wolf + water arts company

(North Devon 1996)

“Stop Look Listen” was a residential weekend commissioned by Devon Social services, NCH Action for Children, & the Children’s Society to work with young care leavers from across the county. The premise for the weekend was around how difficult it is for any young person to grow up & prepare to leave home - the prospect of dealing with money & employment, peers & relationships, the whole range of basic skills needed in order to feed, look after oneself, & keep a roof over ones head. And for a young person coming out of care, who may have had a turbulent background that is likely to have poorly equipped them to survive practically, emotionally & socially in the world, the problems are compounded.

Often with little experience of “stability” & with often an inherent mistrust of the “adult system”, many young care leavers experience problems in communication & interpersonal skills that leaves them feeling angry & unsupported. “Stop, Look, Listen” explored with participants their experiences of both being in the care system & leaving it, & explored the problems that they had faced & how the “system” might have helped them, & moreover, how they might have been better prepared to help themselves.

Their findings were presented as a huge live action board game, which the regional managers of Social services, the Children’s Society & NCH Action For Children, bravely agreed to play in a series a real time roleplays through which they had to negotiate themselves around & deal with situations implicit in leaving the care system.

Preparing artwork for the game

The Bottomless Pit Bin in which players of the game regularly had to deposit bits of their leaving care grant

The “Fool” referees the game

Regional director for NCH Action for Children

Participant