We do run some very regular sessions such as Swimming, Football, Youth Cafe and Drop ins but even these can be different every time. It is very important that we have these regular sessions as life can be pretty chaotic when you are young. We aim to be a constant, reliable provision that young people can trust to show up. These regular sessions enable young people to try out lots of different activities. They can find what they really enjoy, or what interests them and we can work from there, helping them to plan and organise what else they’d like to do.
During any given day it’s possible to be involved with anything. It may be that a distressed young person rings the doorbell having just been kicked out of home by a violent parent. The experienced team would then do all they can to ensure that young person has somewhere safe to stay that evening. There would also be a lot of intensive support work involved here, ensuring that the young person feels physically and emotionally safe and fulfilling practical needs such as sourcing clean underwear, food and overnight essentials. This would be the beginning of a sustained period of support and intervention for this young person.
Very different to this could be a summer holiday day out, where we take a minibus full of young people to the beach. It has been our experience that this is sometimes the only opportunity that some kids get to go to the beach even though we live in a county with sea on 3 sides. On all our trips we take lots of food, drink and spare clothes to make sure that everybody enjoys themselves as much as possible.
We could be running a regular drop in session when somebody expresses an interest in graffiti. Thanks to our skilled team of workers we are able to respond to this and spend the rest of the evening designing logos and making stencils so next session the young people can start re-decorating the walls of the social room. Things like this can often catch young people by surprise which is great, as it gives the session a real sense of energy and purpose.
“…you can’t beat a game of top trumps on the swings in the sandy park!”
We are regularly on Treneere wandering around chatting to young people and families. It may be that we have packed a cricket bat and ball and before you know it we are playing a game of cricket (well, our version anyway) with potentially 10/20 young people on the Rec. We may also have other games or things to do you can’t beat a game of top trumps on the swings in the sandy park!
“We are there to support children and young people how and when they want it. This is what keeps things fresh and exciting for everybody.”