Choose Respect for Anti-Bullying Week 2024
It’s Anti-Bullying Week! As a proud member of the Anti-Bullying Alliance, VICTA is delighted to be celebrating this very important week, from Monday 11th to Friday 15th November. Join in with us on the VICTA Student Portal to learn more and encourage others to Choose Respect. Choose Respect This year’s Anti-Bullying Week theme is Choose Respect, so that children and young people can feel empowered to do something positive that will combat the harm and hurt caused by bullying. How have you shown Respect? Comment on this post or email students@victa.org.uk letting us know how you have shown [...]
The Verses That Make Us: A Personal Journey Through Change
VICTA Changemakers Blindness Awareness Month By Ellie Wallwork In mid September, I stood on a stage with a band arrayed behind me, four pages of braille paper clutched in my hand. I'm an actor but I felt the most acute stage fright of my life, voice caught in my throat and knees shaking as if I had run a marathon. I didn't think the words would come - until I started to speak. I hadn't thought of myself as a poet. I used to tap words out on a keyboard when I [...]
Things I learnt training for the London Marathon
VICTA Changemakers Blindness Awareness Month On the 21st of April, along with my guide runner, I set out to compete the 2024 TCS London Marathon. I had raised the money for charity (VICTA), done the training and now, it was time for the real thing. Weirdly I don’t remember much about the day itself. I remember the noise though. The cheering and shouting of thousands of families. There were kids banging tambourines in no apparent rhythm and timpani drummers playing in perfect synchronisation. There were out of tune recorder players and brass bands [...]
Blind Dancing | So you think you can’t dance?
VICTA Changemakers Blindness Awareness Month So you think you can't dance? That assumption is not strictly true! Today, 10 October 2024 is World Sight Day and also World Mental Health Day. And as part of Blindness Awareness Month, VICTA Changemaker Grace busts some myths around dancing when you are blind or partially sighted and the positive impact is has had on her mental health. Dancing is an incredibly visual art form, but it is also very inclusive, even if you live with a vision impairment. This is something I didn't think could [...]
‘My Voice Matters’ – Children’s Mental Health Week
We’re proud to be taking part in Place2Be’s #ChildrensMentalHealthWeek (5-11 February 2024). This year’s theme is My Voice Matters, and @Place2Be hopes to empower, equip and give a voice to every child in the UK. They've highlighted 10 ways that you can look after your mental health... Top tips for young people Don’t keep it all to yourself and spend too much time in your own head. This can sometimes make it keep piling up, and make you feel worse. Talk to someone you trust and feel comfortable with– a teacher, parent, sibling, cousin, friend... if [...]
New opportunity – VI Wellbeing and Work in Liverpool
Jigsaw Coaching CIC have two Liverpool-based programmes for young people with a vision impairment - 'VI Wellbeing and Work' and 'Creatability'. VI Wellbeing and Work Are you interested in moving towards employment, volunteering or training? If you have a vision impairment and live in Liverpool, you can benefit from Jigsaw Coaching's Wellbeing and Work project. Regular employment clinics 1:1 coaching Peer support workshops with guest speakers Links to primary care for mental health support Training on digital skills Connections with employers Networking opportunities Quotes from past projects: “Made me realise my skills would be useful [...]
Things that make me feel joyful
A poem by Mahalia Creft The blue-purple hue of an early early morning as I lay twisted up in yellow with my eyes just barely open. The taste of chocolate melding deep into the corners of my taste-buds as I sneak a stray biscuit before mum brings in a “proper” breakfast. The feel of a warm plate on my lap when the sun is at its highest point and my belly is at its largest. The scent of something sweet, ringing melodically in my nostrils and my throat. The sound of music that I hear, caressing the innards [...]
So, how long do you think it will take to get the book finished?
By Mahalia Creft “So, how long do you think it will take to get the book finished?” I tried my very best not to freeze as the realisation dawned on me… ooooohhhh they actually want me to write a book. This was the reaction I had after attending an information evening targeted at helping individuals start their own business. I had made the mistake of thinking this information evening was like most others I had attended, in which you sit for an hour, maybe an hour and a half while some guy whose internet connection keeps dropping out [...]
Advice to my past self: lessons I have learnt over the last year
By Grace Hill I remember it clear as a bell. The date was 16 March 2022. The time was around 3pm. I was on my bed going about a normal day with KISS FM on. Or at least that was what I thought until one particular artist came on. That might not sound like a big thing to most people... often when we have music on it is just to keep us entertained while we do something else like cleaning our rooms or studying. And that day I was no different. But when this particular artist came on [...]
Creating the life you want
By Natalia Foster “…things don’t have to be perfect to be strong.” ~ Daisy Jones & The Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid The idea of perfection; something that is seen to bring bliss like no other. I’m unsure about you, dear reader, but a portion of my day can be spent daydreaming about what I wish my life looked like. Whether that be the routine I have, the friends I know, or how I choose to spend my time. And recently, I’ve grown to realise that I can in fact, have that life, or at least a part of [...]
