Stephen YIP MBE

"I believe that every individual child can become a better adult – and thereby shape a better future society – if they are just given the chance to learn how to do it.
It's a simple message but a vital challenge to us all."

What they say ...

"It has given me real pleasure to see such happiness and positive experiences being described by the children who often have few experiences to boost their ego, and look back on with pleasure "
Social Worker

"My kids haven't shut up since they came home. Thank you for allowing them to go away. It helped me and I know it's helped them"
Parent

"Vikki is an unwanted child, a timid and withdrawn little girl. Yet when she took me around the centre and talked about the animals, the stream and all the things she had done that week - I learned more about her in that walk than I had in all her years at the school"
Headmaster

About KIND

Founded by Stephen Yip in 1975, following work as a volunteer for the NSPCC,
KIND is a children’s charity that pioneers new and imaginative ways to help families struggling to cope with many forms of disadvantage. Our efforts are channelled through four main areas:

• 1 Teaching

• 2 Learning

• 3 Helping

• 4 Supporting

The ethos of KIND is to show children that there is more to them and more to life. Many of our children come from the inner cities and we realised that it was not simply a lack of contact with nature that was shaping these young minds in several negative ways. Many lacked a sense of self-worth and had few positive feelings towards life.

Aims

Creative thinking is what children do instinctively, so we should nurture it.
Equipping children for that journey through life is itself a creative process, generating a sense of individual worth, and, equally importantly, an understanding of the basis of successful relationships.

For some of the children embarking on the KIND experience, basic skills like numeracy and literacy pose particular challenges, so reading together and sharing their thoughts can help reduce the feelings of isolation that under-achieving at school may have produced.

Issues like social responsibility are also explored, using small groups who develop a moral storyline and then act it out. The play is video-taped and widely discussed with the other children, increasing their grasp of socially important matters.

Enhancing the awareness of healthy living.
Understanding the importance of a healthy lifestyle forms a major part of the learning experience with KIND. Recycling also forms a significant part of learning activities. Sustainability is a keyword in the KIND learning process.

Balancing individuality with responsibility towards others.
Concentrating on individual needs and aspirations is at the heart of KIND's approach, ensuring that a visit to the S.E.E.D. Centre or a place on one of our residential breaks is both enjoyable and rewarding for each and every child.

Many referrals to KIND come from social workers and teachers who are dealing with children who are sometimes described as having 'challenging behaviour'.

We deal with this by recognising that every child has something important to offer, provided they have the appropriate framework within which to express themselves in a positive and responsible way.

Individual self-expression finds many outlets during the course programme, and the self-esteem that comes with achievement is soon evident. By developing their skills the children also increase their self-confidence and the ability to respond to problem-solving with tangible outcomes.

Adventure is at the core of the childhood experience and we expand on this.
Fun and enjoyment are central to the KIND experience - the children certainly leave with the feeling that they have had a very special one indeed.

They also go home having made new friends, relationships that have been built on through a shared experience ... an adventure at the heart of childhood.

Click here to find out how you can help KIND