Detached Youth Work
Detached youth work offers a great opportunity to develop contact with young people that interact with no other provision, and further engagement is often not only requested by the young people, but actively sought by them. This links the young people into other areas of provision. For some it may be the specialist counselling service for drug and alcohol issues, as two of the staff are fully trained in this area of specialisation. For others it may be the opportunity to experience outdoor life through falconry training or through outdoor pursuits. The challenges of doing this away from the estate give great opportunities for discussion on a range of subjects. For others it is the building up of relationships and self-confidence in order to facilitate their access of other youth provision such as local youth clubs etc.
The work of the detached team is not for all youth workers as it can be both difficult and demanding, it requires great skill, patience and indeed, at times, courage, to meet and engage with vulnerable young people on their territory, but the results can be amazing. The team focuses on the hard-to-reach young people, the ones whose self-esteem or worth have been damaged and it works from that point in their lives.
The work of the Youth Bus programme was becoming limited by the reliability and the capacity of the single-deck coach we had converted. We were therefore extremely grateful to Stagecoach for the gift of a double decker for use on the project. This has proved to be a very successful development and in the first three weeks of its launch, over 150 young people had accessed its facilities.
The new bus provides a large plasma screen TV for music DVD's and films, it has eight computer game consoles, a quiet chill out zone, and a games area where young people can engage with and build a relationship with adult role models who can signpost them to such advice and counselling as required.
The focus of 'The Bus' continues to be those young people designated as being 'hard to reach' and disengaged, those that are without other provision, and it has been recognised by the statutory youth sector and the Community Police that the Bus is a valuable and successful provision in the city.
