Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Council team exploring new ways to provide ‘lifeline’ support for young people in north-east

Post Thumbnail

Youth workers are exploring new ways to provide “lifeline” support for children across Aberdeenshire.

The local authority’s Work With Young People team are trying to reach as many young people as possible through new techniques such as video calls.

So far the response has been positive, and the staff – who have been described as “extended family” to some of the vulnerable young people – are keen to continue exploring ways to interact during lockdown.

Community learning and development service manager Philip Boath said: “Our Work With Young People teams are providing a lifeline to many of our most vulnerable children and young people across Aberdeenshire.

“It’s not easy, but they’ve taken on the challenge of going online with great gusto and I’m really proud of their ongoing efforts.”

For community worker Brenda Thorley, who is based in Ellon, online tools such as Google Meet have proved valuable.

She and her colleagues are working on projects such as a time capsule to help keep young people “distracted” from the pressures of lockdown.

She said: ““My role as a community worker working with young people has not changed with the impact of coronavirus and the lockdown, but the way in which I deliver the work has changed significantly.

Brenda

“The coronavirus has shown us how much young people value youth work and how important it is in their lives.

“On receiving the news of the lockdown, the first responses from one of our groups was, ‘can we still keep our group? Can we meet online or something? Please don’t let it stop.’”

Peterhead teen Jake admitted he had been struggling with lockdown, and is now engaging with his local youth group to get through it.

He said: “Not being able to leave the house is really difficult. Usually I’d only be in the house to eat, sleep and catch up with my mum so it’s strange being in the house all the time. I’ve got a lot more time on my hands than I would usually have which was hard for the first couple weeks.

“But now I’m finding more productive ways to spend my time, like going out for a walk, a lot of reading, more research for college work, helping my mum home school my little sister, or doing the garden. I never thought I’d say this but I miss my education and I miss my friends and other members of my family.”

Meanwhile Wendy Jones and some of the other youth workers in the Banff area have been hard at work delivering food parcels, ensuring youngsters have access to laptops for home schooling and pointing them to support for any mental health difficulties.

Wendy Jones

She said: “This situation is not easy for anyone but particularly for those young people with multiple barriers to their learning and their families, this can be very stressful.”

To find out about the youth services in your area, visit https://www.girfec-aberdeenshire.org