THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST STEPHEN CANONBURY
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Mission Statement
Our mission is to support young people reach their potential, grow up healthy and happy, and fully contribute positively to society. We want every young person in Islington that we help to believe in themselves, with the confidence and skills to achieve their dreams. We aim to equip them to reflect positively on challenges and obstacles, become resilient and utilise all experiences, successes and failures, to grow and thrive. We believe a long-term approach, providing consistent support and trust, is necessary to meet the needs of those we support, who are often facing a range of complex issues and barriers such as domestic violence, poor mental health, social anxiety, low household incomes, are Looked After Children, experiencing Child Sexual Exploitation, peer conflict, criminality and gang involvement, trauma, substance misuse and addiction.
About This Cause
Urban Hope is a community project , under the St. Stephen's Church Umbrella, supporting young people aged 8-18 through adolescence. Our Team In the last 22 years, we have supported more than 500 vulnerable young people navigate the uncertain landscape of adolescence and provided a consistent presence in what is often a turbulent period in their lives. Those that come to our drop ins are usually members of Urban Hope for years, with many becoming youth workers and volunteers. We think that a long-term approach is necessary and effective in meeting young people’s needs and that now more than ever, they need a consistency of support and trust. We are rooted in our community and are well-known and accountable to those who live here. Most of our team are from and continue to live in our community. We are not a large organisation with national and regional targets, we are small and community focused. Living and working in inner London requires skills and values that are specific to an urban context. Over the last 2 decades, we have worked hard to craft models of work and a skilled team to address the issues faced by young people and their families living in communities like ours. Urban Hope is run by a small, skilled and experienced team, led by our Youth Work Director who has a Masters in Youth & Community Work JNC and Mental Health First Aid and our Youth Workers, who are all trained in Youth Mental First Aid and Youth Trauma and are Urban Hope Beneficiaries. What We do We achieve our mission through evening sessions at our youth centre and an outreach schools’ programme as follows: Urban Hope Youth Club Each week, young people aged 11–18 years attend evening sessions at our Canonbury Youth Club, designed to encourage and build positive mental and physical health through engagement with creative arts, healthy eating, physical exercise and mentoring. Sessions include arts and craft and creative activities and games that encourage positive social engagement with peers. These run alongside a healthy eating cooking programme and regular trips to St. Mary's fully equipped gym. Sessions are staffed by skilled Youth Workers trained in both youth trauma and mental health first aid. We also run informal, supported mentoring sessions both during drop ins and, where further and more sustained support or intervention is required, outside of formal drop in times. Thrive: Our School’s Programme Thrive provides tailored support, in school, to young people struggling with mental health, complex personal issues, mainstream education and/or engagement with support services. Activities include lunch clubs for children with SEN, one to one mentoring, creating wellbeing rooms in each school for pupils struggling to cope in class, working with the SENCO teams and advising the exclusion boards, group work sessions focused on self-regulation, teamwork and communication, positive, fun risk taking activities and health and fitness. Currently the programme is delivered at Highbury Grove Academy to young people aged 11-16, but we have increased demand from several other secondary and primary schools in Islington and Shoreditch who are struggling to support young people on their SEN registers and are seeing exclusion rates increase as a result. Our School’s team, consisting of a youth worker and our Director of Youth Services support school SEN teams to provide early intervention help to students and we are the only local, independent, youth organisation offering activities specialising in exclusion reduction and youth trauma. The Young People We Support In an increasingly fractured and strained post lockdown world, our young people are experiencing the toughest times at home and school without the skills and support to deal with an increasing level of fear, anxiety and sometimes physical and mental harm or abuse. We wish to provide consistent support in their lives, enabling them to adapt to the post lockdown world and survive the myriad of interpersonal and peer problems that have emerged since 2019-2020's lockdowns ended. This is a really harsh world for young people now, especially those who were already struggling on a day to day basis. All our beneficiaries come from families with serious financial limitations, meaning they do not have the access to the range of activities that wealthier peers do. Since lockdown has ended, we are seeing elevated levels