Summary
Star Youth Club supports disabled young people aged 10-18 years, who live in East Lothian to access safe and stimulating social opportunities. The youth club prevents social isolation by offering regular opportunities for young people to meet up with their peers and explore their community.
What Star Youth Club did
Star Youth Club ran from North Berwick Community Centre on a Tuesday evening from 7-9pm, for 38 weeks during the East Lothian School term-time. The club supported 25 young people with disabilities, including those with severe and complex needs to participate in a fun and stimulating programme of leisure activities.
Twenty-five young people attended the club each week and were each club supported by a team of experienced youth leaders, youth workers and youth volunteers. The members set their own programme of activities and outings. The focus was on providing age appropriate social experiences to allow members to develop their social skills and try new and challenging activities. They were supported both physically and socially by the volunteers to increase participation and inclusion.
Transport was provided to ensure equity of access to the club and to provide families with some much needed and appreciated planned respite on a weekly basis. All the club’s activities took place within the local community, promoting greater links with mainstream activity providers, whilst raising recognition of the challenges faced by disabled young people within local amenities. By visiting local pools, parks, cinemas and centres with support, young people began to feel more comfortable and included in their communities.
Our team of youth volunteers are our biggest asset. We had fifteen young people volunteer with us on regular basis, ensuring the club had a fun youthful atmosphere. Our members received the care and support they require whilst relishing in the friendships they develop, having shared hobbies and interests. Parents and carers have peace of mind that their young people are enjoying fun and age appropriate activities, whilst being confident their care needs are being met by the experienced youth leader and workers.
Parents have reported how amazing it is for their young people to have connections in their home towns, and how much their self-worth is boosted by volunteers speaking to them in the street or at local events. This in turn improved the wellbeing of families, promoting inclusion and local connections.
What East Lothian Special Needs Playscheme has learned
Project planning and budgeting
Dealing with unexpected challenges
Developing a volunteer pathway
How East Lothian Special Needs Playscheme has benefitted from the funding
Thanks to the funding from Better Breaks fund we have been able to build on our skills, knowledge and capacity as a charity and upskill a new cohort of volunteers to help us deliver our charitable aims of reducing social isolation in East Lothian. We have been able to expand our services to run a second weekly youth club provision within the last six months. We are delighted to have secured additional funding to continue the expansion and development of the club to meet the high demand of young people requesting a service.
Project Outcomes
Outcome
We will be running our club at full capacity each week, with good evidence of children enjoying the activities offered, trying out new things and building and sustaining friendships.
Results
We are delighted to have achieved this outcome. The Club ran for 38 weeks as planned and had attendance of between 95-100% each week. Members participated in a wide variety of activities and outings, and enjoyed the range of activities on offer. Over the 38 weeks the club ran, staff and parents reported positive changes in individuals confidence, ability to interact with other members and the level in which they engaged with activities. The peer support offered by our volunteers proved intrinsic in encouraging members to step out of their comfort zone and try new things.
Case study
We support a 12 year old girl, who has severe and complex disabilities which results in a lot of time spent in hospital. Due to long spells in hospital and the complexities of her care needs the young girl didn't have many opportunities to socialise with friends or spend time away from her parents. Her health needs often took priority leaving little time for fun. Since joining Star Youth Club the young girl has regular positive interactions with her per group. She has attended Christmas & Halloween parties, taken part in sport competitions and baking activities and negotiated a later bedtime to enable her to access the club to it's fullest! The club has opened up new opportunities for the young girl to enjoy local activities such as trampolining, and visiting the cinema, which have now become regular activities she enjoys with her family as they are confident she can safety participate in them. We have been able to support the young girl to participate in swimming sessions, which is important for her physiotherapy, but an area her family struggled with due to the moving & handling needs and high level of staff required. Being part of the project has given the young girl some independence and helped her to build up some peer support outwith her immediate family.
Outcome
Carers will find more time for themselves, being able to set aside time to meet friends, catch up with family, do the weekly shop or spend time with siblings.
Results
We are delighted to have delivered on this outcome. Star Youth Club ran for 38 weeks offering families a regular break, which was pre-planned and consistent. Transport was provided for all members attending ensuring that parents and carers were given a proper break where they weren't responsible for transportation, worrying about safe walking routes, dark evenings or changes in weather. Carers benefited from 4 hours each week where they could spend time outwith their caring role, whilst confident their child was having fun, enjoying age appropriate activities and spending time with their peers.
Case study
Quote from parental questionnaire; "Our son struggles in the evenings and longs for some routine. He needs constant one to one support to keep him amused when at home which is difficult as he has younger siblings. Star Youth Club gives him the opportunity to discover new things while feeling like he has the independence that he craves as he is not being constantly followed round by one of his parents. When our son is happy, the whole family is happy and the quality of life at-home improves dramatically. As our son self harms a lot at home, he is constantly supervised so when he is at Star Youth Club, it allows me to spend more quality time with his siblings and do what they want to do instead of having their evenings dictated to them by what our son wants to do and whether or not he wants to leave the house or not."
Outcome
Carers will have time to recharge their batteries, due to planned regular respite, ensuring they have energy reserved to sustain their caring role.
Results
We are delighted to have delivered on this outcome. Star Youth Club ran for 38 weeks offering families a regular break, which was pre-planned and consistent. Transport was provided for all members attending ensuring that parents and carers were given a proper break where they weren't responsible for transportation, worrying about safe walking routes, dark evenings or changes in weather. Carers benefited from 4 hours each week where they could spend time outwith their caring role, whilst confident their child was having fun, enjoying age appropriate activities and spending time with their peers.
Case study
Quote from parental questionnaire;
" By attending Star Youth Club we feel that our son had fun activities to do for himself as an individual which meant that we could enjoy some relaxed / respite time knowing he was having lots of fun, interacting with others, learning new skills and not just being babysat. On 'bad/hard' days when we were exhausted knowing our son was going to Youth Club meant that we knew a break was in sight, it made things a lot easier."