My first couple of weeks at Dudley CVS were both very scary and exciting at the same time. Coming from an organisation where I understood every aspect of the service inside out with the confidence to tell people about the services we delivered, then come to my new place of work and feel fearful about simple tasks like picking up the phone in case I got the information wrong, was all a bit daunting, but at the same time very exciting to be at a new chapter in my working life. I enjoy working with PSIAMS, the lads in the office are great and fun to be around.

So a good few weeks in and already I feel I have learned so much, getting a deeper understanding of Dudley CVS, PSIAMS and all other partners we work with. I am also learning a great deal about how the voluntary sector in works in Dudley and appreciating that it is a community that works well supporting each other to deliver awesome services, like the CYP projects I’m working on at the moment with Donna Roberts and Nicky Burrows.

We are in the process of developing the ‘I-Zone’ and ‘Care and Share’ websites for children and young people and children with specialist educational needs. I am very excited about these two projects, especially the ‘Care and Share’ project as it is designed to give SEN Children a platform to voice and champion their own stories, milestones, achievements, needs and much more. I have a 5-year-old son with specialist education needs along with a list of medical needs. This project will enable us to pin all his care needs in one place, invite professionals to input and monitor his progress and tell his story using video and audio tools to those who need to know about him!

The projects are coming along great, I love working alongside Donna and Nicky, they are fun to work with and love to get things done! I really do look forward to continuing working with them in the future and the rest of the CVS team.