The Children and Young People’s Team have had another successful summer, jam-packed with the delivery of intensive group programmes. As you may have read in our June newsletter, children and young people attending an intensive programme work through all of the same programme content as our term-time groups, just condensed into two-three days rather than weekly sessions.
We have delivered Helping Hands (age 7-12) groups across Hereford, Worcester and Kidderminster, as well as a CRUSH group (age 13-19) in Kidderminster. Through these groups, we have reached a total of seventeen children and young people, many of whom may have faced barriers to accessing group-programmes during term-time for a variety of reasons.
Initially, it can be quite daunting for a child or young person to walk into a room of strange faces – staff and peers. It’s wonderful to observe how over time they grow in confidence, building connections and friendships along the way.
Children and young people attending have commented on how much they have learnt through attending the sessions, how useful it has been for them to discuss topics that they may not wish to talk to their parents about, and how they didn’t want sessions to come to an end.
Parents and carers of children and young people attending have shared how beneficial this work has been and how reassuring they have found it when their child has come home talking about all of the things that they’ve learnt, and the fun they’ve had. Many parents have since enquired about other follow-on programmes and services we are able to offer. We take this as a great compliment, as it’s always positive and reassuring to know that they trust us with their children and value the work that we do.
One child was collected by their Social Worker, who kindly took the time to express what an amazing and valuable service we provide for children and young people.
We’re so pleased to have been able to deliver so many sessions this summer, and now we look forward to meeting many more children and young people across Herefordshire and Worcestershire, in our Autumn-term groups!
Find out more about our support for Children and Young People.