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Good health – physical, mental and nutrition – underpins all activities and aims to make healthy environments the norm
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In Chorley, the Inspire Youth Zone has used sport sessions to meet disengaged young people before targeting support
ACTION
Every day at Chorley’s Inspire Youth Zone, young people learn how to cook nutritional, healthy meals on a tight budget. The cooking sessions have been particularly popular recently due to the cost-of-living crisis and long-term impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Learning about nutrition is one of the three key elements, alongside physical and mental health, of the Culture of Health programme which runs across OnSide’s network of 14 youth zones in England.
The aim of the programme is to achieve a consistent, high-quality approach to delivering health outcomes across all youth zones, with health underpinning all activities. The objectives for the project are to focus on individual health behaviours and to create environments that promote healthy behaviours as the “norm”.
The key to establishing this healthy culture is the staff, explains Ilona Ramm, health and wellbeing co-ordinator at Chorley youth zone, “they are role models for the young people”.
Through the programme, youth workers receive training on healthy cooking and food nutrition and the links this has to good physical and mental health. This is then reinforced through physical activities and sport sessions run at the centre, and in the community.
The Culture of Health is also seen as an employee benefit: all 78 staff and 20 volunteers receive free meals, fruit and water as well as wellbeing support through visiting therapists. “It’s part of our holistic approach to supporting staff’s physical and mental health,” Ramm adds.
In addition to the cooking courses, the programme raises awareness among young people about the dangers of unhealthy lifestyles and promotes the “five ways to wellbeing”, an approach to good mental health developed by the New Economics Foundation which incorporates being active and learning new skills.
At Chorley youth zone, which opened in 2018, there is a wide range of activities offered ranging from boxing and football to dance and climbing. The sessions are delivered by sports coaches with youth work knowledge, with the aim of being fun and accessible for all levels of ability.
“We will find an activity that engages every young person,” says Ramm. “Once they are participating, it enables the coaches to work on different aspects that the young person wants to improve.”
Offering sports and activities are a good way of getting young people active and are a starting point for understanding what issues a young person is dealing with, explains Ramm.
“It enables staff to talk to the young person and get to know them, what home life is like and whether there are any problems,” she says. “It is also a springboard for getting them involved in the community and youth social action projects such as litter picking.”
Once staff have established a connection with a young person they talk to them about their future aspirations and identify any barriers to learning and bring in youth workers to put support plans in place.
Ramm explains that coaches access the “youth work toolbox” of skills to understand what a young person’s needs are and inform the interventions used to address that. She adds: “For example, we have a football coach who has coaching qualifications and we’ve built up his youth work skills and developed the sessions around that.”
Sport is also a useful tool for detached youth workers in their work engaging young people who gather in the community, such as at local parks. “It’s a good way of breaking the ice,” Ramm says. “It tends to be disadvantaged young people, some of whom may be participating in antisocial behaviour. The youth workers engage them and offer free vouchers to come to the youth zone as they are the ones we need to get to.”
Young people identified as having specific support needs are enrolled on targeted 12-week programmes. In Chorley, these include groups addressing mental health, mindfulness, sexual health and another for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people. These are run by youth workers with workshops also delivered by outside organisations. Referrals are made to agencies where additional support needs are identified.
For Ramm, key to the success of the Culture of Health programme is the mix of skills that staff bring. “Every youth worker and coach has to bring their A-game,” she says. “Every member of staff has individual talents, whether that’s an energy or calmness, which all combines to creating a happy, healthy culture.”
IMPACT
On average, 45,000 young people attend sessions at Chorley Youth Zone annually. Dozens of young people have been supported with their mental health by specialist mental health first-aiders and 45 young people have been referred to external agencies.
Dr Fraser Mullins, deputy head at Bolton School, described Ramm as an “outstanding ambassador” and the work at Chorley Youth Zone as “inspiring, not just during the activity days but supporting them through a variety of additional activities and the online resources”.
