How I got here
I recently asked my almost 8-year old son to design a t-shirt about what makes life good (#lifeisgood) for him. What makes him feel happy, safe and able to do anything? He drew three things:
- Our family of three, doing things we love to do together
- Our home, with comfortable furniture and lots of toys
- A table full of food for us
He knows he’s lucky to have these things. But not all children are this lucky.
Why It Matters
The facts are indisputable – abuse, neglect, homelessness, poverty, bereavement, violence – are traumas that have an impact on the lives of children in our society. Additionally, in the UK today, thousands of unaccompanied refugee children are fleeing their war-torn homes with no family or friends, having witnessed and gone through unthinkable tragedy already in their short lives.
Sometimes these circumstances are too overwhelming for children, and they need help finding a way to overcome the trauma of what they have seen and experienced.
The Project
Welcome to InvincibleMe, a UK-based charity whose mission is to change the lives of children by supporting frontline professionals and volunteers who work with and care for vulnerable children who have been through trauma.
Many of these children ‘fall through the cracks’ of the systems put in place to help them, and are unable to ask for the help they need to flourish. For instance, the two children adopted from the UK foster care system at 3 and 4 years old, whose mother told me how difficult it had been for her children to form attachments with her and her husband because of their previous traumatic experiences.
She needed a way to help them to open up and feel love and happiness, thereby allowing them to also flourish in other areas of their lives.
What We Do
InvincibleMe, working through those who care for these children, aims to help them find stability, trust and a sense of joy and peace. We want to enable them to form attachments, have a healthy and happy childhood, and become positive contributors to society.
We support the rationale that children need to play in order to live happily, and that through play they can also learn other life skills such as sharing, kindness, empathy and resilience.
Bringing this concept to the UK, we have partnered with a leading child neuropsychologist specialising in PTSD in children (more on him and the rest of the team very soon!) and content advisors in other areas of children’s therapy, and we have created our own methodology of holistic play therapy.
The core practice we will use helps to ‘reset’ the brain in order to quickly and effectively overcome past trauma. Our workshops for practitioners and volunteers will also include animal-assisted therapy, mindfulness, and other techniques to benefit both the children and those who care for them.
How You Can Help
These start-up costs are directly related to the objectives of InvincibleMe, and covering their costs will be the first step in helping our mission be realised: to support us to get out there and start helping children who have been through trauma as well as and those who care for them.
If you have any questions about the plans for InvincibleMe, or to find out how you can be involved, please email me at: [email protected].
Twitter: Twitter.com/InvincibleMeUK
Facebook: www.facebook.com/InvincibleMeUK
About Amy, the founder of InvincibleMe
I am originally from Boston, Massachusetts and have a Masters degree in Education from Harvard University. I have been living in the UK for 12 years with my British husband and 8-year-old son. I have worked in education in the UK since moving here, including almost two years working with the Department of Education in areas of extreme deprivation and with high instances of violence.
Throughout all my 20+ years working and volunteering with children and young people, I have always had a passion for the ‘underdog.’ Learning about and hearing the stories of at-risk children and young people, and working with them to improve their life chances, has been the highlight of my career. I’m always struck by how life’s circumstances affect a child’s opportunities to learn, love, and contribute productively to society.
This has led me to looking for a way to be more directly involved with helping children who have been through trauma, helping them to find a way to live a happier and more positive life. Thus, InvincibleMe was born.
