Growing demand for Youth Commission services

Wednesday 15 May 2019

The impact report for Youth Commission activity has proven there is a "growing demand" for the service.

More than 6,000 young people accessed the Youth Commission in the Bailiwick last year.

The Youth Commission provides youth clubs and outreach services as well as in school PSHE sessions on tough topics like domestic violence and LGBTQ identity. In 2017 The Hub youth club and The Youth Commission merged to jointly provide those services and more. 

Some of the highlights of this year's report, included below, are a 138% increase in Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards among young people, the creation of a Young Women's group and a trip to Alderney to speak with students there. 

Acting Youth Commission CEO Jane St Pier has said the statistics show a "growing demand" for the service within the island.

“The continued growing demand for our services in 2018 is evidence of the vital need of the services that we provide.  I should like to pay tribute to those children and young people that access our activities and seek our support, as well as the dedication of our staff who provide a gold standard of service to every young person they engage with.

"The ongoing support of both the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture and our other funders mean that we can collectively have a very positive impact on the outcomes of the amazing young people in our community,” she said.

Charlie Cox, Services Manager (pictured above)  said:

“Our services have continued to grow organically to support the individual needs of children and young people in the Bailiwick.  The Youth Commission is passionate about children and young people being ambitious to reach their full potential and have designed our services to help support them on their journey.”

 Alun Williams, Commissioner of the Youth Commission commented:

"This annual report demonstrates that, over the past twelve months, it has retained and enhanced its focus on addressing the needs of young people and their families across the Bailiwick. The Youth Commission has developed its role in recent years so that it is now a key contributor to the Children and Young People’s plan and plays a significant role in the delivery of all priorities.”

• Overall:

6,807 children and young people accessed the provision (equating to 54% of the number of under 19’s in Guernsey)

 

3,343 sessions were delivered by our team (equating to 9 sessions per day)

 

• Support:

2,138 one-to-one sessions were provided for emotional health and wellbeing support

 

We provided our first therapeutic residential for young people who had suffered a bereavement.

 

We launched a ‘Young Women’s Group’ to support young people aged 16-25 with additional needs to allow them to develop their self-esteem and confidence.

 

• DofE

31 young people achieved their Gold DofE Award which was a tremendous 138% increase from the previous year.

 

• PSHCE Lessons

We delivered 177 PSHCE lessons across all of the schools in the Bailiwick on subjects including domestic abuse, LGBT+ issues and controlling emotions.  During the year we also arranged a 3-day trip to Alderney so that the pupils and parents at St Annes received all of the PSHCE lessons that Guernsey schools receive.

 

• Community

After consulting with young people we launched new Project Nights for young people – Get Creative, Get Active and Get Skilled and Get Away – a residential week in the UK – focussed on cultural activities for young people.

 

• Voice

• Elected a new Youth Forum
• Launched Advocacy for children and young people going through child protection proceedings
• Attended a Children’s Rights Conference in Scotland with young people sponsored by the British and Irish Council and Young Scot

Pictured above: Young people on Child Sexual Exploitation Day held by the Guernsey Youth Commission.