Blesst ltd group
What is BLESST?
BLESST is a group of individuals that are dedicated to creating an environment where there are opportunities for self-development, learning and transitional change for all. BLESST is made of a grassroots community of four directors and five Voluntary Specialist worker’s and three youth leaders youth and community leader
Our mission: To build relationships, learn with others, educate, within a safe none judgemental space, create better life transitions for deprived communities.
There are many key areas where difficulty in learning presents itself. Some learning is inhibited due to brain-based difficulties such as dyslexia, executive function deficits and nonverbal disabilities whereas other difficulties that inhibit learning are due to a reflection of deprivation and or deficits in early life and social experiences as a consequence of adversity. The aim of BLESST is to Build positive relationships & collaborative working with communities, families, schools, youth, professional practitioners, students, and higher education within our own innovation spaces and other community, private and public spaces and settings to share best modals of learning and sharing information that can be discovered in a non- traditional spaces that allows people to have a voice and be listen too.
BLESST aims to change the environment from a non-traditional space to a setting that is relative with fewer restrictions and boundaries to the learning process so that the experience can be relative to enhance the individual’s chances to want to learn. BLESST believes that considering what psychological difficulties have impaired your learning can be reversed by developing an understanding of what motivates us, supporting each other is a greater self-awareness so more suitable support is put into practice BLESST aim is to use and create reserved spaces into safe spaces, to help others process and gain information and transitions through innovation active learning that make there life become more active by including all.
Dr. Martin Glynn
Our Services
BLESST Community Student Mentor/Coach Learners gives marginalised community students outside support and the opportunity to have a graduate community student mentor or coach. The mentor or coach will focus on positive reinforcement and relationships to build trust, that supports the students in developing identity and achievement of their goals. This will be achieved by engaging learners in one-to-one group sessions while engaging in a range of community activities and events where there will be an emphasis on reflective practice and critical thinking that will strengthen and build confidence for students of marginalised backgrounds. This would help bring stability and growth to them. As an academic, take a look at BLESST YLAB of the amazing development through the support of BLESST Community student mentors.
Community Research & Consultancy Research, Evaluations, Consultancy, Training, and Workshops will be delivered by BLESST's own research & Consultancy (Director) Dr Martin Glynn, Criminologist Educationalist, Dramatist. and Richard Campbell Masters graduate in youth & community, Life coach, Teacher Trainer. Providing workshops and training using alternative methods of evaluation, presentation literacy, data verbalisation, critical race theory, ethnography, and autobiography to students, organisations,
Creative writing in the mic booth/ BLESST Creative Exploration Youth Development 8-week Project is a youth therapeutic music program in BLESST audio recording studio that allows young people to have a voice and encourages young people to develop an inner compass to discover their own creativity, self-motivation, and emotional intelligence needed for learning and living. where the mic booth becomes a safe space and a way to use music as a tool of self-discovery and self-expression for self-transitions supported by a collective youth and music specialist team contact BLESST for more information and bookings and prices.
Shot with Confidence, Narrative Therapy,& Digital Storytelling delivered over four, eight or twelve weeks, for participants with a love or interest in film, or media course will demonstrate and teach how films, television shows and all forms of visual entertainment are formed and put together, giving students the know-how and a solid structure of how ideas are formulated, developed, filmed and edited. We firmly believe that everyone is living their own story which gives prominence to the student/client's understanding of the problem, and presents an opportunity to contextualise and collaboratively explore problems with clients. Shot With Confidence! students are allowed the opportunity to express themselves and use their life experiences and emotions to create something they can be proud of. The course also has its health benefits, constant interaction and exchange of ideas that can reduce the risks of depression significantly as creativity has been proven to be therapeutic. Please contact BLESST for more information.
Recreational facilities workshops and hire Blesst has a Media Green Rooms, Digital Audio Recording Studios and Mic Booth on the top floor. On the ground floor, we have access to a dance studio and Blue-dot online radio station. Please contact BLESST for more information.
Most importantly BLESST provides and develops safe spaces where every team member is DBS checked, where listening, learning, creativity, innovation, and ideas can be expressed and transformed by different walks of life while impacting on bridging the gap between young and old where passing on a legacy that can help create specialist, youth leaders, public speakers, community organiser, youth mentors, academia and social entrepreneurs and social value within our communities that we believe can bring unlimited possibilities for people life's
The Directors
Richard Campbell-Founder and Managing Director
MA (Masters) Youth & Community, guest lecture at Newman University. (PTLLS) BTEC Level 3-4 Award in Education, Training & Assessors, NVQ 3 Chartered Institute of Housing Homelessness Frontline, NVQ3 Heath & social care.
Richard Campbell worked as a support worker for young people 12 years ago with mental, behavioural and learning difficulties. Richard worked extensively with the youth offending team, residential care homes, homelessness, and supporting lodge. Richard went on in 2011 to pursue his academic career and became a peer researcher at Newman university while studying his Masters in youth & community.
