What the Disability Youth Project has achieved in 2016/2017

We have had a very positive year within the Youth Project. Our 6 weekly youth clubs continue to go from strength to strength with their delivery and we are now working with children and young people from a variety of schools and colleges. These include but are not limited to:

  • Priory
  • St Giles
  • Bensham Manor
  • St Nicholas
  • Redgates
  • Carshalton College

Holiday schemes

We have delivered holiday provision across all the major holidays apart from Christmas. Waddon Youth Hub is our usual area for delivery of services apart from two weeks of summer where we deliver out of Bensham Manor School to accommodate larger numbers and use their excellent facilities. Waddon is seen as the most suitable site for the remainder of the year because of its accessible building and the surrounding green spaces, as well as good transport links from the North and South part of the borough. Children and young people feel comfortable and confident within the centre and the staff team, along with the resources and equipment help the young people achieve the best outcomes possible during their time with us.

Volunteers

Volunteers are a major part of our delivery and we are currently lucky enough to have 11 adults with a disability supporting our project. Some of these are still members of our 18-25 year old youth group but volunteer with our younger age groups and all are very keen to offer something back to the project. A number of these adults are undertaking their Bronze DofE award with us as well. Before the summer scheme a number of them undertook some training delivered by my team around ‘An Introduction to Youth Work’.

Travel Training

Over the past year various travel training programmes have been supported by our staff to give young people more personal independence. A pupil who attended Castle Hill was supported to walk home from our Bensham Youth Club a few roads away. His road safety awareness got better each week and he was supported by a Bensham Manor TA (who also works for the project) so there was continuity when he moved to Bensham in September 2016. However, he was signed off as independent by the end of that summer term, much to the delight of his working parent.

CPFC Foundation and Physical Activity

Physical activity and well-being is a key part of our offer and our staff are adept at delivering varying sessions such as basketball, football, yoga, martial arts and even Zumba for our diverse groups of young people.

Our continued partnership with the Crystal Palace Foundation has also seen outside of the Council and funding from the Sustainable Communities team contribute towards the delivery of multi sports sessions along with football coaching at various venues throughout the year and during holiday schemes.

Family Lives - Education Health and Care Plan support

We were approached as a project early last year by Family Lives charity in Croydon. They wished to meet as many parents as possible to offer support around the changeover to EHCP’s. We were able to offer a suitable space and time in all of our youth clubs so parents could come and get independent advice and support at a time that was convenient for them.

Croydon Drop In

This service is accessible, confidential, independent, safe and flexible for young people seeking free support and counselling. They have offered services to our various projects and supported one of our young people through 1:1 counselling sessions.

Our own in house “Me, Myself and I”small group work programmes also offer young people a chance to work with staff, often in young men or young women groups only to discuss such things as sex and relationships, drug and alcohol use, social media and life choices. These sessions support young people’s development and give them coping mechanisms when dealing with adolescence and transitions into adulthood.

Arts

Arts and music programmes are crucial to our delivery. We work with our internal partners within the Early Intervention Team along with Club Soda and Mousetrap Theatre to produce positive and creative outcomes for our young people.

Family work

Working with our parents and creating family learning is fundamental to our delivery. This year we entered our first joint two family team into the borough’s Family Safety Challenge competition. This saw them undertake training in First Aid and Fire Safety before pitching their skills against other multigenerational teams from around Croydon.

Employment partners

Our partners at Remploy and Delrose Earle Training work with our older groups during sessions to offer support around individual action plans for career aspirations, access to courses or apprenticeships. This gives our 18-25 year olds members a transition and pathway leading up to them leaving our project and continuing their journey into adulthood.

Offsite trips into the community

Supporting our young people and adults to access things in the community is a regular part of our offer. The aim is to give them the experiences and knowledge to move forward and become socially independent within the borough of Croydon once they move on from the youth project. Outings include Adventure and Forest School activities at local woodlands, Club Soda and Soda Beat events, nights out at the local pub for meals and quiz nights and just recently the 18-25 year old group’s first visit to Box Park in Croydon.

Outcomes

Outcomes for our young people are very constructive and we push and challenge our young people in a positive way so that they may progress as individuals within society.

Outcomes include but are not limited to:

  • Increased confidence
  • Improved communication skills
  • Improved participation in physical activity
  • Improved ability in developing and sustaining personal relationships
  • Increased awareness in wellbeing, healthy lifestyles and personal hygiene
  • Increased awareness in healthy diets
  • Improved ability in independent life skills
  • Increased awareness in internet and social networking safety

For information about the project please contact or on 07990790183