• Category: Education and Training, Health and Wellbeing, Partnership Working

Organisation: Vale of Glamorgan Youth Service

Project: Inspire to Work (I2W)

Contact: Peter Williams

The Vale of Glamorgan Inspire to Work (I2W) project has been supporting young people, aged 16 to 24, since April 2017. The project is part funded by the European Social Fund and is made up of three delivery members of staff.

The aim of the project is to support young people who are currently not in education, employment or training, into education, employment or training. This is done through various methods, including one to one sessions, group sessions, training courses, work experience, etc.

Many of the young people that the team support have significant barriers to engagement, some of which include poor experiences of education, poor support structures within their life, involvement with the justice system, substance use, lack of stable home life and poor mental health.

I2W take referrals from professionals, both internal and external of the Council. These referrals provide an element of insight into the needs of the young person, but it is not until the Learning Coach meets and begins to develop a rapport with the young person that the understanding of their needs become clearer. Each member of staff is a qualified youth worker and they utilise this skill-base to build a meaningful relationship with the individual. The skills of the team have grown as a result of our learning more about the needs of young people we serve. Some of the team have attended additional training in counselling skills in order to provide another skill-base to support the young people. The project is based on voluntary engagement and does not force an individual to engage, meaning that any support provided is done at the pace the young person sets.

Each young person has an action plan developed, which is then monitored and reviewed as the support goes on. Even though some elements will crossover with other young people, each plan is set with the young person’s individual needs at the forefront. As part of this, barriers to engagement or things that may negatively impact their wellbeing are identified, with plans put in place to help address these.

The support each young person receives can vary massively, however this is adjusted based on the needs of the individual. This can include additional support with essential skills, ECDL and ESOL courses dependent on the young person’s learning deficits. It has been found that in situations where there is either poor, or non-existent, family support, or where there has been bereavement of any immediate support structure that the staff team have to build in an element of nurture to their engagement as this has been potentially missing from their lives for many years. In relation to wellbeing, addressing this basic need is fundamental as without this, it will make sustaining any progression to education, employment or training unrealistic. Each young person has a different starting point in their journey, meaning that some young people may not be ready to engage in support of varying levels immediately; it can sometimes take weeks or months of one to one contact before a young person is ready to engage in a training course or group session.

As a rapport is built with the young person, it may become evident that the individual has some wider barriers that could be impacting their wellbeing. Examples of this include financial issues, housing situation, substance use and mental health issues. The I2W project acknowledge that they are not always best suited to support in these more specialist areas but have a good knowledge of partners and other agencies who the young person can be signposted to for support. The team use an holistic and young person- centred approach which has the young person’s choice and voice as a key aspect in their journey in the project. The team regularly support young people to attend meetings with new agencies or when starting work experience placements, so as to have a familiar face in order to alleviate any anxiety around meeting new professionals. Depending on the additional support required and being offered, it may be appropriate for the I2W staff to withdraw support at that time however, in the majority of cases, the team continue to support in partnership with other agencies to ensure the best package and consistency is in place for the individual.

Part of the provision on offer is to attend training courses, which help to increase knowledge in areas of work they are interested in exploring, gaining work relevant qualifications and certification as well as building their confidence in both a group scenario and also with their own ability. This is particularly relevant to those who are long-term unemployed as they may not have been able to do this since leaving compulsory education. Within the training courses, the project supports the transport of young people to be able to attend and provides lunch and refreshments for all in attendance. By doing this, young people who cannot afford to pay for their own lunch are not singled out within the group, resulting in a much more positive environment and again, removing any anxieties these young people may feel. It also means that the young people have sufficient energy levels to actively take part in the learning on offer. The same principle is applied to supporting young people to attend work experience, college courses and employment. The project can assist with covering certain costs for these situations, where young people are financially unable to support themselves. The approach outlined is intended to empower the young people to become more resilient, independent and confident and able to cope with future challenges in their lives.

Young people’s lives can be highly erratic, with changes happening with little to no notice. This can be from them presenting as being homeless, becoming involved with the criminal justice system, physical health issues as well as financial concerns. With the support of the project, the team are able to flexibly adapt and support young people as these changes occur, adjusting priorities to focus on those that are most relevant to the young people at that time. Where needed, the team also seek support and additional funding from other sources, including local charities and teams within the Council, to help cover the cost of certain items. Examples that the project has purchased for young people include: bikes for young people to access employment and training opportunities; white good products to support young people moving to non-equipped buildings or when their own items break and; laptops to be able to access online courses and training, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic, which in turn supports the young people to become less isolated.

Through the Covid-19 pandemic, support has continued to be given to the young people and this has been done through email, phone calls, online sessions through Microsoft Teams and also doorstep visits being undertaken for those who are especially vulnerable. During parts of the pandemic, food parcels and hygiene packs were delivered to support some of these young people who were particularly struggling, as well as meeting young people who were particularly isolated within their local communities.

https://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/en/living/youth_service/Youth-Service.aspx for full contact information.

• Category: Education, Health and Wellbeing

Organisation: Vale of Glamorgan Youth Service

Title of project: Digital Music Project

Contact: Jack Fletcher

The digital music project gives young people an understanding of different types of music and instruments. The project supports learners to develop their musical skill set and their ability to build creatively. The project has included group work and 1-1 sessions online and face to face. The project has improved self-confidence and musical skills and reduced isolation during the pandemic. Young people have also worked towards achieving the Music Appreciation Agored Cymru Unit.

The young people participated in a successful music recording and performance project based at the YMCA hub in Barry. They performed a Christmas showcase to their peers and the Vale Youth Service team members. Unfortunately we had to stop these sessions due to Covid public health crisis. However the the young people involved wanted to continue to develop their skills.

The tutor from the previous project and myself thought it might be possible to facilitate a music project online via Microsoft Teams. We consulted the young people to find out how much interest there is in the project and to get feedback on any experience the young people have had working with music online.

The young people engaged fully and contributed on the collaboration on the design of the project. We decided to set up a shared Google doc and they would work together on the lyrics for the song that they produced. They also worked together when choosing the different backing track sections to arrange in the GarageBand application when the tutor was sharing his screen.

There was in issue recording the singing online due to a delay. To solve this the young people recorded their parts at home on their phones and emailed them to me to add to the song. As lead for the project I emailed and called all of the local schools and released regular social media posts to raise awareness of the project. At the end of the project we had CDs professionally duplicated using the artwork that the young people had designed throughout the term. I then sent this to the Schools, local music tutors, local radio, and music shops along with posters with the aim of increasing attendance for continuation and development of the project. Due to changes in Covid regulations we have developed the provision to be facilitated outside using our mobile youth club.

The project has given young people an opportunity to explore new ways to express themselves during these difficult times during lockdown. It was a way they could learn new skills and knowledge in the areas of song writing, music production and relating music to film. The young people were ultimately empowered to writing exactly what they feel about the pandemic in the form of a song which gave them a platform to relate to others in the community by featuring on YouTube, social media and from being interviewed in a local paper and on local radio.

The Vale of Glamorgan Council released a press release on the project which resulted in the interest from the local press and radio. This is positive publicity. As the project has continued with the mobile provision it has been seen in the community and has been met with a positive response from the public and also other local services such as the Police.

The young people have expressed their opinions on their own feelings and experiences and the impact of the pandemic across the world within their song lyrics and CD artwork. They explore issues such as climate change, Black Lives Matter and American politics.
The project initially continued as part of the Summer of Fun School holidays offer that the youth service were offering in St Athan and Barry but due to the popularity of the programme the project is continuing weekly in the areas of St Athan and Rhoose.

‘2020 Wrapped Up’ finished video: https://youtu.be/18aJo_wt0Oo

Bro Radio interview: https://youtu.be/ov-2wS0iwPM

• Category: Education, Health and Wellbeing

Organisation: YMCA Cardiff

Provision: The Healthy Relationships Project

Contacts: Caroline Ryan/Amy Stuart-Torrie

The Sexual Health Outreach Team (SHOT) has been delivering a targeted sexual health service for young people, through Families First funding since 2013.

• Provide targeted 1-1 support and group sessions for young people at risk in relation to healthy relationships and rights and responsibilities regarding sexual behaviour including advice on sexual health that follows best practice.
• Provide training and advice to other professionals who work with young people, in schools and in the community, so that they are able to provide appropriate, quality support for young people, and to ensure that young people have access to best practice advice and information in relation to sexual health and behaviour.
• Collaborate with other professionals to ensure that young people have access to services that are appropriate to the nature and level of their needs.

We currently provide specialist targeted 1-2-1 and group work for young people in regards to their sexual health and relationship needs. We work with young people on a 1-2-1 basis and in groups, dependant on the need, at various youth settings in Cardiff. Such as youth clubs, training providers, schools, colleges, young people’s hostels and other youth organisations.

Referrals are received from across Cardiff and highlight many different diverse sexual health and relationship needs. For example, risk of CSE, pregnancy testing, STI screening, healthy relationships, gender and trans issues to name but a few.

Cardiff YMCA maintains a multi-agency approach to this service to ensure young people’s needs are fully met, ensuring that young people receive help and intervention that is safe and effective and that promotes positive outcomes in regard to sexual health and relationships. The need for this project was identified through our co-ordination of the C-Card Scheme working in partnership with Public Health Wales. The vision for the Sexual Health Outreach team was to fill in the gaps in provisions around sexual health and relationships. Young people were asking for more support and in many cases, professionals did not have the capacity, specific knowledge or confidence to provide it within their job roles. The young people were central in identifying the need for specific one to one support and support accessing local sexual health services such as the NHS Department of Sexual Health.

Young people created the logo for the project via a Cardiff wide competition in partnership with Cardiff Young Peoples Partnership. From the outset a person-centred approach has been fundamental and young people have shaped the project and continue to do so.

Young people are involved from the initial meeting, with the planning of sessions, locations, session duration and timeframe. Each session is reviewed verbally and/or written and young people can reflect on their learning, and plan for the following session with their outreach worker. At the end of intervention each young person completes an evaluation, their input feeds into the project as we are constantly monitoring and evaluating the services to ensure best meet the needs of young people. Each young person completes and initial assessment such as the Outcome Ladder at the beginning of intervention which is reviewed after 6 sessions and at the final session. This allows us to identify distanced travelled in regard to learning and also to identify any additional areas of work, or pathways to sign post on. All data is logged on our Charity Log system so we can track engagement, progression and individual evaluations of the service. Each contact is logged, and this information provides important data that enables us to continually monitor and evaluate.

Young people have played an active role with the C-Card Scheme from the initial stages. Their participation can be confirmed through involvement in voting on condom brand preference, deciding on accessible locations and the design promotional materials. Young people have opportunity to contribute to an annual consultation, which directly feeds into the development of the scheme.

Our youth work is underpinned by the 5 pillars of youth work and in line with the National Occupational Standards for Youth Work.

The team use a variety of methods and approaches when working with young people, as each young person is different, with different needs, learning styles and backgrounds. But the fundamental approach is voluntary involvement, person centred, and user led. We have been adaptable, flexible and are driven by young people’s needs. The project is outreach in nature, and we work across many different settings such as school, home and in the community, predominantly one to one but we also deliver group sessions. We deliver formal, non-formal and informal learning. We encourage young people to engage in active and reflective learning, to be involved in their own learning process and embed their learning into real life situations.

