Written By BCTAspire - a community charity with the aims of raising the aspirations of young people in the Billingham and surrounding area.

1. The BCT Phoenix Programme
“The phoenix is a mystical creature that signifies re-birth
and new beginnings. This epitomises everything that this
programme aims to do.
To give opportunity where people believe that there is
none
Turning negative past experiences into a positive tool for
the future.
Belief that even from the direst of circumstances people
can rise up and be re-born.
To not only exist and function but to achieve great
things.”
Paul Burgum 2011

2. Working with People!
The Phoenix Programme:
 Is designed to work with a cross section of people of all ages. Paul Burgum feels
that having experienced many of the problems that some of the most ‘at risk’
young people and adults go through, his point of reference comes from a similar
place. This is backed up by the formal experience of Clare Henderson.
 Provides a comprehensive framework that is adaptable to a wide range of people,
of varying ages and needs.
 Will utilise BCT’s skills in creating opportunities and problem solving using exciting
methods that make learning enjoyable.
 Ensures that learning processes are always based around a need to learn specific
skills, rather than for learning for learning’s sake.
 Works in a forum style environment with all members being equally important.
We look to actively find each person’s strengths and weaknesses.
 Works with the belief that everybody has a talent or skill and getting the
opportunity to find it, is often the only problem
 Will utilise all of BCT Aspire’s resources including its restaurant and music venue,
live events. It will epitomise everything that the company is and does.

3. Experiences
“I have learned through my personal experiences that quite often
life can be hard and you sometimes think that you cannot move
forward. But I have gradually realised that the many negatives that
life throws at you can also become strengths in their own right.
Many people have gone through terrible things and have found a
way to not only get through it, but then gone on to achieve great
things. “
Paul Burgum 2011
“Working within health education and social care over the past
twenty years, has given me the experience of working with
children, young people, adults and seeing first-hand the issues
people face. Many of these come from feelings of worthlessness
and being undervalued leading them to believe that they cannot
achieve in life. This programme aims to change this. “
Clare Henderson 2011

4. Social Outcomes
The Phoenix Programme will improve skills and impact
upon participants personal development in the
following ways:
 Employment opportunities
 Social skills
 Budgeting skills
 Enterprise skills,
 Life Skills,
 Raising Aspirations
 Improved long-term mental & physical health

5. Success in Life
The Course will look at all of the following areas and how they
play apart in our wider success in life:

6. Long Term Impact
 Reduced risk of homelessness
 Reduced risk of offending
 Raising Employment Opportunities & Employability
 Long-term wellbeing
 Increased long-term income
 Increased social mobility

7. Forming Ideas
Throughout the programme BCT staff will facilitate and support the
forming of ideas that the group wish to take forward, these maybe in
the following areas:
 Creating a business
 Creating self-employment opportunities
 Developing employment related skills & confidence
 Developing work experience opportunities
 Community Projects
 Charitable Fundraising Projects
 Positive social activity for themselves and the community

8. The Programme
The programme will not have a fixed end date, but will
have fixed evaluation periods where the group will reflect
and also celebrate their achievements.
It will also give the company the opportunity to continually
evolve the programme from the experience gained.

9. Speakers
The programme will also work closely with BCT’s many contacts, inviting speakers to
come in and work with the group on specific areas. The speakers will come from
across the board encompassing:
 Sportspeople
 Businesspeople
 Politicians
 Inspirational Individuals from all walks of life.
 Teacher’s & Lecturers from different levels of education & learning
These same speakers will play a part on offering further opportunities through their
own organisations and companies. BCT Aspire already has agreements for work
placements with companies such as:
 Taylor Wimpey, W.A. Browne
 Alongside this BCT is able to offer its own opportunities through it’s fast growing
catering and events business.

10. Case Studies
The programme will use case studies of role models named by the
participants. This comes from an understanding that everybody’s
point of reference is different. We will research the role models and
link this into the programme, providing information on each role
models journey to success and quite often the hard, difficult times
involved. Examples of role models given so far include:
 Dave Mustaine – Heavy metal guitarist and musician
 Ville Valle – Finnish Musician
We believe it is massively important that the views come from the
participants and not ourselves. We believe that this is quite often a
stumbling block within learning. We intend to each course to
bespoken to the group and the pre-course questionnaires will give us
the relevant information.

11. The Phoenix Programme,
BCT Aspire & Paul Burgum
 The phoenix programme is a programme that has been personally written by BCT
Aspire founder & managing director Paul Burgum.
 Based around many of the areas that Paul has himself found difficulty with and then
found ways to overcome them.
 Paul has suffered with depression, anxiety disorder and underwent diagnosis for Bi-
Polar disorder as well as having difficulties with Alcohol from the age of twelve.
“I have spent a life time trying to hide my problems and running away from them. In the end I
crashed my own hard drive. I learned to realise that mental health is not something to be taken
for granted and further still that the word mental health is not only a negative one. I know I
have many problems, but they also at times give me a different perspective on life and
problems. Gaining support for my problems began to teach me that with most problems there is
always ways you can if not solve the problem to find away around the problem or gain support
from people who can help you solve the problem.
No one really achieves anything on their own and this is the case with Phoenix. It is about
building support networks and giving people the confidence to come out of their own comfort
zone more often.
For the early part of my life alongside my brothers I managed to hide some many problems
that we came across, I feel it has given me a real empathy for people and also a belief that we
can get through just about anything with the right support at the right time
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger“

12. BCT’s Aspirations
 BCT Aspire has simple aims which are simply to raise
aspirations of the people that it comes across.
 Dreams are so important, we want to build on dreams
and allow people to look forward and not backwards.

