38
MIDSOMER NORTON LIFE
MIDSOMER NORTON YOUTH HUB
M
idsomer Norton Town Council and the MSN Community Trust have funded a new and exciting range of Youth Opportunities in the town. Youth Worker Harry Parsons has designed four sessions across the week to meet the needs of different young people from Midsomer Norton. Monday evenings between 6:30 – 8:30pm is a detached session (on foot), covering hotspot areas identified from previous youth work, by the police and the Town Council. Key areas for this work will be the High Street, West Clewes Recreation ground and the area near Sliver Street Nature Reserve. Harry will be offering support to young people that he meets and encouraging
Norton Youth Space Tuesday 6:30 - 8:30 @ the old container / MSN skate park
For more information you can email harry.parsons@ycsw.org.uk or call 07971 011225
them to be more involved with and respectful to their community. This includes offering guidance around employability and training, as well as informal education and discussions on issues such as sexual health and substance misuse. Young people have been enjoying Harry and his team seeing them out and about and stopping to talk. One young person said, “It’s really nice to know that there’s support in town if I need it.” Tuesday evenings between 6:30-8:30pm is based at the container at the skate park for a youth café session that includes cooking and participating in a range of tabletop activities. YCSW will be engaging with young people aged 13 – 19 to develop the container and increase its use. The session will offer young people improved access to support for physical wellbeing, mental wellbeing, sexual health and relationship issues, improved access to employability and training support and access to positive activities. They will provide an opportunity to build positive relationships with trusted adults, have more access to relevant support services, and educate and discourage young people from involvement with serious violence, criminal activity, and substance misuse. Young people have said that they are very excited about making the container into a Youth Space, with many sharing the feeling that: “It will be nice to have a space to make our own – somewhere to feel safe and relax”. The aims of both Monday and Tuesday’s sessions are to reduce anti-social behaviour and criminal damage incidents related to young people in the High Street, skate park and Town Park, by engaging young people more with their community and increasing their feelings of community ownership. Further to this, Thursday evenings between 4:30 – 6:00pm at the Town hall is the ‘MSN Adventurer's Guild’. This club has been set up as a safe space for 11 – 19-year-olds with a passion for board
