We’ve seen a big increase recently in Tenancy & Independent Living Skills (TILS) courses being delivered 1-2-1 to young people. This is often because the young people are in college or working and can’t attend a group course. We usually travel to wherever they’re living, but are as content delivering in a coffee shop if the young person feels like getting out. What has been interesting this week is to observe three different young people. They are all roughly the same age, all leaving care locally and all moving to independence very soon. And yet their knowledge is a gulf apart. The youngest and least experienced knew most about renting privately and the oldest and most ‘worldly wise’ could barely name a welfare benefit or the circumstances in which she might claim them. Notwithstanding the extraordinary change they are about to experience by moving from their supported environment to living independently, it naturally poses challenges for us, the trainers. We have a set of tools, games and interactive techniques that must adapt to each situation, each learner and each learning style. What isn’t in doubt is just how much they get from these sessions with us. Noticeable of late isn’t that they necessarily come out as perfect budgeters or experts on Universal Credit, but that they are starting to do the thinking that’s required. They’re starting to plan. And with that they’re less anxious and dare to plan more. It’s a virtuous circle.