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Campaign urges civilians to Listen Up!

Gary Seath 1 year ago

Changes and Transition Media

Campaign creatively explores challenges faced when a parent decides to leave the armed forces.

Forces Children Scotland will launch an impactful video-led campaign in May 2023 to help civilian audiences to understand what it feels like for children and young people when a parent leaves the armed forces.

Young people have told the charity they seldom feel heard and that many of their experiences are not on the radar of civilian audiences. Having listened, funding was secured from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and ABF: The Soldiers Charity to make the campaign happen.

Forces Children Scotland worked in partnership with the specialist co-design agency, Effervescent, to bring a working group of young people from armed forces and veteran families together to plan and co-develop the campaign over the past year.

Three emotive videos focus on feeling powerless in the face of change, lost and alone in a new place, and feeling worried about what lies ahead. A tornado theme weaves through these stories to reinforce life-changing impact.

The partnership brought the group together for an immersive residential in July last year so they could share their lived experiences, creativity, and ideas and find the all-important creative spark that would shape the videos.

Since then, the group has continued to work online to co-develop specific themes, film scripts, and messaging, who have now arrived at the very exciting stage of launching the campaign later this month (April 2023).

Sophia, aged 15, whose family made the transition to veteran status last year, said:

“It’s so good knowing that my experiences could potentially help other young people who will go through what I have done and it’s exciting to see what happens next. Being involved in this project has also helped me to develop many important skills like communication, organisation, and teamwork.”

Want to know more about our campaign, prior to launch?

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