13. Going for a Walk
 As part of Paul’s own battles with his own problem he
found a novel way to confront some of his demons. In the
last two years Paul has walked the length of the United
Kingdom from Portsmouth in the south, to the Orkney
Islands in the north. To make the task tougher still Paul did
not take any money and had to rely on human kindness to
complete the trips.
 Paul learned many lessons on the trip and as part of the
programme Paul will be sharing video clips, footage from
the walks to back up the lengths he has gone to personally
to succeed.

14. On The Job Learning
 Participants do not learn anything that hasn’t come from a
real need to find those skills. Every programme will
develop it very own project, with its own finances.
 The programme will promote “out of box thinking”
allowing people to tap into their own hidden skills and
have been quite often knocked out of people.
 BCT Aspire has a learning culture at its core when
everyone has the right to learn everything. This is
regardless of what has gone before in someone’s life.

15. Programme Delivery
 The programme will be delivered from BCT’s head office based at the
Synthonia Club as well as utilising the rooms at the club. It will also
visit a wide range of venues to link in with the programme.
 The company will look to use all of its own business activities and
premises for the good of the programme. This will include separate
volunteer, work experience and possible employment opportunities
within the company.
 It will be once weekly with the company hoping to foster a social
group from the programme that cross’s all divides and social groups.
 The delivery will be led by Paul Burgum (BCT Managing Director) and
Clare Henderson (BCT Operations Director) both with extensive
experience and passion for both the programme and the area of work.
 The programme will look to develop peer mentors to further assist in
the programme delivery, further giving a sense of ownership.

16. How it Works
The programme will have two parts which fit seamlessly
together for the benefit of every individual.
 Group Learning – This will be the bulk of the programme
aiming to build team work and confidence. It will also help
develop social skills both with the group and with people in
the wider world. (REF Course Framework)
 Personal Learning – The programme will also set time aside
for 1 to 1 sessions took by either Paul Burgum or Clare
Henderson, looking to work on the individual needs of the
person. We will also develop a personal development diary to
help the individual journey and see how far they have come.
(REF Course Individual Learning)

17. Young People
Aims & Objectives:
 With the young people we are looking to strengthen the
reasons for working hard in education. Aiming to give real
practical reasons for learning the skills offered at school,
rather than just for the sake of learning. It will also give
opportunities for those people who find formal learning
difficult.
 The course will focus heavily on improving social skills and
developing relationships with not only their peers, but
also inter generationally.

18. Adults
Aims & Objectives:
 The programme will look to work on many levels with
meaningful employment a prime driver of the programme.
This could be through employment or through developing self-
employment opportunities themselves.
 It will also again give reason for engaging or re-engaging with
further education and gaining formal qualifications.
 As with young people the programme will look to breakdown
social barriers and stigmas by engaging with a diverse group of
people, from all backgrounds.
 The course also looks to breakdown stigma relating to Mental
Health, explaining that Mental Health is also a positive and
something that can be improved.

19. Post Project
 To further build upon the success of this course we will continue to support
individuals that we feel we are able to help to make further progress, not
just in relation to the programme, but all other aspects of their lives.
 BCT does have strong local employment and training links and this is
something that will be a long term goal of the programme.
 We will also look to see if we can assist with other recreational activities,
through the information we have gathered from working with the
individuals. We will look to use our existing links to recreational
opportunities in Music, Sport and the Creatives.
 Each programme that is run will also evolve its own project, business or
event and each of these could become sustainable in their own right.
 BCT see no reason why the course cannot be the beginning of a community
in its own right with course graduates supporting each other and
developing a positive social scene. This is something that BCT can support
through its regular events and activities.

20. Official Supporters
 Liz Hanley – Stockton Borough Council Adult Service Commissioner, PCT & NHS
 Simon Stobbart – Dean of computing University of Teesside (supported the
programme with the donation of 20 computers) Dean of
 Melanie Maitland – Head teacher, Lowfell Primary School Wickham, Gateshead
 Jim Brown – Sherpa Business Consultancy
 Jane Turner – Dean of Business, Northumbria University
 John Spedding – Deputy Governor, Kirklevington Grange Prison
 Mark Easby – Managing Director, Better Brands
 Michael Harty – Production Director, Taylor Wimpey Construction
 Steve O Gara – Executive Headteacher, Pathways School, Grangetown
 Neil Green – Radio Tees Presenter (Wants to follow individual journeys on air)
 Mat McAdams – Managing Director, W.A Browne
 Mike Greener – Next Steps
 Virginia McCallum – Stockton Borough Council Youth Service

21. Photo Gallery