Children North East/YouthLink

Youth Link

Children North East has set up an alternative model of working with young people in three areas of the region, Sedgefield District in Co Durham, Blyth in South East Northumberland and Tynedale in West Northumberland. Youth Link recruits, trains and maintains a pool of young volunteers aged 16-25 (Sedgefield) and 18-25 (Blyth & Tynedale). The young volunteers then provide one to one peer mentoring support for younger young people aged 12-18.

What is Youth Link?

Youth Link aims to improve the lives and well being of young people. Young people are matched with a trained volunteer, who will help and encourage them to explore any difficulties and identify solutions to their problems. Youth Link supports young people through difficult times, helping them to move forward and take up new opportunities.

Youth Link values are:

Acceptance without judgement
Recognition that every young person is a unique individual
Respect for independence and choice
Empowerment, raising aspirations and sharing experience

The project's outcomes compliment, support and are built around the Every Child Matters outcomes (2003). Youth Link focuses on supporting individual young people and in turn their families. The service aims to address young people's low level issues before they become a crisis. Youth Link also refers to the Youth Matters (2005) green paper as it provides young people with:

more things to do and places to go in their local area
enables them to have more choices and influence over what is available
more opportunities to volunteer and to make a contribution to their local community
better information, advice and guidance about issues that matter to them, delivered in the way they want to receive it
better support when they need extra help to deal with problems

Youth Link also related to the Aiming High for Young People paper (2007) in that it focuses on the three main Aiming High principles: Empowerment; Access and Inclusion. Youth Link focuses on the development of social and emotional skills through participation in positive activities.

Who are Youth Link Volunteers?

Youth Link volunteers are aged 16-25 in Sedgefield and 18-25 in Blyth and Tynedale. They are recruited from a range of different backgrounds and bring a variety of different skills, knowledge and experience. Youth Link volunteers have an understanding of the many issues young people face in today's society, they also gain valuable life experiences which may assist them in achieving their own personal goals.

All volunteers are subject to an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check and are required to complete a training programme before they start. The training is accredited locally at level 2 through the Open College Network. Volunteers receive ongoing support, training and supervision from their Youth Link Co-ordinator.

How does Youth Link work?

A young person will meet up with a Youth Link Co-ordinator to identify their main concerns. The Youth Link Co-ordinator will then try to find a suitable volunteer to support the young person. The young person and the volunteer will then arrange to meet up on a regular basis at a safe venue.

The kinds of things a Youth Link volunteer will be able to do to support another young person might include:

Listening in a non-judgemental way and talking through problems
Encouraging the development of confidence and self esteem
Supporting a young person to get involved in their community e.g. by attending local groups and activities
Encouraging young people to identify and access specialist support services

For further details about the Youth Link Projects please contact:

Sedgefield District: Lynn Renwick - 07766314680

Blyth District: Ellie Cawdell - 01670 733258

Tynedale District: Sean Soulsby - 01434 608414

Sedgefield Youth Link is supported by: