Raiser’s Digest

News from Raise Your Hands

The Raiser’s Digest is our newsletter, bringing you all the best and latest news from Raise Your Hands and our 12 charities.

About the Raiser’s Digest

When it comes to newsletters, we believe short is sweet. The Raiser’s Digest goes out every two months and brings together:

inspiring stories from the young people our charities support
big successes from the charities
the latest from RYH HQ

You can read a back issue here.

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Only four days to go until more of this... Midnigh

Only four days to go until more of this... Midnight Madness 2022 kicks off at 8pm on Saturday night!

A huge shout out to the teams and their fundraising efforts so far which have been superhuman...

#immersivetheatre #puzzles #overnight #challenge #crystalmaze #midnightmadness

"Nine-year-old Amber ran up to me as if I were her

"Nine-year-old Amber ran up to me as if I were her long-lost friend. She scarcely drew breath, frantic with energy, demonstrating her skill at cartwheels, pouring out a torrent of questions – about our hens and ducks, our donkeys and sheep, our workshops and gardens.

Amber’s early years had been filled with change, devoid of stability. In a home of comings and goings she saw endless people, endlessly unknown, endlessly uncaring. In all her time with her mother Amber had lived in a world of alcohol and substance abuse. Her biological father, a cocaine addict, often beat her mother while the child cowered in her arms. It ended only when he went to prison.

Amber was eventually placed in long-term foster care. It was clear in our sessions that underneath a gregarious exterior Amber had a deep-seated schema to be a ‘good girl’, because mum so frequently ‘went away’. Certainly Amber had developed the ability to form fast and close attachments.There were significant concerns about her vulnerability to coercion as she grew older.

We decided to focus on the experiential, rather than the process of creating. Thus she would experience the gentle flow of change and not her habitual need to control, the urge which caused her such anxiety.

We walked through the woodlands, built fires, listened to birdsong, collected natural objects, groomed donkeys and held guineapigs; all to help her feel calm and contained and to help reduce her underlying anxiety, which kept her hypervigilant. She became more grounded, finding the assurance that she was loved and accepted, just for being Amber and not for what Amber could do.

While she was with us Amber never talked about her experiences of the past. That was not to be her journey at Dandelion time. The past would be for another time; but like the little crocus bulbs she had planted, she had nurtured a sense of place within herself, of being in her own space – finally a safe place, from which to stretch out those first tentative shoots of new growth."

Amber's story was written by her @dandeliontimeuk caseworker. Names and details have been changed to protect Amber's identity.

#nuture #therpay #charity #growth #nature #healing

"Engrossing, heartfelt and rich in detail" Switc

"Engrossing, heartfelt and rich in detail"

Switchback’s new podcast, Time & Again, lifts the lid on the hidden world of UK youth crime, doing time and going straight. Six young men's journeys in their own powerful words. 🙏

Listen on Spotify, Apple & more.

#podcasts #bestpodcasts #prison #crime #goingstraight @switchback_ldn

Paris is a brilliant short film written and direct

Paris is a brilliant short film written and directed by young people living with HIV ❤

This powerful story challenges the stigma that many people living with HIV face and busts myths around how HIV can be passed on.

Paris is the first youth-friendly British Sign Language resource to make HIV information accessible to the deaf community 🙏🙏

Watch full film in bio - >

CHIVA Projects #HIV #deafcommunity #BSL #Stigma #myths