The Give and Take Scheme – Include Youth [NI]
Age Group: 16 to 21 year olds
Specific Interest Group: Children and Young People deemed vulnerable
How are Children and Young People Involved?
Following the initial information session young people are invited to work through our Induction/Assessment Programme, which lasts on average 6 -7 weeks. He/she is then placed in a work experience setting in the local community for up to one year, to learn skills and have basic training needs attended to. From this we aim to help integrate the young person into mainstream opportunities such as government training schemes or education or employment. The project has operated successfully in the Greater Belfast area since 1989 and current users have come to see it as a valuable resource. It has also been established within both the Northern and Southern Boards since 1997, and since 2003 the scheme has been operating in the Western Board area. We are also developing a discreet project within the scheme that will include working with young people who display sexually harmful behaviours.
While on the scheme, the training needs of the young person are also addressed through career workshops and one to one work and appropriate part-time courses are identified. For some people basic literacy and numeracy training are required, for others, courses at a local technical college are an appropriate starting point.
In addition to establishing and maintaining the network of work placements we also run a social education/personal development programme which explores the wider issues impinging on vulnerable young people’s lives. This programmed involves a variety of activities. We have a daily drop-in where young people are encouraged to attend to enjoy social activities. We run workshops each week on a variety of themes and we also offer regular day trips and residential weekends. Through these activities we look at personal development issues on a number of levels including career and educational development (job search skills, literacy and numeracy skills), accommodation and budgeting issues, assertiveness training, drug and alcohol use, relationships, sexual health, sexuality, independent living skills, identity etc. As well as supporting and challenging young people, the social/cultural programmed provides the opportunity for positive social contact in a non-threatening environment.
By providing psychological and social supports for young people as they learn, the scheme acts as a positive experience for such young people who characteristically have been treated as “no hopers� by one institution after another. The experience of success can be transferred from one situation to another as the person starts to believe in his/her own capabilities.
About Give and Take
The Give & Take Scheme provides support to vulnerable young people (aged 16 - 21) who for various reasons are unable to access mainstream training and employment opportunities.
Aims: The aims of the scheme are to improve the long-term employability of vulnerable young people by giving them appropriate access to work experience and training and to improve their self-esteem and confidence so that they can learn to live independently in the community.
All young people who come to ‘Give & Take’ are referred by their social worker, probation officer or youth justice worker. ‘Give & Take’ works in an inter-disciplinary style; staff coming from both social work and youth work backgrounds. The project’s head office is in Belfast but we also have offices in the Northern, Southern and Western Health Board areas. We work in partnership with all agencies involved in supporting such young people.
A large proportion of the young people on the scheme now come from rural areas and this brings with it additional challenges given the poor public transport available, the limited nature of employment opportunities and the widespread geographical location of the young people. However we remain committed to providing all young people with the same level of quality service regardless of where they come from.
Contacts:
Paddy Mooney
Project Manager
Alpha House
3 Rosemary Street
Belfast
BT1 1QA
Email: Paddy@Includeyouth.org
John McComb (Deputy Project Manager)
Alpha House
3 Rosemary Street
Belfast
BT1 1QA
Pamela Sweeney (Project Worker NHSSB)
17-18 Tower Centre
Lower Mill Street
Tallymen
BT43 6AB
Stacey Nugent(Project Worker SHSSB)
23A College Street
Armagh
BT61 9BT
Lyndsay Truesdale (Project Worker EHSSB)
Alpha House
3 Rosemary Street
BELFAST
BT1 1QA
Sheila Stalker (Project Worker WHSSB)
Strand Foyer
79 Strand Foyer
Derry
BT48 7BW
