Talk, Tell, Transform 2019 success!
Our Head of Support, Michelle Wilkins, attended her first TTT in February. Here she gives an insight into how the event went and what she personally took from it.
As the new Head of Support my background had been in supporting the whole family but not particularly on working directly with young people. So, I went to Talk Tell Transform with trepidation about working with a group of young people that I hadn’t met before and that hadn’t met each other. I felt like I knew them due to the robust healthcare plans we had created with their parents, but I didn’t know about their stories and what made them unique. I worried that they weren’t going to bond, and we wouldn’t get them to engage with the project in order to create really good films and ultimately for them to have a really good time.
I don’t know when I stopped worrying. Maybe it was on the first night when they were all together, nervous but chatty, laughing and joking and finding their voice with each other. Perhaps it was on day 2 when they all had to tell their stories, finding the courage to tell everyone in the room what they had been through and how this had impacted on them. I know it was definitely when I welled up at how awesome and brave they all were and how matter of fact they were about this. It was a moment I will always remember.
From that point onwards I watched a group of 10 young people bond over knowing and understanding each other in a way that no one else could. I watched something magical happen to a group of young people who had never met before yet knew each other. I saw tears and laughter, dark moments and happiness and those young people changed from those who had arrived.
I will do Talk Tell Transform again and I will love it, but I think my first one will always stay with me and I can only thank those young people with all my heart for their participation, bravery and overall awesomeness. Thanks for being an inspiration to each other, to CLDF and to future generations of young people. All of the TTT 2019 films are now available to watch on the CLDF YouTube channel. You can watch the films by clicking HERE
