FUNding well spent!

28/10/2010

Earlier this year we were awarded £11, 000 by Bristol City Council to provide Targeted Positive Activities for young people who would not normally be able to afford them. You're only young once and everyone needs some fun in their lives!

Earlier this year we were awarded £11, 000 by Bristol City Council to provide Targeted Positive Activities for young people who would not normally be able to afford them.

Some people might look at this and think - "surely they should be spending that money on more...sensible things!" The truth is "fun" and positive activities are a really important part of growing up, developing confidence, meeting new people and alleviating stress. Some of the young people we support have it pretty rough, being homeless can be lonely too so as far as we're concerned this in FUNding well spent!

Have a look at some of the activities we've been doing and some of the comments from the young people.

Camping in Wales

During the trip young people were involved in organising equipment, setting up tents and kitchen area, preparing and cooking food, washing up, chopping wood, building fires, creating activities and working as a team.

What they thought of camping...

“Good, amazing, a good chance to get into the outdoors, I would love to do it again”
“ a time away with Independent People was a blast and should be done again”

Why Camping?

After a consultation meeting with young people to discuss ideas about summer activities for the organisation, two delegated young people designed a questionnaire asking what activities our residents would like to partake in. Camping was very popular so we worked with the young people to plan a camping trip.
Staff also identified the need for an opportunity to take people outside the city in one to one support sessions with and within individual support plans.
The organisation also recognises that camping as an activity covers all the core principles of participation stated on our ‘Shared Values for Participation Standard’.

Go Ape

Quotes from the day...

“Oh My God, How High”
“That was amazing”
“Come on you can do it”
“Can we do this again”

Ten young people took up the opportunity to take some risks while having some fun at Go Ape, a tree top climbing centre.

They arrived early and stayed behind after to fill out work sheets around their goals and expectations

What did they get out of it?

Knowledge of H&S at height
Help and support of others
Self confidence/esteem
Social skills
Team building, working together

Canoeing - Bristol Activity Centre

What the young people said:

"More activities like this"
"Wanna do it again!"
"When’s the next activity?"
"Good to do something different"
"Keeps me off the streets"

What did young people get out of it?

Knowledge of H&S on the water
Canoeing skills and techniques
Self confidence/esteem
Social skills
Team building, working together
Identified some of their support needs through the worksheets

Joni, our Youth Involvement Worker said "They seemed to thoroughly enjoy the activity, they worked together really well, supported each other and were respectful to the instructor. They felt very positive at the end".
(that might have had something to do with the fact that they chucked her in)

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