There have been lessons learned, one for example is that we have always offered a flexible engagement timeframe and have never set a limit on intervention, however during one stage we had a long waiting list we tried to offer a more structured intervention. We tried to implement a 6-session intervention, but what we found is that due to the varying needs of young people and the importance of building a trusting relationship due to the nature of the work involved this just wasn’t feasible for many young people. Some simply need more time, some need the learning to be covered more than once and in different ways to enable effective comprehension, awareness and ability to use their learning in real life situations. So, we quickly reverted to an unlimited timeframe for intervention.

Another example is that the needs of young people have evolved, prior to COVID but exponentially during the lockdown, online safely and awareness of risky online behaviour became the most prevalent reason for referral. Particularly around the sending of explicit images became the most prevalent reason for referral. So, although we endeavour to work proactively, we also need to be reactive to changing circumstances and issues effecting young people.

Each week we review new referrals and look at prevalent issues, discuss what young people are saying and look at how we can adapt and change to best support young people, families and other services.

The service ensures appropriate provision for the following priority groups:

• Young people at risk of CSE
• Young people displaying inappropriate sexual behaviour
• Young people in or on the edge of care, and care leavers
• Young people who are not in education, employment or training
• Disabled young people (physical, sensory and learning disabilities
• Young people with emotional and mental health problems
• Young people who identify as LGBT+

On a personal level young people can develop a greater awareness of relationships, by understanding healthy relationships and identifying personal or increasing their awareness of unhealthy behaviours/ traits they are empowered to make good choices for themselves, build their confidence and be more self-aware. This can also positively impact friendships and family relationships.

By gaining a greater understanding of risk, it has great benefits to the individual as they can consider situations, behaviours and actions in terms of risk and again are empowered to make choices that keep them safer, this is has positive impact on family, the wider community, other young people and other services. Knowledge of sexual health benefits the individual, other young people and positively impacts local sexual health services. For young people having someone to support and advise them with correct up to date information, offering a safe space to explore sensitive topics, ask questions and build their knowledge is beneficial for them in all aspects.

The informal and one to one nature of the service not only benefits young people, but other services also. This is no other project locally that offers specific support of this kind as a result children’s services, education and health providers benefit from being able to refer on young people who they feel need this target support.

Our reporting shows that of the 31 young people we have completed intervention in the last quarter;
100% of young people rated SHOT very good or excellent
100% of young people found the workers helpful and approachable
100% of the young people were appropriately signposted to relevant sexual health services

Experience in supporting young people with healthy relationships and sexual health needs.

Benefits for the staff, organisation and volunteers are that partnerships and multiagency working is paramount in this project, so we build close working relationships with other professional organisations, such as health, children’s services, police and teachers. We have worked in partnership with Cardiff Council Children’s Services ThinkAgain! Service, Promo Cymru, SwitchedOn and Cardiff Youth Service to name a few. We attend pop up events, freshers’ fairs and school PSE days. We deliver one to one and groups work sessions and each day is varied, this in itself offers continual professional development for staff and volunteers. We take on placements from Cardiff University Youth and Community Work degree, this can benefit the individual as offers an insight into targeted and specific youth work around sexual health and relationships.

The project has been nominated for a YMCA Youth Matters Award and got the finals. The CSE Steering group won an Excellence award and also an Award for Outstanding Engagement and Investigation to Safeguard Children from the Regional Safeguarding Children Board. It is a huge moral boost for staff and volunteers who have been involved and extremely motivating for all staff, for themselves and the young people they work with to receive this recognition.

The Service considers the following guiding principles for Families First services in delivery arrangements:

• Family-focussed – services should take a whole family approach to improving outcomes
• Bespoke – services should be tailored to individual family circumstances
• Empowering – services should seek to empower families to take control of their lives, to give them an increased sense of ownership and investment in their outcomes
• Integrated - services should be effectively coordinated and planned to ensure a seamless progression for families between different interventions and programmes
• Intensive – a vigorous approach and relentless focus must be maintained which can adapt to families’ changing circumstances
• Local – services should address the needs of local communities and, where possible, seek opportunities to link in with other local programmes, including Flying Start and Supporting People
• Pro-active – seeking early identification of need and securing appropriate interventions in a timely way
• Sustainable – services should always seek to provide long-term sustainable solutions. They should seek to address the root causes of problems and not just the symptoms to enable families to continue to progress after intervention has ceased.

