The HUB: Annual Report Summary for the year to 30 June 2013
Service Description: The HUB is based in St. Peter Port and provides an island-wide advice, information and listening-support service for all young people aged 11-16; The HUB is the Young People Guernsey (YPG) centre for young teens, from which the charity has commissioned Barnardo’s to manage and deliver the operational service; It is a universal, self-referral service for all young people regardless of their background or demographic; YPG receives no States funding, and finances The HUB through seeking corporate and philanthropic support, applying for charitable grants and holding fundraising events; The HUB opened on 7 September 2012, and so this report relates to the first 10 months in the 12 months of operational service at The HUB.
Key statistics for the first year of The HUB’s service: 408 young people have accessed The HUB’s service 33% of these young people were identified as vulnerable or at risk from harm The HUB team comprises 2 F/T and 1 P/T professional staff, together with 16 volunteers who have helped young people with a wide range of issues
“In terms of our work, it is important that we appreciate the number of young people who have put their trust in us by seeking one-to-one emotional support. This is the core of our service and perhaps the most difficult thing for anyone to ask for help with… let alone a young person who is already suffering from feelings of low self-esteem and isolation. Asking for support takes a huge amount of courage and is something that should never be underestimated.” Charlie Cox, Barnardo’s Team Leader at The HUB
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Who is accessing the services at The HUB? Age of users:
Since September 2012, The HUB team has had 648 contacts with young people, relating to 408 individuals; Young people aged 13 have been our highest service users accounting for 37% in total; The HUB’s service is targeted at young people aged 11-16, but inevitably there are some who fall above or below this age range (due to issues of sibling contact, friends of young people using the service or where the young person is particularly vulnerable due to their situation or capacity.) The HUB team works closely with other agencies in Guernsey to ensure that there is a seamless support service to all children and young people who need it.
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Gender of users:
Although females make up the highest percentage of young people accessing the service, there are a significant number of males who have had contact with The HUB. This is encouraging as traditionally boys and young men find it more difficult to access help and support.
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Why are young people accessing support at The HUB?
This pie chart shows the issues that young people presented to the HUB.
During our first year of operation, young people have accessed the service for a huge variety of reasons, which we have categorised under the above headings. Key issues identified include support with family and friends; advice on employment, education and training; family breakdown; mental health issues; worries about pregnancy and sexual health, and general self-esteem. E-safety has been an increasing concern for young people, with social media creating new safeguarding risks and challenges to young people and professionals; in addition levels of self-harming amongst young people in Guernsey are high and The HUB team is working on ways to address this as part of a multi-agency approach. In addition, a number of young people who have accessed the service, have then required a safeguarding referral to HSSD with regards to issues such as sleeping rough or domestic abuse. Young people in these circumstances are extremely vulnerable and The HUB team has worked with the statutory agencies to ensure effective responses.
What young people say about support from The HUB? “Hey. I’m a lot better now thank you. I'm glad I came, it helped me a lot more than I thought it would” Male, 16 years “Thanks for all your help. It really means a lot. I can talk to you about anything” Female, 13 years “Good advice about what I should do to help” Female, 14 years “Informed me on what I was unsure of” Female, 14 years “I liked how casual it was and how we got involved” Female, 14 years
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What services does The HUB team provide?
Drop in
The HUB is open at three regular times each week for any 11-16 year old to call in for information, advice or support. Young people can access information from bus timetables to contraception; or speak confidentially and unconditionally to obtain emotional support on issues such as bullying or self-harm. No matter what is worrying a young person, The HUB team will try and help; if they have not got the answer then they will help find the right person that does.
Case Study – Young person seeking support through drop-in A 16-year-old started coming to The HUB in April and sought support regarding his home-life, finding part-time work and emotional support as he was self-harming. He attended The HUB on a weekly basis for some time and with support from staff and volunteers, he has now applied for a number of part-time jobs. Giving this young person the time and space to speak confidentially in a nonjudgemental environment allowed him to explore his feelings, and his self-harming has now ceased.
Outreach
The HUB team has had great success during outreach work, joining forces with a number of other specialist agencies (Action for Children, Guernsey Sports Commission, Guernsey Arts Commission, Youth Partnership of Guernsey and Alderney etc.) to provide a holistic approach to young people’s needs. The outreach work has two purposes: firstly, to meet young people in their own surroundings particularly those who may find it hard to engage with mainstream services – and so build trusting relationships and provide immediate information and support. Secondly, it encourages young people to visit The HUB in the future - to discuss issues in a safe and comfortable environment.
Case Study – Engaging with young people on outreach As a result of regular contact with a teenager at outreach sessions, the team knew that he had a complex family life and might easily fall into possibly inappropriate friendship groups. After realising his obvious passion for performing, The HUB team supported him in joining Guernsey Youth Theatre: an evening performing arts class which he now attends on a weekly basis. Not only has this increased his drive and passion for performing, it has also widened his friendship group and engaged him in a positive activity on a Friday night (when he was at risk of presenting dangerous behaviour.) With the generous support of local theatre company SWAT, the young person was offered a sponsored place on their summer workshop which The HUB team supported him in attending.
