A recent study by Stonewall found that sixty five per cent of lesbian and gay pupils have been victims of homophobic bullying in schools. Other research (e.g. the Priory group study 'Adolescent Angst') suggests that Lesbian and Gay young people are more likely to attempt suicide than their peers.
Our service, which is a children's charity based at Birkenhead Fire Station, offers individual counselling for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual young people aged 13-18. Our service is provided by staff who are qualified as counsellors and social workers.
For the past two years we have offered a support group called 'Inside/Out'. The young people from that group have now combined with young people from Wirral Youth Theatre to form a theatre company called 'Wonder Y'. The theatre company is making a DVD about 'Coming Out' which we hope to eventually show in schools and youth clubs as a means of tackling homophobia.
The aims of the Triangle programme are
1) To provide an alternative to psychiatry-based services and therefore address young people's reluctance to use main stream support
2) To provide group work and counselling services that will form a package of care
3) To provide a service that links young people's self harm, their substance misuse and their sexual risk-taking (the 'triangle' of co-presenting factors for many vulnerable young people)
From our combined experience of over thirty years of working with young people we are aware that some high-risk young people face personal and social barriers in accessing educational and recreational opportunities. We believe that referring these young people to activity-based programmes is in some senses 'setting them up to fail'. Standard approaches to effecting change in young peoples' behaviour are based on assumptions that there are 'pre-contemplation' and 'contemplation' stages in the process, but many young people do not have the cognitive or emotional skills that would enable them to understand the chaos of their lives or to contemplate changing. Our SOS personal development programme helps to equip them with the skills that they need to confidently access opportunities and address their sense of marginalisation from services.
SOS is a programme of individual direct intensive work, group work and follow-up outreach. All interventions are offered on a structured multi-agency basis in order to gain a 'collaborative advantage'. Our philosophy is that collaborative advantage provides a better outcome for young people.
The target group for SOS interventions are young people deemed to be 'children and young people with acute needs' within the Child Concern model. In terms of the structures proposed in the government's Youth Green Paper 'Youth Matters' we aim to provide 'Better support for those who have more serious problems'.
Central to the model is a 12-week group work programme that addresses a number of outcomes detailed in the Every Child Matters/Change for Children Outcomes Framework.
Research indicates that effective interventions with young people combine Risk-based approaches, Asset-focussed work and Process-focussed protocols, so we have designed a programme to incorporate these areas ('What Works in Building Resilience' Newman et al 2004).
We use established approaches from solution-focussed therapy and motivational interviewing to help marginalized and vulnerable young people achieve healthier and safer lifestyles. The framework for each session is based on a peer education model, so that young people are actively involved in improving their own lives and the lives of those around them.
We have developed a multi-factor risk assessment tool that young people complete themselves at regular intervals.
e-mail: services@safeguardchildrennw.org.uk
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