Listening to young voices across a diverse range of abilities, needs, communication styles and ages - new accessible GBO project
Following on from the 2024 Children’s Mental Health Week theme ‘my voice matters': All our voices matter, and now is a great time to remind ourselves we need to listen to all voices and the creative ways to ensure this happens.
The first materials and resources have just been released from the accessible Goal Based Outcomes (aGBO) project. This project aims to increase awareness of, ideas for, and confidence in, making working with goals more accessible across a diverse range of abilities, communication styles and ages. For shaping and setting, rating and reviewing goals and the experience of being supported, we need to make sure children and young people, their families/carers and networks know their voice really matters. Understanding developmental levels and communication, strengths, interests, hopes and needs is key to making this happen.
The project builds on previous CORC and British Psychological Society learning and resources from the ‘hearing the voice/feedback and measuring change and outcomes project’, Feedback and outcome measures for children and young people with learning disabilities (corc.uk.net) gives guidance, examples and tools for ‘hearing the voice’ where ‘voice’ means communication, in whichever form works best for the child or young person.
The Good Practice examples Special Measures Project (corc.uk.net) contain many ideas for ‘hearing the voice’ across different ages, needs and across different levels of impact- including their own life, developing services, training, research, community and cultural change. Themes Special Measures Project (corc.uk.net) and Guidelines were developed from these examples, practice networks and the literature Special Measures Project (corc.uk.net). 
The accessible Goal Based Outcomes project (aGBO)