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The HUB and Guernsey schools
Since the service opened, The HUB team has had a presence in all of the nine secondary schools in Guernsey. This has comprised of a range of initiatives, including:
School assemblies to Years 7-11 to promote the services of The HUB; School Outreach sessions offering emotional support and advice: these take place each Tuesday lunchtime at La Mare de Carteret High School and each Thursday lunchtime at Les Voies School (formerly The Link Centre); Specific PSHE lessons (at the request of individual schools) on topics such as self-harming; Specific one-to-one visits (requested by teachers) to discuss with pupils issues such as support with weight management or anxiety; Attending parents’ evenings to inform them of The HUB’s services; Peer Mentoring training for La Mare de Carteret High School, Les Beaucamps High School and Blanchelande College. In addition The HUB staff have recently undergone training from UK Youth to run an Edexcel BTEC Level 2 Award in Peer Mentoring (6 credits) and an Edexcel BTEC Level 2 Certificate in Peer Mentoring (13 credits) This is the equivalent to GCSE grade A*- C. A pilot project for this course commenced for 10 pupils at Les Beaucamps High School in September 2013; STAART (Start Thinking About Alcohol Risks Today) sessions speaking to Year 7 pupils about alcohol; ‘Safety Calling’ participation: organised by the Islands Child Accident Prevention Committee, a member of The HUB team worked with Year 6 pupils regarding internet safety.
Feedback – the Head of Social Studies at Les Beaucamps High School commented on The HUB’s Peer Mentor training: “Last week I took 30 students, who are to act as Peer Mentors…to The HUB for training. The session was well prepared and brilliantly structured. All students expressed how much they enjoyed the course and felt they had learnt a lot. They now say that they are feeling confident in facing the challenges that being a Peer Mentor may bring. I cannot praise Charlie and Emma’s professional yet approachable manner enough and I could not let the chance pass to inform you of my high opinion of their work and the good impression created with the students themselves.” YPG would like The HUB team to be available in all of the island’s schools as a resource: it is important to offer young people choice about who they speak to, and as The HUB is an additional, confidential and independent resource the team is able to develop relationships over a period of time that teachers or school nurses may not have the opportunity to do. Furthermore, The HUB team would like to offer support for young people in their transition to secondary school and at important events such as GCSE results day. With our current limited resources, YPG is not yet in a position to make this universal offer.
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Meeting the Needs of Specific Vulnerable Groups
Following the work of Barnardo’s in the UK to identify and meet the needs of the most vulnerable children in our communities, The HUB team is also working to identify children in need and design the service delivery to meet those needs. Group work has already commenced with Young Carers (children who have an inappropriate caring role in their family due to parental ill health) and with children of prisoners via the Guernsey Prison Family Support Group. Planned work for the coming year will also be focusing on the needs of children in care in Guernsey via developing work with the island children’s residential unit.
Case Study – Work in Guernsey Prison with Children of Offenders The HUB team is working with the Guernsey Prison staff in several different ways to support the children of offenders: both in attending Family Fun Days and in providing support to children during release periods. The HUB team is publishing a support pack for children of offenders: created jointly with the prison, this will be given to each child of an offender at the start of a custodial sentence.
Influencing Both YPG and Barnardo’s sincerely believe that an effective multi-agency approach is required to provide an effective support network for vulnerable young people. Communication, education, sharing of best practice and integrating with island wide strategies allows early intervention and effective support to be very powerful tools. As part of this ethos, The HUB team has a presence on the following groups: Guernsey Drug and Alcohol Strategy; Islands e-Safety Committee (subcommittee of the Island’s Child Protection Committee); Guernsey Prison Family Support Committee; Guernsey Domestic Abuse Strategy and Guernsey Youth Partnership Outreach Group
Case Study - e-safety Committee As a result of raising awareness of a number of social networking sites that are exploitative of young people, to the Island Child Protection Committee, a member of The HUB team was invited to join the ICPC E-safety sub-group. This has been of mutual benefit to both the service at The HUB and the island’s responsibility and desire to support young people online. It is hoped that The HUB can become the specialist centre for issues and support around e-safety: an issue which has a significant influence on young people.
“It is absolutely right that we do more to better educate young people about the potential risks they face online. Sexually exploited children as young as seven tell us of the role that online and social media interactions played in their grooming process. All too often children are completely unaware that what they do in cyberspace can leave them open to exploitation or abuse.” - Barnardo’s UK Director of Strategy, Puja Darbari
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Looking Ahead 2013/2014 The HUB has had a very successful first year – but is still a very new service on the island. The HUB team is keen to concentrate resources in targeting the core aim to provide universal information, advice and support service for 11-16 year olds. This will be achieved through:
Continuing to publicise our service to all young people; Increasing the number of young people accessing the HUB for information, advice and support; Providing a themed approach to outreach work by focusing on key issues on a monthly basis; Developing structured provision for target groups which will include work with young carers and children of offenders; Targeting information to young people vulnerable to issues such as self-harm; Increasing the volunteer base by recruiting and training volunteers with specific skills; Establishing a mentoring scheme with volunteers supporting young people on a one-to-one basis.
These are the aims of the operational part of the service. As commissioners, YPG will continue to fundraise and work to ensure the sustainability of The HUB’s service: the harsh reality is that our running costs for the service are £120,000 pa and we are sincerely grateful to all of those organisations and individuals who have provided support for YPG and The HUB in so many different ways during the past year. We are also extremely grateful to The HUB professional staff and volunteers for their dedication and compassion; and to all of the other Guernsey agencies that work with young people and who have been so generous in helping the new service become established and in referring young people to the service. In addition to fundraising, we shall also continue to work with Barnardo’s to shine a spotlight on both the needs, and the provision, for children and young people in Guernsey; pursuing the aim of integrated, effective support. As you can see, this invaluable service is making a real difference to the lives of so many young people in the island who need our support and help, which we would not be able to provide without generous donations and financial support. Should you want to know more about The HUB, or supporting YPG, please contact YPG at janestpier@ypg.gg
Facebook:@Youngpeopleguernsey Twitter: @YPGcharitynews Website: www.ypg.gg Young People Guernsey LBG is a company (number 54751) and registered charity (number CH370)
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