A Parent’s Perspective

It has been life changing. This is not an exaggeration. He started attending AEE very shortly after he came out as trans to his wider family, many of whom have simply ignored him ever since - others were more aggressive, not to his face, but to mine. What was supposed to be a joyous moment for him became a very precarious one, after over two years of really struggling with his identity and his mental health.

AEE has given him a space in which he feels unconditionally heard, accepted, and listened to. Though he had longstanding interests in music before AEE, he was extremely self-conscious about them. He shared so little of that part of himself at school a teacher told me he would not be suitable for GCSE music! But AEE has developed his confidence to be himself, giving him a sense that there is a world beyond the narrow, bigoted one he sometimes finds himself in - a world where there are many people he can feel connected to, and who will care for him as a matter of course.

In terms of his music, it has also been transformative - he has recorded several tracks and developed new skills and passions in songwriting, harmonies, chord progressions, and so on, and with the encouragement and support of the amazingly skilled staff at AEE he is talking about making an album and putting it out into the world. He has engaged in multiple performances. After two very dark years in which I was so frightened he would never find a passion for anything again, he has it. 

And I'd add another thing: he has lost so much of the defensiveness and anger he had before joining AEE. At the show at the Tom Thumb Theatre Christmas, I saw him supporting and cheering on his fellow performers, and he has a new language for talking about neurodiversity, immigration, and mental health that is positive, supportive, and intelligent. I know that is from AEE too. I honestly do not know where we would be without this wonderful organisation.

H’s AEE Journey

H’s journey started at AEE in June 2023 when he was referred to our Short Term Interventions programme, which was part of our partnership contract with Enterprise Learning Alliance. H then self-referred into our Visual Arts programme before joining the music programme in September 2023. H has faced barriers to mainstream and alternative education from a young age due to a range of differences that have led to his exclusion and marginalisation from statutory services, including diagnosis' of autism, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, partial sighting and mental health difficulties. Despite these factors H didn’t receive his Education Health Care plan (EHCP) until he was 17. The impact of this meant he didn’t receive the specialist care or support he needed throughout his time at school where he felt like an “outcast” and that he “was the problem”.

In September 2023 he was expelled from college, as the placement wasn’t able to support H and his complex support needs. As a result he became classified as Not in Education Employment or Training (NEET). During this period, with our support H continued to access his weekly 1:1 music sessions, attend art therapy and volunteer on a weekly basis at the Windmill Community Gardens. He also took part in creative music projects with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) and the Irene Taylor Trust and performed at Deal Art and Music Festival. AEE helped H to secure an interview at Liberty College, writing a statement for his EHCP. Based on the evidence of how well he had done at AEE over the year, Liberty agreed to meet with him. This resulted in them offering him a place to start in Sept 2024. He is now in college and really enjoying it!

H also became the start of our short documentary, Feels Like Hope, expressing his experience in school and AEE so articulately.
He concluded by saying:

“But I’ve come to realise now there’s nothing wrong with me, it’s just the systems that are around us and the systems that are put in place are failing”

Watch Feels Like Hope: