WESTBURY Youth Club is expanding its services, thanks to a grant from the Wiltshire Community Foundation.
The grant has funded weekly one-to-one sessions to support young people and their families over the next year, run by the senior youth lead of Westbury and Warminster Youth Club Beth Mullins.
Beth said, “We will offer the young person six weekly sessions of one hour, which can be extended if needed. The aim of the sessions will be to help them deal with the issues that they are facing and refer them on to other services if needed. We are currently waiting on Matravers School to confirm if this is something we can deliver in school. If not, then sessions will run from Westbury Community Project every Wednesday during term time before the main youth club session, with families being able to offer the service Monday to Friday 9.30am to 2.30pm.
“As a team, we analysed what support there is already for young people and where the gaps were. Currently there is a lack of personalised tailored one-to-one support for young people and their families.
“Every family goes through what a young person is going through and there is a need to offer both the family and young person one-to-one support.
“With this in mind, and with an amazing team behind the club who have raised funds and sourced funding to secure the club for our financial year, we looked to find funding to offer this more in depth support as there is only so much we can do during our existing 90-minute sessions.
“We are delighted to say that Wiltshire Community Foundation has awarded us a grant so that we can run weekly one-to-one support sessions for the young people and their families for a full 12 months. We will identify those that we believe could benefit from the service and contact them directly through the club.”
Beth says that this service is needed because more youth club members need more emotional support.
She explained, “The club ran where possible throughout lockdown and we have seen first-hand the effects of government cuts and the impact that lockdown has had on the young people we work with.
“At any one time, we work with around 50 young people aged 11 to 16 with around 30 attending every session. Since lockdown, we have seen how the service we offer has changed due to the lack of other services or those that are available are overstretched.
“When the youth club started, the aim was to provide a safe place for young people to go and hang out. In the space of a couple of months, it was apparent that the club had more potential and it evolved into a safe space with the added dynamic of running weekly activities.
“Now, within the setting, the team each week also delivers mental and emotional support, helping to deal with school pressures, self-harm, school attendee issues, special educational needs (SEN) and learning disabilities, changes at home, bullying or just general mental health and wellbeing support.
“The Westbury Community Project has been amazing and we now have use of the centre’s office during a session to allow us to speak with the young people in private which gives them a space where they feel safe and confident to speak with us.
“Wiltshire Council have just awarded a contract to Spurgons who we will be working closely with to extend their service from April from 0 to five-year-olds to 0-19 and up to 25 with SEN offering family support.
“Youth club members will get priority for the service so if you are a youth club member or member’s family and feel that you would benefit from the service please contact us. If you aren’t a youth club member and think the help would benefit you and your family please email westburyyouthclub@gmail.com to join the waiting list.
“The service will offer the young people of Westbury open access to a support service where a referral isn’t needed increasing the provision and support available to young people and their families.”
