February 2018 (Out every second month)

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1 February 2018 (Out every second month) Hello everyone! Our newsletter has changed from every month to every second month, though if you would like updates or more information on the I Am Me project or the Keep Safe initiative, then please get in touch with us: iamme@renfrewshire.gov.uk If you are new to the newsletter, please click here for an overview of the I Am Me project and the Keep Safe initiative. In this issue: #MakeADifferenceScotland The Adventures of Buddie An Article from Ava An Article from Lorraine Keep Safe Stars Keep Safe Across Scotland Keep Safe Ambassadors Thank You! World Games 2019! You may remember our interview with Lead Keep Safe Ambassador. Andrew, back in December We are delighted to announce that Andrew will be representing Great Britain in the 2019 Abu Dhabi Special Olympic World Games! Fantastic news Andrew, we are so proud of you! Winners! I Am Me were nominated for a Renfrewshire council staff award for all of our hard work in and we won! We were so delighted just to be nominated and to be a part of the evening, and we could not believe that we won! Thank you so much to everyone who nominated us, and to the voting panel for choosing us as the winners. Carol took our shiny new awards from our latest spell of fantastic luck over to Paisley Police Office, where they are lovingly cared for by Chief Superintendent Gordon Crossan. He keeps our awards safe, and gleaming! Thanks, Gordon.

2 #MakeADifferenceScotland An update on the #MakeADifferenceScotland programme The I Am Me Team are currently visiting Primary Schools throughout Renfrewshire to deliver lessons and workshops on disabilities, bullying, the importance of being a good friend, and the importance of reporting bullying and hate crime. 34 Primary Schools have been visited so far. 13 Primary Schools are still to be visited! 10,000+ We have worked with 7,027 pupils so far, and will work with over 10,000 by the end of this year s programme! Over 2,100 surveys have been collected from pupils so far 97% of pupils enjoyed us visiting their school, and 91% have learned more about disabilities! For updates on #MakeADifferenceScotland programme, you can follow our Twitter and Mascot

3 Buddie The Bear with the Big Heart! Buddie, the anti-bullying bear, has been travelling around different schools in Renfrewshire to find out what pupils are doing to tackle bullying in their school. Buddie has got to meet some fabulous pupils so far, and his Adventure Notebook is filling up fast! He has had a wonderful time over the past few months visiting Gallowhill Primary School, Inchinnan Primary School, Kirklandneuk Primary School, and Arkleston Primary School. If you would like Buddie to visit your school, please contact us. Here are some pages from Buddie s Adventure Notebook! Buddie had a great time at Gallowhill Primary School and misses everyone lots! The boys and girls in Inchinnan Primary School helped Buddie to write in his notebook. What service! Buddie is given his own bed and room for the night at a sleepover with an Arkleston pupil! Buddie even got to spend some time with the Police, and helped a lost little boy find his way home. The Police also shared donuts, we mean apples, with Buddie!

4 Introducing Ava My name is Ava and I am a committee member at I Am Me. I have been involved with I Am Me for approaching four years and the experiences I have had with the charity and the people involved are unparalleled by anything else I ve done. I was introduced to I Am Me after I, and the rest of my school year, saw the live version of Charlie s Story and I, along with the rest of my school year, cried like a baby. Originally, I was just part of a group of young volunteers selected to help create the high school training resource. For a bunch of clamouring, loudmouthed fourteen-year-olds, it seemed like a good way to skive for a few hours, but this was not that. This was a team of people who wanted, not to force change, but to inspire it. I Am Me was nothing but patient and kind to us, and, even more than that, they continued to bring us into the fold. We were trained as Keep Safe Ambassadors. And then we became trainers of Keep Safe Ambassadors. Very quickly, we were immersed in the work of I Am Me, and some of us even met Nicola Sturgeon. Granted, I was not one of those people but photoshop is a wonderful thing. When I left school, I was concerned that my volunteering with I Am Me had come to an end. So, I ed the charity and politely begged them to allow me to continue working with them. They very graciously accepted and for the last year I have attended more committee meetings, met more people and went to more fancy events than I can count. And, seeing that they were unlikely to shake me anytime soon, they made me a committee member last year. I even got a t-shirt! The charity has grown so much since I began volunteering. They now have a cinebus, a website, an app, and have trained so many other young people and spread their message so far. I cannot wait to see where it goes from here.

