Urban DofE: does such a thing exist?

[paulinepolos]

Hello
I am looking for an alternative Gold Duke of Edinburgh`s Award Expedition for my just turned 18yo daughter. She has mental health difficulties and a history of depression, to which I have found the standard Expeditions unsuitable. We live in Liverpool and I initially suggested to our Private DofE coordinator to do the Leeds and Liverpool Canal as her Expedition. And before you go on about wild country or mountains, as of 2023 the DofE says it allows Urban Expeditions (look at 20 Conditions).

It needs to have/provide the following things:

.be in an urban or semi-urban environment and not in "wilderness" or mountains
.have absolute MINIMUM team size of 4 people
.female only or request to have female only
.to ask an allocated time for me to see my daughter at night
.to ask to bring own food and not those shitty ration pack boil in the bag meals (such as bring own spaghetti and sauce)

Can anyone help or advise me on this?

Apparently over 16s cant do bronze as its for 14 and 15yo due to safeguarding issues- dont tell me cuz ive already tried this!

So why not try bronze again?

This kind of dofe doesn't exist. Carry on.

If she’s that immature you’re best getting her into a specialist setting to help her overcome that.

I don’t think you are right about that.

Everybody brings their own food but a part of it is planning and making a shared meal. My dd is anaphylactic but that made her get really involved in the planning of that aspect.

"allocated time for me to see my daughter at night"
You've posted about this four times now? (twice today)
I get it, shes got some depression and confidence issues, shes not spent time in the countryside, struggles when you arent there........... Shes 18. Its time (beyond time) for her to start working on that. I cannot imagine any DofE situation that will let a parent see their daughter during the trip - is it significant that you've said "for me to see my" rather than her wanting to see you??

Sounds to me like 3-5 days, without any contact with you, in the countryside (not necessarily up a mountain!) would do her some good.

You want to request to see your daughter every night, to stop her getting pissed?

Silver then?

At my DD’s sixth form college they were told not to put it on their personal statements and CVs.

I do love it when posters keep posting the same story in the hope that a different set of posters will give a different set of answers to the ones that have already been given!

if the OPs daughter had a tenth of her parents determination and persistence she would have aced her GCSEs and done the DOE gold walking on her hands.

You're attaching magical powers to the gold award. It doesn't get you jobs or stand in place of educational certificates.

D of E is evidence of a young person's persistence, problem-solving capacities, willingness to test themselves and ability to work in a team. Your daughter doesn't have these qualities, so she's unsuited to it.

If it's any comfort, I decided not to complete my gold because I didn't want to do the expedition - I finished the other parts but couldn't be bothered with that. And I was aware this decision only reflected my loathing of wild camping; no future employer would give a shit.

How did she manage her silver expedition? Mine was a bastard - I certainly didn't want to undergo twice as much of the same!.

"We did do volunteering" - surely she did it? On her own?

You need to let go. If she falls and stumbles........ thats on her. Its part of her development.
I do not see how her getting Gold DofE is going to be the magic fix all you seem to think it will be.

What aspect of the DofE particularly appeals to her?
Maybe you could find something aligned to that that will better suit her needs eg is it the learning a new skill, camping/wilderness stuff, meeting new people?

She sounds as though she has additional needs of various types and so would be better with an additional needs group, kayaking or whatever.

leeds and liverpool canal seems like a reasonable dofe gold expedition to me walking the entirety of it

If any of it appealed she’d probably get on with sorting it herself.
Its mum who is obsessed.

Who are the strangers she will be doing it with? Where will you get those participants from?

That’s a bit unkind. The mother is clearly very worried and casting around for solutions.

#ToKittyornotToKitty

Thats the biggest issue. She has 1 friend but we need to find 2 more girls for her to do it with.

Doing that is a fair old undertaking.

It crosses the Pennines, and can be isolated in places. Even though she’s just following a tow path, what will she do about camping? How many miles will she be walking in a day? It’s over 120 miles.

It seems to you?
You are going to volunteer to lead the trip?

And the 12 months of skills etc?

Presumably camp in tents on side of canal, if not go to nearest town and camp in a park there.

You should look into training as an expedition leader, and set one up for next year.

Oh yeah 4 girls camping unattended at the side
of a canal… what could go wrong. Also you get that you can’t do any of the expedition with her?