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Charity Chief Executive
celebrates Barnardo's work in Merseyside
THE leader of the UK's largest
children's charity has this week made his first visit to Barnardo's services in
Liverpool. Javed Khan, Chief Executive at Barnardo's visited the North West
England Region, on Monday, 6 March 2017 and Tuesday, 7 March 2017.
As well as finding out more about the high impact work carried out by support
workers, volunteers, managers and other staff at local Barnardo's services
across Merseyside and Regional Head Office, Mr Khan also visited a Liverpool
City Centre charity shop and met with a young adult carer supported by the
Liverpool arm of the charity.
The Chief Executive visited Barnardo's Take 2 fashion shop on Bold Street, which
was the venue for the late Herbert Howe's charity auction in 2015. Herbert was a
strong supporter of Barnardo's and personally modelled and sold a number of his
eye catching designer suits in the store to raise money directly for young
carers supported by Barnardo's in Liverpool.
As well as meeting staff at the store, including John McCarthy, who has
volunteered full time for Barnardo's for the past 7 years, Mr Khan also met
with a young carer supported by the charity.
Katie (22) from West Derby talked with the Chief Executive about her experience
of life as a young carer as well as the support she has been given and her
involvement with the Liverpool Action with Young Carers Choir, which recently
received an award following the choir's performance at the Liverpool NOW
festival, in February 2017.
Javed Khan, Barnardo's Chief Executive said:- "I have seen and heard
first-hand how Barnardo's services across Liverpool and Merseyside are having a
real and positive impact on the lives of children, young people and their
families in the region.
I am grateful to all the staff I spoke with and have been delighted to see the
enthusiasm of sales teams and volunteers in our stores, who contribute greatly
to supporting the direct work of the charity.
I am also thankful to Katie, a young carer that gave her time to meet with me to
share her experiences and some of the challenges she has faced day to day in
life as a young carer. I was heartened to hear how the continued support she has
received from Barnardo's has been instrumental in helping her take control of
her life, grasp opportunities and ensure she has her own life outside of her
caring role."
Each year Barnardo's supports more than 2,000 children, young people and
parents/carers through its services across Merseyside and the charity has 28
retail shops across the region, which are supported by more than 370 volunteers.
In addition to providing support for young carers across Merseyside, Barnardo's
also runs a number of other services across the region. These include supporting
care leavers to assist them with independent living skills, supporting teenagers
and young people that are pregnant or have young families, providing counselling
services for young people with mental health issues and offering an essential
befriending and mentoring scheme for young people in care.
Barnardo's also delivers a LifeSkills early intervention and prevention
programme to a number of primary schools across Merseyside, educating young
people between the ages of eight and 11. LifeSkills focuses on drug and alcohol
resistance training to help students develop strategies for resisting peer
pressure and building resilience, helping with decision making and critical
thinking. It also encourages the development of healthy relationships.
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