Resilient (NW) CIC works with children and young people, enabling them to develop life skills and their resilience, in order to help them succeed. They aim to equip young people, particularly those with additional support needs, with emotional and practical tools to enable them to make positive choices about their lives and to develop an emotional resilience that allows them to make confident forward-thinking choices that could lead to paid employment, education, training or volunteering opportunities.

Louise Harland-Davies founded Resilient (NW) CIC in April 2021. We met at their office in Liscard, a space with a striking and vibrant, apple-green wall. There’s a large banner standing to the side of the wall, displaying the organisation’s logo – a stylised tree in full bloom and a robin perched on one of the branches. The banner also shows pictures of some of the young people who’ve been involved in a variety of Resilient (NW) CIC’s activities. There’s a real sense of hope and possibility in the room and even though there’s only the two of us present, a feeling of great potential; this feels like a place where buds of ideas are nurtured and allowed space to grow into greatness. Louise is warm and welcoming, with a humility that belies her knowledge and experience. I asked Louise what made her decide to start the organisation.

“I’ve had a wonderful career over the last 20 years working as an Engagement Officer for the local authority, public health and local charities. Having delivered an extremely broad programme of community-based initiatives to help enhance the health, wellbeing and social mobility in local communities, I’ve met some amazing people and worked with some inspiring organisations. This experience has given me insight into some of the daily struggles that some residents face here in Wirral and I’ve been able to help produce practical solutions to help them going forward”.

“On a more personal note, as a family we’ve have had to constantly fight that extra bit harder to access support services for our daughter who has only recently received an adult diagnosis of autism. Talking to other parents I know there are many others who are also struggling to access these services. Based on our own experience as a family I had been trying to think of how I could help these young people, their families and carers in a more direct and practical way. Hearing peoples’ stories on the news in lockdown helped kickstart and motivate me to begin to create and develop a not-for-profit business.”

The first project Louise worked on was ‘The Resilient Programme’. As a self-funded programme, this meant Louise had the freedom and creativity to put her own stamp on it and with young people’s feedback was able to tweak and adjust it, making improvements as she went along. I asked “What’s the best thing about running your organisation?”

“I feel very lucky that on this journey so far, I’m surrounded by positive and like-minded people including my two other directors, support staff and volunteers who share the same vision and ethos for the organisation. It’s wonderful to think that with this amazing team of people we’ve gone on to deliver a wide range of projects and activities to support young people and their parents and carers. Whilst it’s meant working extremely hard to make this happen, I would say out of my whole career, the last 18 months have been the most rewarding.”

“Wow, that really does sound incredibly rewarding, Louise. Are there any other things that stand out for you on this journey so far?”

“I set up the organisation initially to focus on helping a particular group of people in our community, however I’ve learnt to be open to any opportunities that come my way. A valuable lesson I’ve learned is that with a bit of creative thinking, anything is possible. This is how the ‘Wirral Youth Weekender Project’ came about. The local authority approached us to see if we could help to deliver a 10-month programme of activities in the Hoylake and West Wirral area for young people aged 11 to 16. We wrote a successful funding bid and because of this funding we met some fantastic young people and their families along the way; we got to collaborate with some amazing community organisations, local artists, musicians, sports coaches and yoga instructors who helped to make this wonderful project happen.”

Louise’s energy and enthusiasm for her work is palpable; this isn’t just ‘work’, it’s a passion. I asked “Do you have any advice, or words of wisdom for anyone thinking of setting up their own business?”

“Setting up my own Community Interest Company has been a rewarding experience. It’s so important that you do a lot of market research and planning before you get to the point of registering the business. There is, however, a lot of free support and resources out there to help you and this has helped me on my journey. Running your own business means you get to make your own decisions, which can sometimes be quite a scary prospect, but having the right people around me to offer their timely advice and guidance has been such a source of comfort for me. I’ve learnt so much over the last 18 months, both personally and professionally, and I’m looking forward to collaborating with more community organisations and talented people along the way so we can work together to help provide more aspirational and creative opportunities for our young people, their families and carers.”

In true ‘I’m OK, you’re OK’ style, Louise has used her knowledge and experience to create something really beautiful; having recognised and experienced issues within the current systems, her work promotes inclusion by supporting young people who are at risk of being marginalised, fostering connections between people, enabling them to develop self-confidence, self-esteem, skills and resilience. It is valuable and inspiring work, which supports and enables the growth of our wider community – go Louise!

You can find out more about Resilient (NW) CIC on their website: www.resilientnw.org and their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ResilientNWCIC

The ‘I’m OK, you’re OK’ Award is intended as a way of raising awareness of the OK Corral, whilst recognising and acknowledging the many good things people are creating in the world. If you have a story about a person, group of people, organisation, concept, policy, system etc which exists in an ‘I’m OK, you’re OK’ way, please share it by clicking the nominate button below.