Hayle Youth Project (HYP) is a small youth project based in West Cornwall, working to help disadvantaged young people in the area through various services including mentoring, breakfast club and open youth sessions. We work with those young people most at risk of social exclusion and facing multiple barriers. The majority of our service users are aged between12 and 15 come from single parent families, have limited income, access to transport and are often involved in substance misuse, anti-social behavior, experiencing mental health problems and struggling to engage fully with school, family and community life.
Over the 18 months we have seen a 42% increase in referrals relating to moderate and severe mental health issues. SUICIDE, SELF HARM, HOPELESSNESS, DEPRESSION, EARLY CHILDHOOD TRAUMA and PTSD are increasingly becoming areas that our youth workers are expected to explore and support with.
With the pandemic hitting this year many young people became isolated and their mental health and well-being has suffered as a result. Their eduication has suffered and so for some of them their thoughts about the future have become very uncertain. These young people need some positive input into their lives to build better futures for themselves as individuals.
Our new Emotional Resilience Group programme is designed for small groups of young people who have an identified problem in this area. The course structure reflects the three aspects of resilience: RECOVERY (from the trauma that has triggered participation on the course), ADAPTATION (to survive and thrive despite negative life events) and TRANSFORMATION (empowering an individual to proactively address their social and physical environment to grow emotional resilience).
Through this programme we aim to;
Increase self-confidence and self-esteem
Improved personal and social skills
Improved health and well-being
Increased resilience
Activities will include group work and conversation built around specific activities including forest school, surfing and yoga as well as focussed discussions. Specific topics include male mental health, healthy lifestyles (sleep, activity, healthy eating), mapping relationships, being kind to yourself (rewards, breaks, conflict resolution), building your own support network (friends, family, school, peers) and personal identity.