Youth work in & out of school – boosting mental health
Since 2021, Projects4Change has been commissioned by Action for Children to run a programme at Kenton High School.
Youth at Kenton (Yak) was born post-pandemic to provide an extra layer of support for young people in the aftermath of COVID. The purpose was to address young people’s school-related and wider needs and provide a safe space to talk .
We work with around 50 young people per term, and around 150 per year. Those participating are selected by their teachers, enabling us to reach the young people that are struggling the most, although engagement is voluntary. We are fortunate to be strongly supported by the school’s pastoral leads.
Sessions take place twice a week during term time, but young people are also welcome to join Projects4Change outside of school time, and there has been significant engagement in our activities, both after school during term-time and in the school holidays.
Kelly, the youth worker involved in the project, provides the following insight:
“My overriding thought while working within school is that the young people have a lot of complex emotions. These emotions, often grounded in real life hardship and trauma, are brought into school because young people have nowhere else to go to process their feelings and get support. The feelings then spill into their school day when the pressure becomes too much.
“With regard to specific mental health support, the few limited options are highly in demand and reserved for the most serious of situations, much to the frustration of school staff and students.
“One girl said, ‘you have to attempt suicide to get noticed and the help you need.’ This sentiment was echoed by three young people on separate occasions. This saddens me, as we are asking young people to talk and seek early help but there is not enough help to go around and they are aware of that.”
Since beginning this work at Kenton High School, Kelly has observed that youth work is an effective method of supporting young people’s wellbeing, particularly their emotional and mental health. Until they came across her and Projects4Change, the vast majority of the young people had not been involved in youth work initiatives. It is therefore not surprising that teachers and pastoral leads are inundated with young people who are not coping and consequently acting out.
During group and one-to-one sessions, themes of importance to the young people are identified by them and with them. These have included: vapes, drugs’& alcohol and their impact on adolescent brain development, addiction, impulse control, mental health, risk-taking, sex and relationships including consent, male role models and empathy- building.
Term time after-school engagement has included the forming of a ‘Guardians of the Garden’ group which has helped to work the land at Betty’s Hut and Garden, cutting down willow, building pallet furniture, cooking their own food on the fire pit and making tyre planters. Other activities, supported by Action4Youth, have included kayaking and forest wildness day.
“The group work helped me feel more comfortable around different people, now I talk to people that I didn’t talk to before. Now I go to Betty’s Hut and have made more friends. I have met new people who live round the corner from me, two of them are from Poland.” 15-year old male.
This following case study illustrates the personal impact that this kind of joined-up intervention can have:
Cara accessed the YAK Sessions during the summer term in 2021. The group started by exploring trauma early on within the first sessions. Cara accessed regular lunchtime drop-in sessions and she often hinted about past controlling relationships she had experienced. Cara was one of 6 young women attending the drop-in who had apparently experienced controlling partners. Cara was given the option of working with New Writing North during her group work activities; however, she never got to finish her poem due to Covid absences within the group and the session clashing with end of term exams. Projects4Change followed up on Cara’s interest during the summer holidays. Cara then attended two sessions during summer and wrote her poem below with Tahmina Ali, helping her reflect on her personal experience.
Extract: You can’t control me
The sharp ray of early morning sunlight creeped through the curtains
The four chalky grey walls that painted my bedroom
My phone violently vibrating It was 8am Your voice was clear
Your words were harsh and hurtful I was buried six feet under in guilt
My warm, safe bed Consumed me until I disappeared
The deeper I buried myself under the covers
I escaped the reality No-one could hurt me and I didn’t have to feel anything at all
You shouted. You tore me down
You made me feel I deserved it
But I am stronger.
Cara also attended a two-night residential with the Change Maker Volunteers at the Northumberland coast. Although she had built up the confidence to take part during our sessions, she admitted to feeling worried that she didn’t think she would know anyone and it took a lot of courage for her to attend. She loved it and at the end she said: “I’ve never been this sociable and met new friends since I was 11.”
Another 15-year-old who attended the residential said: “Before I came here I didn’t know there was such nice people in the world.”
Address
The Cowgate Centre
Houghton Avenue
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE5 3UT
Contact
Call us on: 07946 314 037
Email us at: kelly@projects4change.org