of general anxiety and depression, coinciding with concerns about exam stress and friendships. In particular, we have seen a real breakdown in peer relationships, increases in violent/verbally abusive interactions and a real sense that young people are struggling to communicate with each other positively post lockdown isolation. A majority live in multi-generational households, with little room or space for themselves, or have been removed from the family home and are either living with extended family or in care or caring for siblings. Sadly, a high proportion have also witnessed or suffered from domestic/sexual violence and rape, We are seeing incidences rise in girls aged 14-17, with several cases emerging of CSE, grooming and unhealthy relationships with older men, alongside poor body image and early pregnancies. Alongside the general increase in anxiety and poor mental health, incidences of self-harm and drug and alcohol dependency have greatly increased amongst both boys and girls generally in the 14-16 age bracket. Our Team In the last 22 years, we have supported more than 500 vulnerable young people navigate the uncertain landscape of adolescence and provided a consistent presence in what is often a turbulent period in their lives. Those that come to our drop ins are usually members of Urban Hope for years, with many becoming youth workers and volunteers. We think that a long-term approach is necessary and effective in meeting young people’s needs and that now more than ever, they need a consistency of support and trust. We are rooted in our community and are well-known and accountable to those who live here. Most of our team are from and continue to live in our community. We are not a large organisation with national and regional targets, we are small and community focused. What We do We achieve our mission through evening sessions at our youth centre and an outreach schools’ programme as follows: Urban Hope Youth Club Each week, young people aged 11–18 years attend evening sessions at our Canonbury Youth Club, designed to encourage and build positive mental and physical health through engagement with creative arts, healthy eating, physical exercise and mentoring. Sessions include arts and craft and creative activities and games that encourage positive social engagement with peers. These run alongside a healthy eating cooking programme and regular trips to St. Mary's fully equipped gym. Sessions are staffed by skilled Youth Workers trained in both youth trauma and mental health first aid. We also run informal, supported mentoring sessions both during drop ins and, where further and more sustained support or intervention is required, outside of formal drop in times. Thrive: Our School’s Programme Thrive provides tailored support, in school, to young people struggling with mental health, complex personal issues, mainstream education and/or engagement with support services. Activities include lunch clubs for children with SEN, one to one mentoring, creating wellbeing rooms in each school for pupils struggling to cope in class, working with the SENCO teams and advising the exclusion boards, group work sessions focused on self-regulation, teamwork and communication, positive, fun risk taking activities and health and fitness. Currently the programme is delivered at Highbury Grove Academy to young people aged 11-16, but we have increased demand from several other secondary and primary schools in Islington and Shoreditch who are struggling to support young people on their SEN registers and are seeing exclusion rates increase as a result. Our School’s team, consisting of a youth worker and our Director of Youth Services support school SEN teams to provide early intervention help to students and we are the only local, independent, youth organisation offering activities specialising in exclusion reduction and youth trauma. The Young People We Support In an increasingly fractured and strained post lockdown world, our young people are experiencing the toughest times at home and school without the skills and support to deal with an increasing level of fear, anxiety and sometimes physical and mental harm or abuse. We wish to provide consistent support in their lives, enabling them to adapt to the post lockdown world and survive a myriad of interpersonal and peer problems. All our beneficiaries come from families with serious financial limitations. Since lockdown has ended, we are seeing elevated levels of general anxiety and depression, coinciding with concerns about exam stress and friendships. In particular, we have seen a real breakdown in peer relationships, increases in violent/verbally abusive interactions and a real sense that young people are struggling to communicate with each other. A majority live in multi-generational households, or have been removed from the family home and are living with extended family, in care or caring for siblings. A high proportion have also witnessed or suffered from domestic/sexual violence and rape. We are seeing incidences rise in girls aged 14-17, with several cases emerging of CSE, grooming and unhealthy relationships with older men, alongside poor body image and early pregnancies. Alongside the general increase in anxiety and poor mental health, incidences of self-harm and drug and alcohol dependency have greatly increased amongst both boys and girls generally in the 14-16 age bracket.