As we celebrate our 20^th year as Investors in people, Darren wanted to share his story and say, "thank you" to Bridge College and Together Trust for supporting him in recently qualifying as a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA).

Johnny was in our care 15 years ago. We spoke to him about his relationships with staff and how they have made an impact on his life. 

I was in several different care homes before I came to the Together Trust, once there I met a lot of amazing staff who took great pride in their work and certain staff members made a difference for me. They didn’t know it at the time, and nor did I, but they were influencing my future. 

Tara* is in our care and has written a piece about her experiences and what she has learnt in the hope it will help other young people in care. 

Jakeb has been talking to us about what he wants to see from the Independent Children’s Social Care Review. Over the coming weeks we’ll be sharing Jakeb’s reflections on his care experience and his ambitions for the review.

Jacob Milward is a student at Inscape House School, the Together Trust school that breaks down barriers to learning for children and young people with autism. When Jacob realised that there was a gap in accessibility in transport at the school he was determined to help solve the matter. So, here’s Jacob’s story, and it’s a good one.     

“I really love driving. I’ve got my own car at home but at school I noticed that the cars we had weren’t accessible for all our staff to drive.

Worsley resident Oliver Hague is backing the Together Trust this month by taking part in the 2.6 Challenge. The challenge is a response to the wave of cancellations of mass-participation sports events across the UK, as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.

Rachel Peek is an occupational therapist at the Together Trust and though she’s only been in post for a little over a year she’s already made her mark in her field, having recently had an article published in Occupational Therapy News magazine about the eating disorder Pica.

Pica is characterised by a tendency to eat substances that provide no nutritive value such as soil, chalk, hair or paper.

“As a medical condition it’s been diagnosed in pregnant women, in those with and iron deficiency and in patients who have a mental health condition” Rachel explained.

In 2020 the Together Trust is celebrating 150 years of continuous service to children and families in the North West of England.

We’ve come a long way since 1870, when Leonard Shaw and Richard Taylor founded a ‘Night Refuge for Homeless boys’ on Quay Street in Manchester.  In the 150 years that followed we added new homes, opened our doors to girls as well as boys, went through names changes, added new services for our communities and opened schools, training and emigration schemes and a fostering service.