YMCA Youth Trust Practice Profile
The PINS Team met with Peter Crory, National General Secretary YMCA Scotland, to discuss the development of the YMCA Youth Trust. Through discussion more was learnt about this innovative project in the Scottish Borders and one of its most significant initiatives – The Primary School Prevention Programme.
Firstly a short profile of the Youth Trust:
In early 2006 YMCA Scotland launched an experimental project in the Scottish Borders aimed at testing new and innovative ways of resourcing and building sustainable communities. A key achievement of the Youth Trust has been the development of a volunteer network committed to serve the needs of local children, young people and families. Over 100 volunteers regularly receive requests for practical support for children in need and over 50 volunteers have actively participated in responding in a variety of ways. YMCA Scotland is excited about the prospect of a Youth Trust being possible in every community, recruiting volunteerism around local needs. The Scottish Government is currently considering proposals to replicate the Youth Trust in other parts of Scotland.
And now more from the interview:
Could you tell me a little bit about how the work of the Youth Trust has developed?
The initial work of the Trust was in response to demand from a local high school which was keen to tap in to support and mentoring for pupils who were disengaged from school. Through the use of experienced youth work staff the Trust managed a series of individual relationships with S3-S4 pupils both developing their opportunity to participate in positive activity and in challenging them with regard to their behaviour in school and the community. This initial target group was comprised of pupils in the NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) category. In evaluating these relationships the pupil support staff were very pleased with the progress and the personal development of each pupil.
The emphasis of the Youth Trust has recently shifted away with working with NEET pupils to working with Primary 6 aged pupils. What was the rationale for this?
The initial work of the Trust with NEET pupils had proved to be very successful. The pupils were building positive relationships with the youth workers and were also more engaged and motivated at school. However, as an organisation we realised that if we continued investing all our energy into this age group we would be losing the opportunity to engage younger pupils preventing them from developing the same difficulties and ultimately becoming NEET. As a result, we decided to focus attention on working with younger pupils supporting them through difficult circumstances so that they remain engaged with school. We see early intervention work as the most effective way to improve the chances of pupils who are most likely to disengage from school.
How is the Youth Trust working to prevent pupils become NEET?
It is important to say that the YMCA approach is about building a long term support relationship with children at highest risk of exclusion and with their parents. This programme does target issues such as self esteem and bullying but mainly seeks to establish a strong support relationship with the family so that either the pupil or the parent can easily access support through the transition years and into high school.
A young person does not simple become dysfunctional overnight, dysfunction is the result of a series of negative experiences and life events that create a young person who responds in particular ways to things like authority and opportunity. YMCA wants to engage in the lives of these children and in support of their parents so that when these events and crises occur they can be dealt with in such a way that they do not become ‘negative building blocks’. So the programme is only the very start of a long term relationship with the pupils and their families.
Could you tell us a little bit about the Primary School Prevention Programme
The Primary School Prevention Programme was launched in 2007 following a significant period of development in partnership with local schools. We identified Primary 6 as the most effective stage to intervene to prevent the development of more entrenched problems at a later stage and have been working closely with three local Primary Schools. This stage of intervention is the age at which many children really take note of differences between each other in terms of identities, economic factors and allegiances. It is also the stage when behaviour can perhaps more justifiably identify those at risk of later exclusion and intervention at this point is of course much less expensive and behaviour much easier to change.
We identified risk factors which were common signs of early dysfunction among teenagers in the NEET category including low self esteem and bullying. The Head Teachers of each school were then asked to refer P6 pupils whose behaviour followed similar patterns and who were perceived to be at risk of falling into the NEET category. We decided that Primary 6 pupils suffering from low self esteem would be the first group we would work with.
The Primary School initiative relies on volunteers from the Youth Trust network who receive training and are then paired off to work one to one with the Primary 6 pupils who have been identified as requiring extra support. The self esteem programme focuses upon activities designed, some purely for fun and others to build self worth and confidence. Activities move between individual work and group activities creating a very positive and supportive environment in which the children can achieve their full potential.
Each pupil works with their partner on a project on their chosen theme, the time spent together constantly building the pupils confidence and ability to positively interact with adults and peers. At present the group meets every Friday and the goal is to complete their project and then share this with the rest of the group and with parents. The YMCA Youth Trust also provides a very special experience for each pupil at the end of their project work and is currently using the volunteer network to access these opportunities. For example one girl who is doing her project on ‘Food’ may be invited to cook a full meal with a top chef in his hotel kitchen and then to serve the meal to her parents in the hotel.
Could you tell me a little bit about how the Trust hopes to work in the longer term with young people and their families?
An underpinning factor of the Trust is that the support offered is long term and will also involve the families of the young people referred to the Trust and also the wider community. The work with Primary 6 pupils is a core part of the Trusts work but we hope to develop community support that all young people and families in the area can call on if they are struggling to cope. The Trust is already a significant resource within the local community and is receiving regular calls from anxious parents and requests for support for families. YMCA acts as a gatekeeper and as the assessor of risk in each circumstance but uses the expertise and experience of one of the largest organisations in Scotland working with excluded young people as individual responses develop
The Youth Trust had to find the appropriate place between statutory social work services and other support structures. It aims to provide a significant and inexpensive community level support that re-establishes the social responsibility of neighbours that seems to be lost in today’s communities. The lack of stigma and involvement of ordinary local people provides easier access for parents than normal more formal structures.
Through developing a large and local volunteer network we are able to draw on a range of free skills, experience and interests that people are willing to offer to others in their community when they most need it. This will often be very practical forms of help. For example, we put a request out to the Trust from a Social Worker for clothes for a child he was working with and the next day we had a bag of brand new clothes which one of the volunteers had kindly donated. Another example, is a team of volunteers who have agreed to drive a mother and her son who has cerebral palsy to horsing riding classes every Wednesday night which is beneficial for him in terms of strengthening weak muscles and relaxing tighter ones. The potential for this support network seems unending. The challenge of the long term support for at risk pupils is even greater. Only measurement of the progress of each of the pupils over the next five years and of the supportive interventions of the Youth Trust in the process of growing up can indicate whether this approach has really made the difference we all crave.
The YMCA approach certainly challenges current thinking about prevention of young people NEET as the Scottish Government only extend ‘official prevention’ down to age 14. As YMCA presents the Youth Trust pilot at a NEET conference in London in April it seems clear that interest in this approach will widen.