Currently funded until March 31st 2022

Please view links for further information:

www.ymcacardiff.wales 
Healthy Relationship Service - YMCA Cardiff Group 
Child Sexual Exploitation: Steering Group - YMCA Cardiff | GOV.WALES
https://youtu.be/2tXMpv7VeRQ Addysg Cymru / Education Wales interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZHOxTt2ZFs Steering Group – What is Child Sexual Exploitation (English)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IsKsYN1Nbs Steering Group – What is Child Sexual Exploitation (Welsh)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7K7TwHHinQ Department of Sexual Health Clinic Information / Walk through Video

• Category: Citizenship, Educational, Environmental, Participation

Organisation: Welsh Centre for International Affairs (WCIA) and Size of Wales

Project title: Youth Climate Change Ambassadors

Leader: Amber Demetrius

The Youth Climate Ambassadors for Wales (YCA) is a group of young people from across Wales who are passionate Climate Activists fighting for Climate Justice.

Background

WCIA and Size of Wales have been running joint MockCOPs (module United Nations climate conferences) for several years – these are a fantastic way for young people to develop understanding of climate change, develop their own perspectives, empathise with other views and negotiate solutions.

But we wanted to offer more to the young people who engaged. With some funding from the Scottish Power Foundation, we were able to offer the opportunity for all young people who took part in a MockCOP to apply to become Wales’ first Youth Climate Ambassadors. Once formed, it was core to the programme that WCIA and Size of Wales played an enabling role, but gave the ambassadors freedom to set their own agenda, recruit new members and run the group. It’s now been running for 2 years and the ambassadors engage politically, help to run new MockCOPs and support climate action across their communities.

They’ve met with the US Ambassador and presented at the UN in the course of their work. This year, the ambassadors have been heavily involved in Climate Cymru and will attend COP26 to represent young people in Wales.

In the original project formation, we were driven by young people and teachers telling us that young people care about climate change and want to know more. Once we identified the first ambassadors, they have taken the lead entirely. We’ve connected them to experts, politicians and networks, provided the infrastructure for them to meet, hold events and run public communications. Because many are under 18, we’ve also provided appropriate safeguarding.

Participation, inclusion and empowerment are core to all our work and this project was no exception. We use different platforms to make sure all young people involved can share their views and use their skills. The Youth Climate Ambassadors are in the driving seat and our role is to get obstacles out of the way and link them to opportunities.

The biggest challenge has been satisfying safeguarding requirements while also letting the young people lead meetings, social media and other initiatives. However, we are confident that we have resolved this challenge.

These range hugely from individual to individual but broadly-speaking, the benefits are:

Knowledge – of climate change and connected issues of social justice

Skills – public speaking, negotiation, problem solving, leadership, using initiative and inclusion are just some of the skills young people have developed through the programme

Self-confidence – developing and sharing their views

Empathy – understanding other perspectives and taking those on board when suggesting solutions

Networks – relationships with policy-makers, communities, other climate activists, NGOS and businesses

For our staff, but also the partners we’ve linked with the ambassadors, the perspectives of these young people have been extremely valuable, as well as the impetus they have put behind climate campaigning in Wales. We are in a climate emergency which will have impacts on us all and these young people are making a real difference to policy and practice in Wales and inspiring action further afield.

This is addressed in terms of the inclusion of people from across Wales and different backgrounds as climate ambassadors but also in the ambassador’s recognition of the links between climate change and social justice.

The project is still going strong and hope to continue into the future, with the ambassadors continuing to recruit more members and use their voices for change.

For further information contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.