Thoughts from our new operations manager
Did you know what you wanted to do when you left school? Are you still doing what you did when you first left school? Over time, many of us discover and develop new gifts and abilities, as we adapt and adjust to a world of change. And often the work we do with young people is about helping them to discover who they are, and their unique gifts and skills, and to escape the labels and the pressures to conform to the world around them.
When I was young I never dreamed that I would get into youth work. Now I can't imagine working for long in any other type of work. When I applied for my new role with east to west, I was excited about working with an organisation that is passionate about bringing hope to young people, and I am enjoying working with a team who are committed to putting that into practice.
As I discover more about what is happening through the work, I quickly feel that I am becoming part of the team, and getting excited about the work we are involved in. It's work which grows and changes to meet the needs of the local community.
east to west is a Christian charity working with young people, who are vulnerable or 'at risk', through a variety of projects.
Support in schools
The work we do in schools is growing, as more young people are referred to our schools support workers. Through group work and mentoring, young people receive support to work through the many issues that can affect them. Like the young person recently supported in one school, dealing with the issues of family as breakdown and bereavement, who benefited from one-to-one support, helping her to face and deal with her feelings, and to start to learn how to deal with loss. As we all know, there is no quick fix, no easy solution, yet the ongoing support helps a young person to learn to cope with significant issues that any of us would struggle with.
Working with the Police
A new work started last autumn, when Dan became our Police Community Youth Pastor. This is an unusual role, working in partnership with Egham Police to provide support to young people in Egham Hythe, who are coming to the attention of the Police. One young person referred to Dan was on the edge of criminal involvement, connected to the gang culture, and needing support to develop a positive future. The flexibility of the role meant that Dan was able to spend time with him, supporting him with appointments with Connexions, and helping him to make positive choices. The young person is now enrolled on a college course starting this autumn, and has got back into boxing and running, which has helped him to give up smoking and drugs. Over the space of just a few months, the young person has turned from a future which was likely to involve more crime, to a future of hope.
Helping the homeless
We are also in the process of setting up a supported lodgings scheme, to provide young people with a safe place to live and grow, if they can no longer live in the family home. The plan is to provide safe lodgings in the homes of volunteer hosts, where the young person can rent a room, but also get support, both from the host and from east to west, to help them to prepare to live independently in the future. It is exciting and humbling to meet volunteer hosts who want to welcome a young person they don't know into their home, going against the trend in our society for being protective of what we have.
Volunteers
east to west is keen to see that we don't work in isolation of the local community, and seek to include the local church and community as much as we can. The purpose of what we do is not to build us up, and make communities dependent on us, but to build work which is sustainable, and which builds capability within the community. Our intention is to enable and empower local youth workers and churches to get involved in the work that is on their doorstep, as they partner with us. east to west is growing to meet the need, but if it was to cease tomorrow, we would want the work to be able to continue through those working with us.
I'm excited about the coming year, and all that we can be involved in and thank you for your warm welcome to this pioneering work.