barnardo's youth involvement group

Barnardo's Youth Involvement Group

‘Alcohol and drug use can result in significant and complex risks for children and young people and in some cases, lives that are greatly damaged as a result. Some of the impacts on children and families can be counterbalanced by other factors. Children and young people need support in dealing with what are often confused feelings and emotions towards their parents and families. They need

strategies to help them cope with the various consequences of their parent’s problematic alcohol and/or drug use.’ Getting It Right For Every Child

We believe that Resilience is a key factor in protecting and promoting good mental health and wellbeing. It is the quality of being able to deal with the ups and downs of life and is based on self

esteem. Research shows that interventions that focus on improving the confidence, self-‐esteem, resilience & protective factors amongst people subsequently leads to either a reduction of substance misuse or

the likelihood that someone will become involved in substance misuse behaviours. The move towards more of a resilience approach using alcohol and drugs as a vehicle for

demonstrating resilience has grown naturally from work undertaken by GCA Prevention and Education, with a range of target groups. Resilience and Protective Factors have always been a key

consideration in our prevention and education approaches towards alcohol and drugs.

OVERALL AIM

• To use alcohol and drug Prevention and Education interventions as a vehicle to demonstrate the impact of resilience on children and families.

OBJECTIVES • To raise awareness of the concept of resilience. • To increase understanding of protective and risk factors and how these can influence positive

and negative attitudes and behaviours

‘The young people thought about their own roles regarding Peer Pressure’

GROUP: Barnados Youth Involvement Group

LOCATION: Easterhouse

PROGRAMME: RESILIENCE PILOT

DURATION: 2 x 3 weeks (20 YOUNG PEOPLE)

PROGRAMME: RESILIENCE PILOT

DURATION: 6 WEEKS

BACKGROUND

Barnados provide a range of individual and group work with children and families, all targeted at making life better for those who are most vulnerable. The Youth Involvement Project in Easterhouse specifically provide an 8 week programme with young people who have been affected by parental substance use or who have been identified by schools as requiring some additional support. We delivered the resilience pilot in weeks 2-‐5 with each session lasting 3 hours. We delivered the resilience pilot in the first hour and then the young people took part in a fitness/adrenaline based activity such as going to the gym or climbing in the remaining time.

METHODS

Resilience and self-‐esteem are potentially complex and sensitive issues and therefore the need to ensure the wellbeing of participants remained a priority at all times. It was particularly important for children and young people who may live in a household where alcohol is misused, to deal with the issues carefully and sensitively. The programme required some thought in terms of what can be realistically achieved within the sessions while allowing for fun activities and ice breakers each week to help ensure the group feel comfortable with each other, and with the facilitator, before discussing resilience. Additionally, the programme needed to be tailored to the groups’ needs so we developed an overarching outline which allowed for flexibility to develop/adapt once we had met the group.

For the programme, we used our toolkit of resilience interventions and tools with the group. This included some of our activities that have been facilitated and evaluated and we know work well alongside some new activities to explore resilience.

REFLECTION ON PRACTICE/ RECOMMENDATIONS AFTER PILOT We felt that the first programme went extremely well. We were planned and organised and our methods were appropriate, tailored to the group and age related. We believe this is due to the fact that the same two P and E workers facilitated the group, giving them the opportunity to get to know the group, therefore allowing the group to be comfortable participating in the activities. For the second programme we felt this was not successful and our aims and objectives were not met. One aspect we would recommend is that the same P and E workers facilitate the group for the full duration of the programme or a least have one lead all the way through as we believe that is it key for us to build a relationship with the group in order for the group to participate fully. Additionally, due to the vulnerable nature of the group, it is important for P and E staff to be there half an hour before the group starts to get the room set up and organised, and for the facilitator to prepare for the group coming in. Resilience, alcohol and drugs can be very complex issues and on reflection our aims and objectives for the second programme were not appropriate for the group. We will update this for the next programme. We do feel that in both groups the most successful session was the ‘Peer Pressure’ session and accordingly we will ensure this remains in the programme.

PROGRAMME (see appendices for full programme details)

Week 1: Alcohol and Resilience • Ice breaker: Alcohol Name Game • Expectations • Why do people drink? What is Resilience? • Higher or Lower units • Rope Challenge • Typical night out for a teenager • Evaluations: Evaluation ball

Week 2: Alcohol, Drugs and Resilience-‐ with a focus on Peer Pressure • Ice breaker: Buckfast • Re-‐ cap • Rope Challenge • Drug necklaces • Drug Ranking • Peer Pressure • Angels and Devils • Evaluations: Evaluation ball

Week 3: Alcohol, Drugs and Resilience-‐ with a focus on Peer Pressure • Activity 1: Re-‐ cap • Activity 2: Stereotypes • Balloon Statements • Drug Box • Cannabis wheel

INNOVATIVE WAY FOR EXPLORING PEER PRESSURE WITH YOUNG PEOPLE One person to be a volunteer-‐ they are going to be the person who gets persuaded by the angels and devils. Split the rest of the group into two, one group to wear the angel wings and the other the devil horns. Explain to the group that the angels are going to try and persuade the person to not drink too much, be sensible, not take drugs, etc., and the devils will do the opposite. Each person will have a turn being the person being persuaded by the angels and devils-‐ time 1 minute each person. This activity gets the group to think about the challenges of peer pressure and how hard negative peer pressure can be to resist but also highlights the importance of positive peer pressure on positive choices.

EVALUATION

Due to the nature of the intervention it was essential to be flexible in approach to evaluation. We evaluated through activities such as protective and risk factors activity and creating a baseline for the understanding of resilience. We also asked for comments at the end of each session when possible.

MOVING FORWARD

Our partnership with Barnardos is very important to us we hope to continue working with the group in the future and strengthening our partnership over the next few years. After the pilot phase we hope to have the opportunity to deliver a carefully planned intervention with the group.

Below are our proposed plans for future programmes. • Named lead facilitator at all sessions of the programme, due to the importance of

building relationships with the group. • Planned and prepared sessions • Facilitator arrive half an hour before group for set up • Programme agreed with Alistair before the start • 4 week programme as first week is getting to know the group • Potential room change to our offices near the city centre as this could open up more

opportunities for activities afterwards

QUALITATIVE EXAMPLE ‘When we were playing the angels and devils peer pressure activity, when it was one of the groups turn to go into the hot seat she stopped for a minute, I asked if she was ok and if she wanted to continue, she said she was finding it difficult as that used to be her-‐ the person trying to persuade other people to do things and she didn’t like that realisation, she said that she really learned something tonight,’ Facilitator

APPENDIX

BARNARDOS YOUTH INVOLVEMENT PROJECT EASTERHOUSE

3 week programme

Week 1: Alcohol and Resilience

Aims and objectives

• Get to know the group • Increase awareness and knowledge of the reasons people drink or choose not to drink

alcohol • Introduce the concept of resilience • Increase awareness of units and effects of alcohol in relation to positive choices

Introduction: who we are and the plans for the net 3 weeks

Ice breaker: Alcohol Name Game

Each participant to come up with an alcohol related name for themselves starting with the same letter as their own name, e.g. Buckfast Bob. Becomes a memory game as you move round the group, with each person trying to remember all the names that have come previously in order, we will use a ball to facilitate this activity.

(Can help with focus and memory as well as giving facilitator (and participants) a chance to get to know names, and start to gauge what the group are like).

Expectations: ask the group for what they would like to find out about over the next few weeks- this will help to shape the next 2 weeks.

Activity 1: Why do people drink? What is Resilience?

In the group, have a picture of the male or female outline and introduce Suzy and Tony, say to the group that Suzy and Tony are both teenagers but Suzy drinks and Tony doesn’t. Ask the group to come up with reasons Suzy chooses to drink and Tony does not- relate this to protective and resilience factors such as community, school setting, family, peer group, individual characteristics

Facilitate discussion around choices, aspirations, resilience, etc.

Then ask the group what they might drink, this will lead on to the next activity,

Activity 2: Higher or Lower units

Introduce concept of units to the group an recommended guidelines for women, men and under 18’s. Use the beers goggles to facilitate this activity.

Have higher or lower cards up on the wall, group has to decide whether units of the next drink is higher or lower, once they have decided, each person in the group has to put on the beer goggles and do an obstacle course to put up the answer, make sure each person has a turn.

Activity 3: Rope Challenge

Facilitate Rope Challenge activity- see attached description, this shows young people that anything is possible if they set their minds to it- resilience

Activity 4: Typical night out for a teenager

Big visual timeline of a night of drinking/drug use for a typical young person on big paper, if possible split into 2 groups. Say this is a nigh out for Suzy, what will she drink and what will she do? Use pictures of alcohol, parties, etc and they can stick these on. Once they have completed these facilitate questions about positive choices and harm reduction to change the night out.E.g. Who are they with, where do they go, how will they get home safe; how much do they drink/take, are they mixing substances (what might happen as a result), etc.

Take photos and allow the group to keep their timelines to display.

Evaluations: Evaluation wall

Have evaluation questions prepared on large piece of paper for young people to put stickers and leave comments.

