initiative to address the different issues which occur during transition and provide support to young adults and their families, making the transition process as easy as possible. The project is funded by the National Transition Support Team and the Department of Health. With this budget we have been able to facilitate a series of transition weekends at jacksplace.
Stuart Ashley, head of Transition Support at Hampshire County Council, has been involved in the project since it began. Stuart said; “We welcome the opportunity to work with Naomi House to develop a stronger understanding of how young people are affected by transition and what we must do together to achieve the best possible experience for them”.
The most recent of weekend was themed around making a film. Thanks to the funds a professional film company was brought in to help the young people create their own short film.
The most popular vote for the film theme was country and western, this saw lots of the young adults and plenty of staff donning cowboy costumes and even recreating a duel in one of the jacksplace corridors. There was something for everyone to do; many tried filming a scene themselves, got involved with costume design and some performed music for the opening credits.
Jade was one of the young people who acted in the short film. She said, “It was a really good day because even if you didn’t want to be in front of the camera there was plenty to do behind the scenes. I did some acting but I did some filming too, which was really fun”.
Transition can be an unsettled period for young people as it involves them moving from paediatric to adult services. All young people, with healthcare and social support needs, go through transition between the age of 14 and 18. This can often be distressing as it means young people and families will have to fully understand either their own or their relatives’ condition and come to terms with what could happen to them. It is also a period when the young people are becoming adults and ultimately are able to take responsibility for making their own decisions.
Lesley Brook, Director of Care at Naomi House and jacksplace, leads the team at the charity that specialises in transition. Lesley said; “The project has already demonstrated how it can help us to support young people as they go through transition. It has confirmed to the team here at jacksplace about how the young adults feel growing up and the kind of environment they want to visit. The outcome of this series of events will enable us to develop services that are relevant and continue to provide support that is not currently available elsewhere”.
Speaking about the project, Lisa Upshaw, Contracts and Commissioning manager at Naomi House said, “This project has presented us with a fantastic opportunity to work more closely with Hampshire County Council and Hampshire PCT to work towards improving transition for life limited young people. The transition weekends are a great example of just one of the ways we aim to do this”
Preparations are now going into planning the next transition weekend which will take place in April.
If you would like more information on Transition please click here.
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