Agenda item

Growing up in Reading

A report by Reading Voluntary Action’s Youth Social Action Team and the University of Reading Participation Lab.

Minutes:

Rachel Spencer, Chief Executive, Reading Voluntary Action (RVA), Sam Lloyd, Project Manager, Starting Point, and Carly Newman, Operations Manager at No5, gave a series of presentations on Growing up in Reading.  A copy of the RVA report on Growing Up in Reading and a copy of the No5 report on The Impact of Covid-19 had been included in the papers for the meeting.

Rachel Spencer told the Committee that the research for the report had taken place between November 2019 and February 2020, finishing just before the start of the first Covid-19 lockdown, and had been shaped and carried out by a Youth Social Action Team, supported by RVA and the University of Reading Participation Lab.  There had been 12 RVA Youth Leaders, 608 questionnaires had been completed, 13 schools and colleges had taken part and eight locations had been used for focus groups with 94 young people.  The age range of the young people had been between 11 and 18 and 41% of them had self-described as being from BAME heritage.  The key issues that had emerged from the research were as follows:

·         Being and feeling safe;

·         Mental Health and Wellbeing, especially tackling loneliness;

·         Creating a sense of community;

·         Widen the diversity of activities and opportunities available for young people.

Sam Lloyd began his presentation by explaining Starting Point’s approach and the three mentoring programmes they offered which aimed to create opportunities for young people who faced disadvantage and help them overcome any barriers.  There was also a young person led production company, Action Media, that made documentaries about young people.  During 2020 Starting Point had supported 125 young people, of which 58% had mental health struggles, 34.5% had learning difficulties/disabilities, 58% had low/no qualifications and 10% had a criminal record.  In the first 3 months of 2021 they had mentored 116 young people and had seen a 300% increase in referrals since before the first lockdown.  With regard to need, young people said that little had changed since lockdown as they had stayed at home doing nothing before and were doing the same in lockdown, They were also anxious about going out and talking to people and worried about knives and not being safe and some young people said that gaming was the only time they talked to people.  A lack of support for parents had been highlighted and there was no where for young people to go where they felt safe or where they could talk to peers, there was also a lack of belief and aspiration.  Looking at the solution, there were three key areas as follows:

·         Long-Term Relationship – Someone who would listen, won’t judge and believed in the young person;

·         Journeying, not just signposting;

·         Ownership and Empowerment to Shape Provision.

The Committee then heard from Ryan, a young person who was a mentor for Starting Point and who had been mentored by them in the past.  Ryan said that having just left university he was struggling to find direction in terms of his career, and found it useful to talk to someone each week to bounce ideas off.  This had help build his confidence and had helped him become a better mentor himself. 

In summing up, Sam told the Committee that there was a real simplicity to the solution in the continuity and consistency that a role model could provide and by using a diverse pool of volunteers the match could be tailored to the young person and journey alongside them to a more hopeful future.

The final presentation was given by Carly Newman, Operations and Relationships Manager at No5, who explained what No5 did and then outlined the feedback received from counsellors and young people from the three lockdowns.  [Richard – could delete paragraph below marked in green and go straight to the paragraph on next page about in September 2020…]

From the point of view of the counsellors, during the first lockdown there had been an escalation of ongoing symptoms as a result of the pandemic including, anxiety, OCD, loneliness, low mood and lack of motivation.  Covid-19 specific concerns included, family members becoming ill, exam uncertainty and returning to school after a period of reduced contact.  However, the counsellors had noticed a remarkable resilience and a sense of unity amongst the young people they were supporting.  The second lockdown had seen a surge in referrals to No5 that had begun in September 2020 as young people returned to school, a total of 214 from September to November 2020 compared to 85 in during the same period in the previous year, which represented a 152% increase.  During the third lockdown the consequences of long lockdown periods became evident.  From December 2020 to March 2021 there had been 198 referrals compared to 95 in the during the same period in the pervious year, which equated to a 198% increase and there were 460 young people who were currently waiting for support/to see a counsellor.  Looking to the future counsellors had said that it often took a while for the emotional impact of significant events to be recognised and an ongoing surge in need was anticipated. 

With regard to young people, in September 2020 the No5 Young Ambassadors had written and published ‘Impact of Covid-19: The Voice of Young People’ a report on themselves and their peers.  The four key areas they had felt were most impacted were: family, friends and socialising, education and careers and mental health.  Looking to the future the Young Ambassadors were asked what they thought the local community of young people would need going forward and their feedback had fallen into four main areas, as follows:

·         Reassurance – Blame, safety and struggling with mental health and wellbeing;

·         Tackling Isolation – Re-Integration and Re-Connection;

·         Safety;

·         Support for Mental Health

Finally, the presentation set out what this meant services should be like going forward and the features young people had asked for, which were, stability, continuity, relational, early intervention and prevention and confidentiality.

The Committee discussed the presentation and a number of points were made including the following:

·         Outside of the home, schools were the place where young people would be most likely to make contact with a trusted adult and there was a need to keep supporting schools to make sure this happened;

·         The issue of isolation illustrated clearly that young people, like everyone, missed contact with others during the lockdown periods, despite the many social media platforms that were available, and it would be difficult for young people to get back into ‘normal’ interactions with others;

·         In response to the young people saying they had nothing to do, it would be worth investigating what this meant, for example, if clubs were seen as exclusive or were too expensive for young people to join, then it created isolation;

·         Mental health and wellbeing were important and complex issues and were being considered nationally, but there were no quick answers or solutions;

·         The Council was currently consulting on the Health and Wellbeing Strategy and children’s and young people’s mental health and wellbeing was coming through as an issue people wanted the Council to focus on;

·         There was a need to look at what was available and what was not and then discuss what could be done to fill the gaps, both the Council and BFfC needed to look at the work that had been carried out by RVA and see what they could do;

·         If the Council and BFfC said they wanted to hear the voices of children and young people, then having listened they needed to be able to respond;

·         There was clearly a wider issue of safety and there was a need to continue the conversation about what safe felt like;

·         Children and young people that they should be involved in shaping services that were designed to support them;

·         Finally, it was suggested that a report be submitted to a future meeting, possibly in the autumn, on the work the Council and BFfC were doing with others to address the issues that had been raised.

Resolved –

(1)     That the reports and presentations be noted;

(2)     That Rachel Spencer, Sam Lloyd, Carly Newman and Ryan Acolatse be thanked for taking part in the meeting and for their presentations;

(3)     That a report be submitted to a future meeting, possibly in autumn 2021, on the work that the Council and BFfC were doing with others to address the issues that had been raised.

Supporting documents: