"Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." Foster C. Mcclellan
If your son or daughter is interested in coming on our residential course, we want you to be confident that they will enjoy a positive experience, and that "Fire Me Up!" will help motivate them to take action towards their positive choices and goals.
This page is intended to answer the questions we are most often asked by parents. If you have a question we haven’t answered, please contact us.
Q: What will my son or daughter get from the course?
A: Due to the nature of the course, this can be a very personal thing. Everyone who comes will gain confidence and motivation. Beyond that, previous participants have found that the course helps them with a range of issues, including:
o Improving relationships with friends and family
o Dealing with traumatic experiences
o Becoming much clearer on their choices for education, employment and life
o Discovering what they value and what “success” means for them personally
o Learning to value themselves more (especially if this has suffered during their school years due to educational or peer pressures)
Q: I can’t get through to my son/daughter. How could you help?
A: Family influence is so important to a child’s development, but as they move towards adulthood, many teenagers push back against their parents’ advice. As parents, it can be difficult to offer support, guidance and encouragement, without trying to impose our own views of what is best for them. Sometimes it’s easier for young people to work it out with the help of people who are impartial and not part of their life. This can be hard for a parent to accept, but growing up is about becoming independent, and Fire Me Up! coaches young people to make more effective decisions for themselves.
Q: Will this help with their education and career choices?
A: Yes, but not (for example) in the same way as a careers service might. We believe that young people have more than enough sources of information and advice available to them. Our 1-1 coaching is intended to equip them to work out decisions for themselves – we don’t bring any agenda of our own, we just seek to influence them towards positive choices.
Q: How do you pick young people for the course?
A: We attract participants from a variety of backgrounds, as we believe that coming away from their usual peer group and mixing with different people allows them to question their assumptions about life. To qualify for the course, everyone must either attend an Open Day or a personal interview, to ensure that everyone comes on the course with the right mindset and are “ready” for the course. This means they:
o Are willing to participate and challenge themselves
o Are willing to support others on the course
o Have an initial idea of how the course may help them
Q: Are there people that “Fire Me Up!” is not suitable for?
A: We take each individual on their own merits, and include them if we possibly can, but there are some groups that we know the course may not be ideal for:
o We cannot accept anyone who is addicted to illegal drugs
o We welcome people regardless of their achievements in formal education (and can be particularly good for students with dyslexia, for example). The course introduces a lot of new ideas and concepts, though, so young people with severe learning difficulties may gain more from a different type of course (e.g. where confidence-building activities are the main focus).
o Most participants love being challenged and taken out of their “comfort zone”, but young people with certain types of autism may not benefit.
o At the younger end of our age range (14-15), participants will need to be reasonably mature, in order to participate as equals with 18 year olds. It’s a question of when they are ready.
The best judge in most cases will be your son or daughter, with your help – if they feel ready for the course, they probably are. If you have any specific concerns about whether this will be a good thing for them, please speak to us in confidence (it would usually be best to include them in the conversation).
Q: Are your team members CRB checked?
A: As you would expect, all our staff and volunteers who have 1-1 contact, a position of influence over young people, or access to their personal information and contact details have an enhanced CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check.
Q: What does the course cost?
A: We are independent and not Government-funded. The cost of the course varies according to our grant funding and to your circumstances. The latest position can be found here. Your suggested donation includes accommodation, travel, food, activities, training / coaching staff, guest speakers, and materials. If you are able and willing to make a donation to the charity for this amount, and your son or daughter is eligible, this will help us to confirm a place on the next available course.
However, as a charity, our aim is to reach as many young people as we can, so we will not let the cost prevent a young person from coming on the course – we’ll work with you and them to find funding from other sources until we are successful. If you have any questions or concerns about the cost, please call us.
