Once a group of young people agree to enrol themselves onto the programme, they can expect to participate and benefit from a wide range of activities. The programme is varied and developmental and aims to alter attitudes, develop resilience and empower the young people both on an individual as well as a group level:
Outreach
Outreach sessions are 1-2 hour sessions of direct contact with young people in their own settings. Through these, we maintain contact with local young people, meet them in their own settings, build relation and identify needs, issues and opportunities. It is during outreach also, that we identify potential conflicts and gang fights. The peer workers are also trained in outreach methods and procedures so they also participate in once a week outreach sessions. Through these sessions, many barriers are slowly broken down. The peer workers consciously approach young people that they would hardly come into contact with, meet them, introduce themselves to them and build a channel of communication with them. This greatly supports community cohesion efforts.
Workshops
Workshops are essentially group work sessions that vary in their content and nature. Some of the sessions we organise include:
• Gang Culture
• Youth Gangs
• Gun and Knife Crime
• Actions and Consequences
• Status and Power
• Enemies and Revenge
• Interview Skills
• Group Ethics: Constructive and Destructive factors in teamwork
• Good practices in conducting a meeting
• Outreach methods and practices
Training
Providing accredited and structured training was a must in order to develop the skills and abilities of the peer workers. We drew up the training plan through consultation with the peer workers and other young people based on their needs and the roles that they were going to play in the project. Here is a list of the courses that was successfully organised:
• How to Be a Peer Worker
• Conflict Resolution
• Drug Awareness, Level 1
• Risk Assessment
• Health & Safety
• One to One
• First Aid
• Monitoring and Inspection
• Child Protection
Sports
Sport is a fantastic way of engaging young people. We offer young people the opportunity of getting involved in football through our outreach sessions. Once a week football training is organised at a local venue. A qualified staff member leads the sessions with a plan to develop a regular football team capable of winning competitions!
Part of our programme also involves the team organising and delivering football tournaments. One of these is the famous Community Cup. The Community Cup is one of the largest events that Aasha supported in organising. Bringing together young people from a range of backgrounds and from areas as far as Peterborough or Sunderland, coupled with the competitive nature of football, the event also posed high risks. The Aasha team is always prepared though with two years experience in previous community cup stewarding.
Excursions
Excursion are always exciting and attractive, especially for local young people who often don’t have opportunities to go and enjoy themselves in a safe and secure environment. The excursions that the project organises always meet three conditions:
1. Fun!
2. Exciting and challenging
3. Educational
Excursions help us also to maintain the interest of the peer workers and give them something to look forward to every month. During the beginning phases of the project (forming and storming stages) the Aasha staff take a lead in organising all activities. However, as the group norms better and starts performing, more and more of the design and preparation is carried out by the peer workers. This gives them a huge learning opportunity as they were able to put into practice what they learnt through the training courses and what they learnt by observation through staff practices. Also, before the excursion began, aims were drawn up of why we were going away on this particular experience. After the excursion ended, there was always a debriefing session to reflect on how the day went and any learning’s that can be transferred back to ‘normal’ life. Therefore, the excursions played a role that is more than simply ‘diverting’ youth from crime and ASB
Some of the excursions we have organised last year:
• Bowling
• Go Karting
• Quad Biking
• Shaolin Monks Exhibition
• Paintball
• Archery
• Dune Buggy
• Horse Riding
