Message from Gloucestershire’s Chief Constable Rod Hansen QPM
One of the privileges of being Chief Constable is meeting with magnificent people across the county and beyond and I have met with many who are passionate about equipping young people with skills for the future. I gathered a few of those exceptional people together for us to consider whether there was a gap in services for young people because most of the emergency response we deal with, particularly overnight, relates to missing and distressed young people.
Together we identified that if young people were better prepared for the challenges life throws at them, it could help and it could also prevent some of them becoming victims of crime or indeed perpetrators of it.
The Boost programme is unique because it is open to all young people no matter what their background or circumstances. The programme focusses on self-leadership. It asks questions like how do each of us choose to show up, how do you communicate with other people, how do you react, look after ourselves and consider who (not what) you want to be.
I really like the analogy of a seed. It holds all the potential inside of it to become something outstanding, beautiful or even just something functional that has its place in the world like everything else. No matter where it starts to grow it does the best it can. It uses all it has within it to not only survive but thrive. It leads from within. The Boost programme is designed to demonstrate to young people that they have all they need to thrive if they learn how to tap into it and we are seeing just how
powerful that can be.