Back up activity: discussion balloon challenge


3 week programme

Week 2: Alcohol, Drugs and Resilience- with a focus on Peer Pressure

Aims and objectives

• Consolidate knowledge from week one • Increase awareness and understanding of the reasons people drink or choose not to drink

alcohol or take drugs • Further develop the concept of resilience • Increased knowledge and understanding of drugs, effects and harm • Increase awareness effects of alcohol in relation to positive choices • Explore positive and negative peer influences on choices

Ice breaker: Buckfast

Activity 1: Re- cap

Consolidation of learning and understanding from previous week: re- cap over characters of Suzy and Claire and put these up on the wall with the reasons that they choose to and choose not to drink. Remind group of question posed from last week: what is the worst, alcohol or drugs. Activity 2: Rope Challenge

Facilitate Rope Challenge activity- see attached description, this shows young people that anything is possible if they set their minds to it- resilience

Activity 3: Drug necklaces

In the group ask 1 person at a time to come up, place a drug necklace around their neck and ask the rest of the group to describe the drug to them and the person wearing the necklace has to guess the drug, do this until each person has a turn, ask the group to make it as difficult as possible for the person guessing

This activity helps to dispel drugs myths about affects and gives an indication of drug awareness in the group

Activity 4: Drug Ranking

Remind group again of question: what is the worst, alcohol or drugs, advise the group that you want them to come up with the answer, ranking themselves from worst to least worst, be very vague about this. Once they have decided, facilitate discussion on what they mean by worst or harmful? Discuss drug deaths, harms to body, society, personally, etc

Activity 5: Peer Pressure

Line activity

Activity 6: Angels and Devils

Ask one person to be a volunteer- they are going to be the person who gets persuaded by the angels and devils. Split the rest of the group into two, one group to wear the angel wings and the other the devil horns. Explain to the group that the angels are going to try and persuade the person to not drink

too much, be sensible, not take drugs, etc and the devils the opposite. Each person will have a turn being the person being persuaded by the angels and devils- time 1 minute each person.

This activity gets the group to think about the challenges of peer pressure and how hard negative peer pressure can be to resist but also highlights the importance of positive peer pressure on positive choices.

Extra activity: Drug box

Take along, so if time at the end for the group to look at.

Take photos and allow the group.


Have evaluation questions prepared on large piece of paper for young people to put stickers and leave comments.


3 week programme

Week 3: Alcohol, Drugs and Resilience- with a focus on Peer Pressure

Aims and objectives

• Consolidate knowledge from week one and two • Increase awareness and understanding of the reasons people drink or choose not to drink

alcohol or take drugs • Further develop the concept of resilience • Increased knowledge and understanding of drugs, effects and harm • Increase awareness effects of alcohol in relation to positive choices • Explore positive and negative peer influences on choices

Activity 1: Re- cap

Consolidation of learning and understanding from previous week: re- cap over characters of Suzy and Claire with the reasons that they choose to and choose not to drink. Talk about the drug necklaces and the peer pressure activity to see what they have remembered. Remind group of question posed from last week: what is the worst, alcohol or drugs. Activity 2: Stereotypes

This activity is used to challenge stereotypes from last week and to show how it can affect people badly when we label them and talk negatively about them. Usually we would ask for a participant to so this but I think due to the vulnerable nature of the group we will use one of the group leaders. Ask for a volunteer to stand in the middle of the room, you should talk to the volunteer person positively For example, ‘I like your track suit’, ‘your trainers are really cool’, ‘you are really good at sport’, ‘you are really strong’. Repeat the same process but this time negatively for 30 seconds, for example, ‘when you first came into the room today I could smell an awful smell and it wasn’t long till I realised the smell was coming from you’, ‘you’re weak’, ‘you’re useless’.

Activity 3: Balloon Statements

Ask for four volunteers, give each volunteer a balloon and a statement to put in the balloon. Ask the volunteer to put the statement in the balloon and then blow up the balloon. The participants then have to work in pairs to burst the balloon to get the statement out of it- however, they aren’t allowed to use their hands or feet and the rest of the group have to decide how they do it.

This will encourage team working, problem solving skills and challenge the negative attitudes that the group had last week.

Activity 4: Drug Box

Last week the group showed that there were lots of myths surrounding the information that they were saying about drugs. Split the group into 2 and give them some drugs from the drugs box to guess what they, are, how they are taken and the effects- we will feed this back as a group

This activity is to dispel any incorrect info that

Activity 5: Cannabis wheel

Facilitate cannabis wheel activity


Have evaluation questions prepared on large piece of paper for young people to put stickers and leave comments

barnardo's youth involvement group

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