Richard became involved in the Touch EU project investigating young people and street violence across Europe. Richard went onto capture and recorded significant pieces of data for the book and film documentary young people and street violence, while enhancing is academic skills around qualitative research, research design, data analysis, coding, Ethnography, informal and formal learning, educational pedagogy and holistic approaches.
Richard went on to develop a passion for democracy and became part of citizens UK Birmingham after completing his citizens 6-day leadership program in community organising and community empowerment, Richard ran a number of campaigns with citizens over the years. He was also part of citizens manifesto in parliament at the same time receiving mentorship by Dr Martin Glynn in how we learn in a modem society.
Richard and Dr Glynn went on to produce some new ways of learning that had reach and impact with in a number of sectors. Richard is applying his role as an educational creative specialist using different models of learning with hope to pursue his PHD in this field; hence the transformation of BLESST was formed (building learning education safe space transition.) So that active learning, self-development, youth leadership, heathy wellbeing and legacy can be obtained and passed on in our communities and family lives.
Dr Martin Glynn - Company Director Research, Evaluation, & Consultancy
Dr Glynn has 40 years’ experience specialising in research, lecturing, education criminology, crime, media, culture, youth crime, race and crime, race and ethnicity, scriptwriting, performance poetry, creative writing, creating and producing ethnodrama, academic mentoring, leadership and motivating change and staff training.
Dr Martin Glynn has a Cert. Ed, a Master’s degree in criminal justice policy and practice, and gained his PhD at Birmingham City University in Feb 2013. He is an experienced and internationally renowned public speaker, educator, criminologist, with over 3 decades of experience working in criminal justice, public health, and educational settings. As a writer Dr Glynn has written for BBC 1’s Casualty, BBC Radio 4 (Radio Drama), published several books of poetry, alongside a growing reputation as an author of children’s books.
In 2017 Dr Glynn founded and PLATFORM - ‘Data Verbalization Lab’, an innovative approach to presenting research data using performance techniques. In 2019 Dr Glynn’s new book Speaking Data and Telling Stories Data Verbalization for Researchers will be published by Routledge. In 2019 Dr Glynn’s work will be featured in a new book entitled ‘Critical Race Theory in the Academy’ published by Grambling University. Grambling University is an African American University based in Louisiana (USA).
Dr Glynn as received many awards for his renowned work such Winston Churchill International Travel Fellowship (2010) looking at issues of fatherlessness, father hunger, and father deficit amongst young black men in the city of Baltimore and Johns Hopkins University (USA). A local heroes award by ‘The Association of Jamaica Nationals’ (Birmingham). (Oct 2010). Received Winston Churchill Fellowship Medal (London – May 2012) the 2012 Pol-Roger award for outstanding service to the field of society and the citizen. (London – May 2012) Dr Glynn work is endless with Ethogram’s, Fiction, Radio Drama, Television, Screenplays, Theatre Scripts, Poetry Anthologies, Prison Work, why we preserve is work at BLESST to pass on his legacy.
Casey Gordon - Company Director- Therapeutic Interventions
CPCAB Counselling, NVQ 4 Registered Managers Award in Child Care. Post Graduate in Psychoanalytical Child Observational Psychotherapy.
Casey as over 14 years’ extensive experience in working with young people, adolescents and families in social care assessment teams where safeguarding is the primary concern. Casey has worked self-employed in behavior management offering therapeutic intervention to the public, educational and private sector for young people at risk of exclusion and young offenders on the verge of offending. Casey was involved in piloting a innovative project for expectant parents, particular the perpetrators (violent/abusive men or women) to ensure their expectant child and co-parent is no longer at risk of abuse.
Casey has also specialised in setting up Family Outreach Support providing support to families where there are young children who have had no access to health services. Implementing and developing the project policies to establish and develop the project. Targeting homelessness and youth hostels to provide young people up to the age of 19 the chance to address any issues where there is a need to support adolescents with deteriorating mental and emotional well-being.
n other roles Casey has worked alongside other agencies to enhance, support and provide intervention where it is deemed appropriate to do so. Taking referrals from schools, carers, social workers nurseries etc. to work systemically with the community to support the development of the service user to achieve the agreed objective.
Facilitating different forums for children and adults has given Casey the chance to provide an environment where self-reflection, critical analysis and education can exist together to support peer to peer learning and support. Providing more insight into developing deteriorating emotional and mental health. This is also the same of the young people’s forum; although different in many ways creating a nonjudgmental space that allows for a similar process to address the early onset of such difficulties, empowers greater self-awareness around sensitive emotional life changing issues.
“Coming from a creative background originally I believe in being innovative with interventions and utilising my creative nature to developing resources. At times it’s in the way we present something to someone that makes the difference and having an imaginative ability allows me to adopt a more person-centered approach that is familiar to the service user.”