5 Introducing Lorraine... It is a pleasure to introduce myself through this newsletter to the wider I Am Me Scotland network. I am me Lorraine Glass Secretary to the Trustee Board, which is my honour to serve. My initial introduction to I Am Me was through my professional role as Partnership Manager with respectme, Scotland s Anti-Bullying Service, where I supported work on the direction and content of the materials being used for schools, ensuring the key themes were aligned and consistent with the national approach to antibullying. As I Am Me grew and evolved over time, when charitable status was sought I was invited on to the Trustee Board to offer my expertise in leadership, strategy, policy, equality and stakeholder/ relationship management my key strength is in translating strategic intent into operational reality. I m also reliably informed that, aside from my experience, a key factor in recruiting me to the Board was my candid style of engagement in a busy charity there s no time to dance round the handbags, just get straight to the point! On a personal level I have championed fairness and equality in various guises throughout my 40 year long career. Social justice runs through my veins, and when my husband acquired a disability in 2012 it s fair to say that I led a robust challenge to the appalling, discriminatory practices of his then employer. My role on the Trustee Board allows me to stay true to my values and keep prejudice-based bullying and harassment high on the national agenda. I am super-proud of Carol, Megan, Kieran and Debbie and the amazing work they do every, single day, and also of the amazing Committee Members who work so hard and remind us to keep it real!

6 Keep Safe Stars Dumfries & Galloway Division Police Scotland Our fantastic partners over in Dumfries & Galloway have been doing a tremendous job in rolling out the Keep Safe Initiative. Since November, the number of Keep Safe Places across Dumfries & Galloway has grown from 16 places to a whopping 34! Very well done to Sgt Graeme Stitt, Sgt Anna Boyd, and PC John Cowan for such a fantastic feat! Dumfries & Galloway are now second in terms of most Keep Safe Places in Scotland. Well done you are all stars! PC Stephanie Rose She s been our Keep Safe Star before, and she ll continue to be a star in our eyes! Aside from being generally wonderful, Stephanie has been working hard in helping us to develop Police Guidance and Training for the Keep Safe Initiative and the Keep Safe Ambassador programme. Thank you for all of your dedication to our charity, Stephanie. You re a star! Sgt Tony Harkin & PC Colin Johnson Tony and Colin deserve to be Keep Safe Stars in this edition of the newsletter because of their unwavering support for the Keep Safe Initiative and the Keep Safe Ambassador programme. Thank you so much for all of your support you are both stars! Local Authority Aberdeenshire 1 Argyll & Bute 7 Dumfries & Galloway 34 Dundee 20 East Ayrshire 10 East Renfrewshire 2 Edinburgh 17 Glasgow City 7 Highland 2 Inverclyde 33 Perth & Kinross 22 Renfrewshire 132 Scottish Borders 0 South Ayrshire 16 West Dunbartonshire 4 COPFS 17 Scottish Courts 37 Keep Safe Places Keep Safe Across Scotland The number of Keep Safe Places in Scotland continues to grow month after month due to our strong partnership with Police Scotland, as well as with significant support from Local Authorities and 3rd sector organisations. For a full list of Keep Safe Places, visit our website, or download the FREE Keep Safe Scotland app. Total 361 Alternatively you can request a printed list of Keep Safe places to be sent to you. Just or call us. iamme@renfrewshire.gov.uk

7 Keep Safe Ambassadors Meet the Trainers! Due to high demand for the Keep Safe Ambassador programme across Scotland, I Am Me Scotland and Police Scotland piloted two Train the Trainer inputs with Police Officers and partner organisations. The feedback from the training days was extremely positive, and we are looking to host more inputs in the future. There are now 50 Keep Safe Ambassador Trainers established across Scotland who are able to take the programme forward and train young people and adults with learning disabilities on how to recognise and report incidents of hate crime safely. Keep Safe Ambassador Days It has been a busy few months for the Keep Safe Ambassador programme! The I Am Me team and our Police Scotland partners have been hard at work training 15 adults with learning disabilities and 26 high school pupils to become Keep Safe Ambassadors. This brings our total up to 193 dedicated members of the community who are now trained to recognise and report incidents of hate crime within the community, and within a school/centre environment. To find out more about the Keep Safe Ambassador programme click here, or read on...

