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POWERED UP - AN INSIGHT BY THE IN GROUP

Mind your language

“Outside LIFEbeat, it’s about getting alongside, being interested, listening, even just being in company. Teenagers have a veneer of ‘don’t come near me,’ but I’ve learnt from personal experience that that’s not how they feel on the inside. We do it through shared experience, getting alongside and combining that with a chat in a room to find out how they’re doing. They need that trust and rapport. The power of the group can work as it builds peer empathy as well as one-to-one empathy. Focus on relationships and communities young people can trust and relate to, because then they hopefully feel less lost and unhappy. It’s crucial just being caring and being curious, working on their terms.”

do something in theatre improv that shows something’s going on. They’re put into small ‘family’ groups, and we work with therapeutic practices called check-ins, where we ask them to give us three feeling words. We just let them take their time. Every staff member’s primary purpose is to be a mentor. It’s not about asking intrusive questions which make them feel unsafe but building a therapeutic alliance through being interested. If they have issues like bullying at school or they’re struggling with mental health, we will do something about that, referring them to CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) or addressing it with their school.”

the agency, tools and inspiration to be the change in small ways. We need to listen to what they truly feel behind the narratives of anxiety, depression and burden. It needs to be positive. If we use the words ‘mental health,’ the focus needs to be ‘health’ and how we work towards that. It doesn’t duck the difficult stuff, but it’s about hope and what we’re going to do.”

Does social media make it harder than ever to be a young person? “One of the biggest burdens on young people right now is the constant narrative about problems rather than solutions – and they’re the ones with the energy to find them. It’s an adult rather than children’s issue, which is projected onto them. It’s very difficult for young people, but I always see things through the lens of hope; I don’t think staying in the problem is helping them.” Perhaps the solution is to reframe how we talk about life’s challenges. “Don’t call it climate anxiety, for example – give them

Tune in and help out

If we see a young person who’s struggling in some way, how do we approach them and provide support? Subtly, Lucy says. “In our programmes, they’re given the chance to communicate. For example, they might

CREDIT - PEXELS