Connected By Care: The joy of taking part

In this blog post for Care Day 2026, Craig McCreadie, Participation Practice Lead at CELCIS, reflects on his passion for supporting people with care experience and creating spaces for people to take part and have important conversations.

In the run up to Care Day 2026, Who Cares? Scotland posted the question: ‘are you connected by care?’. This is central to the theme for the day this year. Examples they suggested can include having gone to school with someone who is care experienced, working for a corporate parenting body, having a friend or colleague who is care experienced, and working with care experienced people directly.

I have been working in social care, specifically in relation to the care experienced community, for 16 years. The theme of Connected by Care has led me to reflect on and understand my connections differently.

When people ask me why I do what I do, I tell them I believe in the power of human potential being realised through positive, meaningful relationships. This is the belief system that underpins what I do. When I was 12 years old, an opportunity was given to me, that became a career that forged this belief.

Volunteering early shaped my thinking

My dad was part of a group of volunteers who ran a kids’ club for primary school aged children on a Monday night. Imaginatively it was called ‘The Monday Club’. I went to this club with my older brothers until they started attending secondary school and became too old. Becoming too old to attend was something I dreaded, but the moment inevitably arrived. After talking with my dad about this, he agreed that I could continue to attend, but that I would now be a young leader, and help organise and run activities and games at the club each week. I don’t believe my dad quite understood how important a step this was, given what I would go on to do as an adult, but I am very grateful to him for making that decision. The Monday Club was my first experience of creating space for people to connect and take part in something.

The principle of ‘taking part’ has shaped much of what I have chosen to do as an adult. Creating space for others to take part is something I am extremely passionate about, and I have had the opportunity to do that with the care experienced community in a number of different ways throughout the years. One of my favourite experiences of this was an annual, national, summer camp I was responsible for running for care experienced children and young people across Scotland. These were enormous events which needed the energy and commitment of a large group of people. The months of planning and navigating the high volume of challenges inherent in making this a reality were completely justified each time we did it, for one main reason: each year I would look across the field, where summer camp was held, and would see something important happening. This was a place where people with shared experiences could connect, take part, and feel a sense of belonging. No one on that field needed to explain why they didn’t live with their family, or why they had a social worker, or what a Children’s Hearing was. The elements which often made these young people feel different in places like school for example, didn’t apply here. Summer camp was a place to feel a sense of belonging through taking part.

Helping to shape the future

Having recently taken up the new role of Participation Practice Lead at CELCIS, I am very excited by the opportunities that I will have to further develop how we can all ensure there are spaces for people to take part in important conversations that help inform ongoing improvements. From those early days of being a young leader at the Monday Club, my work since and qualification as a Community Learning and Development practitioner have all led me to this point. A key part of my learning along the way has been that my greatest joy comes in creating those spaces for people to take part, whether as individuals, groups, or entire communities and seeing how meaningful those experiences are for everyone.

I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to be alongside the care experienced community in so many different ways. The group of brothers and sisters who we would support to attend that Monday Club each week, the kids I went to school with, the people I have studied and worked alongside, and have directly supported in many of my job roles. I feel connected but I am also grateful for so many people trusting me, inviting me in and allowing me to be alongside them.

As we celebrate this community, and being Connected by Care this Care Day, I hope that however you choose to take part, the day and the connections it brings, brings you joy.

The views expressed in this blog post are those of the author and may not represent the views or opinions of our funders.

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