8 Superstar Ambassadors Marlyn & Cathleen Two of our newly trained Keep Safe Ambassadors, Marlyn & Cathleen, took it upon themselves to present to 240 s1 pupils within Park Mains High School. They devised and delivered two full period lessons based on what they had learned from the Keep Safe Ambassador Programme, and we are incredibly proud of them. The Role of a Keep Safe Ambassador is to: Know what Keep Safe is Understand bullying and hate crime Recognise incidents Understand the importance of reporting incidents Know how to report them Keep yourself safe Identify other Ambassadors Identify possible Keep Safe Places Help make a difference! Interested in becoming a Keep Safe Ambassador? Here s what our Ambassadors have to say about their experience... I really feel that this is a fantastic thing that everyone should become a part of!! I now feel totally confident that I can do everything I can to help. Training was very interactive and enjoyable and I have learned a lot. I really enjoyed the session, I also really enjoyed the film because it was interesting and put disability hate crime into context. I felt very comfortable with the staff delivering the presentation which made it even better. Great experience and glad to be a part of. The video really had an impact. Would you like to be trained to deliver the Ambassador programme in your area, or would you like to find out who your local Trainer is? Contact us! iamme@renfrewshire.gov.uk

9 More Good News! ~ Dobra Nowina! ~ Thank you to Anna Mierzwa, a psychologist working with children with autism spectrum disorder who showed our I Am Me film at the Polish film festival in Cracow. Anna said the film exceeded all expectations, with viewers being visibly moved. You can now view the film for free, with Polish subtitles, on our YouTube channel. Dziękuję Ci, Anna!

10 The Keep Safe Card This is the Keep Safe card. The Keep Safe card is for anyone to use, and is available in some of our Keep Safe places, or can be requested by contacting us. The Keep Safe card contains details of the persons name, any health concerns, any communication needs, and helpful contact details for friends or family. The card is for use in Keep Safe places or with Police Scotland to highlight any additional support or assistance a person may require. Keep Safe places can contact someone from the People who can help me section to collect a person requiring Keep Safe assistance. If you would like to distribute Keep Safe cards within your organisation, you would like to become a Keep Safe place, or you would like further information about the Keep Safe initiative in your area, then please get in touch.

11 An Overview of the I Am Me Project & the Keep Safe Initiative I Am Me is a community group that works in partnership with Police Scotland to raise awareness of and tackle disability hate crime. Disability Hate Crime is one of the most under reported crimes in the UK, with an estimated 97% going unreported. Many incidents go unreported as disabled people accept abuse and harassment as part of daily life. There are 1 million people in Scotland registered as disabled or with a long term illness. There are two key initiatives; I Am Me and Keep Safe: I Am Me I Am Me works with communities to raise awareness of what disability hate crime is and how incidents can affect individuals and the wider community. The project has worked with partners to produce a hard hitting film based on a young adult with autism and a learning disability, and the issues he faces within society. A teaching pack to accompany the film is available at and the film is available to view for free here. I Am Me have also worked with a number of partners to develop a Primary School Resource which is available to download for free at. The resource aims to: Introduce disability; Increase understanding of the range of disabilities; Highlight the effects of bullying and exclusion; Highlight the consequences of hate crime. The films to accompany the resource are available for free here. Keep Safe Keep Safe works in partnership with Police Scotland and a network of local businesses to create Keep Safe places for disabled, vulnerable, and elderly people when out and about in the community. People can access these premises to seek assistance and help if they feel lost, confused, scared, in danger, or have been the victim of a crime. The Keep Safe initiative is currently operating actively across 15 Local Authorities. The initiative is being rolled out across Scotland in partnership with other Local Authorities and Police Scotland. An explanation video of Keep Safe can be found here. If you would like to be involved in the roll out of Keep Safe within your Local Authority, please contact us: iamme@renfrewshire.gov.uk, /6266 Thank you! We would like to say a huge thank you to our recent funders: The Robertson Trust, Scottish Children s Lottery, Awards for All, Foundation Scotland, and the Glasgow Airport Flightpath Fund! Thank you for taking the time to read over our newsletter. For more information on the I Am Me project or the Keep Safe initiative, contact us: iamme@renfrewshire.gov.uk