The head of an American school for disadvantaged teenagers has praised Paisley’s Kibble for the way it looks after and educates young people. Bill Gholson is the executive director of the Gulf Coast Trades Center, in New Waverly, Texas and he visited Kibble Education and Care Centre on a fact-finding mission.
He said: “I have been very impressed with Kibble’s transition of care and its integration of services that is not found in other places.
“In the US we have different agencies working with young people at the different stages of their development. But Kibble has what I would describe as a continuum of care with different services for youngsters over a wide age range, which has advantages over our system.
“Disturbed and dysfunctional youngsters have a greater need to feel safe before we can make progress with them. The way to make them feel safe is to give them familiarity with places and people. Kibble does this instead of the youngsters being moved around to different programmes as they do in the States. “There is nothing like Kibble – with everything under the one umbrella - in the US.”
Bill added: “its clear Kibble is very organised and the staff respect the young people. There is a good atmosphere, which is contagious and carries over to the kids.
“I was being shown round by one of the youngsters and I was impressed by how proud he was and what he had achieved at Kibble.”
Kibble chief executive, Graham Bell said: “We are very appreciative of Bill Gholson’s comments as Kibble strives to be at the cutting edge of the best methods to help young people at risk develop into young adults playing a positive role in society.”