A successful bid for external monies through Quality of Life funds, made available by the Scottish Executive through Dumfries Area Committee, allowed YES to develop six support groups under a programme entitled Why Label Me? Each addressed a specific issue which reflected trends identified by staff, needs identified by young people or gaps in existing service provision.
Support groups met in sessions over 8-12 weeks. The programmes were developed in-house (eg. ‘Kool Headz’), or as joint initiatives (eg. ‘Standing Out,’ a sexuality awareness project) or adapted from external training packages (such as ‘Go Girlz!’). All were designed / delivered in partnership with the relevant agencies.
The groups aimed to help build young peoples’ confidence, raise their self-esteem and allow them to cope better with issues that were having a detrimental affect on their lives. Topics included:
- anger management (‘Enraged’)
- abuse (‘I’m a survivor’)
- literacy (‘on the Ball’ / ‘VvM - Visual Verbal Messaging’)
- mental health (‘Kool Headz’)
- sexuality (‘Standing Out’)
- gender-specific issues (‘Go Girlz! / Go Guyz!’)
In order to deliver the support group programme, it was essential to develop partnerships with specialists in the topics to be delivered. Partnerships were formed with CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service), LGBT Youth Scotland (as part of the Scottish Executive’s Have Your Say needs analysis project), Dumfries Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, Psychological Services, Save the Children, Community Learning, Health Improvement, NSF Scotland’s C u Thru Project , the Department of Family Planning and Sexual Health and individuals such as writer Liz Niven and performance poet Anita Govan. |
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