Workshops equip young people to be life savers

PROJECT

StreetDoctors

PURPOSE

To prevent youth violence and reduce itsimpact by teaching young people first aid

FUNDING

Commissioning organisations pay for sessions with rates set on a sliding scale. Other funding has come from a range of grant givers including the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the National Lottery Community Fund

BACKGROUND

StreetDoctors was founded in 2008 when two medical students and a youth offending team worker were delivering first aid classes to local teenagers. They realised young people at risk of violence were likely to be on the scene of a medical emergency caused by violence at some point, and developed workshops giving them the skills to intervene and save lives. In 2013 the organisation became a charity, and funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the National Lottery helped it expand, taking on paid staff as well as volunteers. Today a central team of nine staff facilitates 22 teams of volunteers in 17 cities across the UK.

ACTION

StreetDoctors carries out a recruitment drive every September to bring in student nurses, paramedics and doctors as volunteers. “Every year we look at areas where the risk of youth violence is greatest and look at developing volunteer teams in those areas,” says StreetDoctors chief executive Lucie Russell. The organisation’s latest research indicated Blackpool, Salford, Kingston upon Hull, Liverpool and Southampton were the top five local authority areas most at risk of increased youth violence. As a result it set up new volunteer-run delivery teams to reach young people in Hull and Blackpool and expanded the capacity of existing teams, particularly in the North East.

In 2019 StreetDoctors had 550 volunteers, all trained to deliver two practical, interactive 60-minute workshops aimed at 11- to 25-year-olds. Most StreetDoctors volunteers are under 25 and able to relate to young people on their own level, aiming to be non-judgmental and friendly. Last year was more challenging in terms of recruitment as many students were working on the frontline because of Covid, says Russell. One workshop focuses on what to do if someone is bleeding, covering issues such as how to call an ambulance and deliver immediate first aid. Volunteers use visual props like a glass of Ribena to explain the science behind blood loss and why it is important to apply pressure. The session involves practical role play scenarios to prepare young people to use skills in an emergency.

The other workshop looks at what to do if someone is unconscious, and covers assessing someone who is unconscious, calling an ambulance, putting someone in the recovery position if they are breathing and learning how to deliver chest compressions if they are not. The volunteers explain how the heart, blood and lungs work and what happens if they aren’t working. Young people practice putting people in the recovery position and delivering chest compressions with dummies.

Both sessions position young people as potential life-savers and part of the solution rather than part of the problem. As well as equipping young people with life-saving skills to help others, the training also plays a preventative role by flagging up the consequences of violence and the fragility of the human body. Many young people attending the sessions mistakenly believe there are “safe places” on the body where someone can be stabbed without major harm occurring. One of the activities involves drawing a lifesize body on a piece of paper, and inviting young people to indicate where they think is a “safe place” to stab someone, before explaining there is no safe place.

The young healthcare volunteers also act as role models and often inspire young people to take a positive path into a healthcare career, says Russell. Meanwhile the volunteers gain key skills from their interactions with young people at risk, which they can take into their clinical practice.

During the pandemic StreetDoctors offered digital sessions, either delivered to a group of young people who were physically together such as in a school, or delivered to a group of young people on separate devices in their own homes. “One bonus with digital delivery is volunteers can deliver it from anywhere, so if one team is overwhelmed they can get support from another team from elsewhere in the country,” says Russell. “Digital can also work well for young people with confidence issues. However, face-to-face delivery is preferable, she adds. “The sessions have a strong practical and relational element as we have young people practicing skills on each other, or using dolls to practice CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation],” she says.

Young people attending the sessions are referred by organisations such as criminal justice services, youth offending teams, schools, pupil referral units and youth, sports, religious and community groups. Many have already been a victim, witness or perpetrator of youth violence. In 2019 StreetDoctors partnered with 319 organisations, including West Midlands Violence Prevention Alliance, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioners and the London Borough of Havering, delivering 932 sessions.

Organisations pay for each session on a sliding scale. Large public sector and commercial organisations, with an estimated annual income of more than £1m, pay £375 per session while local public sector and statutory youth services pay £200 and smaller charities and independent youth services pay £100, with StreetDoctors subsidising the cost of delivery through fundraising. The organisation will also consider delivering sessions for free for grassroots organisations that are struggling financially. Larger commissioning organisations often block-book 50 or 100 sessions and distribute them to smaller grassroots organisations in their area.

Russell believes there will be an even greater need for StreetDoctors post-pandemic, predicting rising rates of youth violence. “When young people are not able to get a job, are falling behind at school and mental health problems are increasing, illegal trades like drug trafficking become attractive, and drug trafficking and youth violence often go alongside each other,” she says. Before the crisis violence against young people was on the rise, she adds. In the four years between 2014 and 2018 the NHS saw a 51 per cent rise in under-18s suffering injuries from a sharp object.

OUTCOME

In 2019, StreetDoctors trained 5,205 young people. In total more than 18,000 have been taught lifesaving skills since 2013. Evaluation data quality-marked by innovation agency Nesta and Project Oracle Youth Evidence Hub shows that after a StreetDoctors session 94 per cent of young people say they understand the consequences of violence, 93 per cent say they know what to do if someone is bleeding and/or unconscious, and 85 per cent say they are willing and able to act in a first aid emergency.

WHAT’S NEXT?

StreetDoctors is developing new content for workshops and has been holding focus groups with young people to find out what they would like to learn. The organisation is also improving volunteer training, especially around safeguarding and trauma-informed work.

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