BroSis
has
become established as a
unique local service which is well respected by other Youth agencies
with whom
it works in partnership and most importantly, is greatly valued by the
young
people it serves. BroSis is a key member of the local Children and
Young
Peoples’ Strategic Partnership (CYPSP). During the last year
BroSis has seen
many changes and it is still continuing to develop and respond to local
need
and changing situations.
In
the
Summer our Project Manager Christopher Hall left for a new job with the
Connexions
service, and he will be
missed by colleagues and young people alike. Kim Healy was recruited to
replace
him and, with a background working with young people in the
Metropolitan
Police, experience as a hockey coach and a recent BSc Hons in
Psychology, she
brought a fresh eye and dynamism to the Project. Unfortunately for us,
Kim was
“headhunted” by the statutory sector and left us in
January. Part of the
problem for the voluntary sector is that we don’t have a
development career
path compared to the statutory sector, and also because we have short
term
funding we find it harder to retain staff who need to have assured
career
progression. What we do have, however, is flexibility and
speed and luckily
Sandy Steward, who we had also interviewed in the Summer, was able to
step into
the breach on a short term contract. Sandy has extensive experience in
young people’s services and
education applications.
We are quietly confident that she will not only be a safe pair of hands
for
BroSis now but for the developing Project in the future. We thank Kim
Smith,
our Project Assistant, who has provided much needed continuity during
this time
of rapid change and uncertainty.
Helen
Hood our
part-time Trainer and
Supervisor for Volunteer Mentors continues to take groups of new
volunteers through
our own rigorous training course and also support and supervise
existing
volunteers. Our volunteers are mainly younger people undertaking
health; social
care and psychology degrees and seeking sound practical experience so
we expect
a natural turnover of volunteers which provides an energy and freshness
to the
Project. We have also retained some volunteers from a variety of
backgrounds
who have been with us since the Project started and we rely on this
group to
enhance the continuity of the Drop Ins and groups and they continue to
help us
provide the safe nurturing environment so needed by the young people.
We could
not continue to do this with our staff alone.
As
well as the
one-to-one mentoring
service, which has provided support for 161 young people since the
scheme
began, BroSis also provides a range of other services-
The
Drop In. (previously
known as the Sanctuary)
This after-school resource still continues to be popular, and in the
last year
187 individual young people have used the facilities. Many of the
service users
attend on a regular basis, but generally the numbers overall are
steadily
increasing. The young people appreciate that the facilities provide
them with
the opportunity to “chill out” after school. In
addition, they welcome the non-judgemental
friendship and support they receive, which provides them with the
opportunity
to talk through their problems irrespective of whether they are big or
small.
One of our on-going problems has been poor public
transport which
marginalised the youths from surrounding rural areas. To overcome this
issue,
in September 2006, BroSis set up a Drop-In twice a week as an outreach
service
at Right Tracks, Station House, Southminster, together with PCT Healthy
Living
Initiative. However, taxi journeys remain an essential item of our
expenditure
to ensure that our young people arrive home safely.
The
Girl’s Health and Beauty Club. This group now
alternates weekly between
the BroSis Centre, Heybridge and the Station House, Southminster. We
have
recently run a successful and varied ‘activity
week’ which enhanced the girls’
communication skills, and boosted confidence and self-esteem.
The
Transition
Groups continue to
work with Year 8
children in the Plume and St. Peters Schools.
The
Pyramid
Trust Groups now involve
four local Primary
schools. This scheme assists Year 6 children to make a smooth
transition into
secondary school education.
Our
major
problem is still
a
lack of long term statutory funding but there are currently fast moving
developments in Young People’s services and we trust that
BroSis will continue
to complement and enrich local provision and that the model of service
will
soon be accepted as a national model of good practice.
