WhY?
Findings from North Yorkshire’s Your Life Beyond Care survey revealed that their young people felt more isolated and stressed and had higher anxiety than their peers in the general population.
What?
North Yorkshire wanted to find ways to help care leavers build confidence and skills. This included giving young people ways to manage their emotions more effectively, prepare them for life in the work place, reduce their sense of isolation and increase self-esteem to help them move forward more positively in life.
The Opportunity Broker (a North Yorkshire colleague tasked with helping young people to fulfill their aims and aspirations) set up Street Sessions – a 10 week course taking place in an accessible location in the City Centre.
Sessions included workshops focused on mindfulness, confidence building and preparing for work as well as cooking lessons and a walk and talk activity. The course culminated in a celebration meal.
Impact
Some of the immediate outcomes included one young person moving into paid work and five more finding education or training opportunities. 10 young people reported improving their cooking skills.
Some of the unexpected outcomes included five UASC young people who reported that the sessions helped them improve their English whilst the chance to interact with other care leavers helped the group to bond and understand each other’s interests better, including a shared love of football.
The Opportunity Broker took this information and partnered with a local football club, to offer five training sessions for the young people.
