Young people laud youth work role in tackling trauma

At an event to mark the sixth anniversary of social justice charity Peer Power, the House of Lords heard that “now more than ever, young people need to be heard”.

The charity launched its research The Empathy Report at the event which explores the importance of “youth services dealing with trauma being delivered by people with lived experience”.

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In a series of recommendations it calls for all agencies supporting young people with experience of trauma to “have a trauma responsive and empathic culture rather than being simply trauma-aware”.

“Training psychologically informed and socio-therapeutic practice for practitioners to combat the impact of trauma and multiple adversities should be rolled out across multi-support agencies in the public and voluntary sectors,” it adds.

Anne Marie Douglas, founder and chief executive of Peer Power, said the research highlights that “we must learn to demonstrate empathy more as a society and empower people to have a voice”.

Speaking at the event, Rico Thai-Richards, aged 18, from Waltham Forest in London, told of his experience of being supported by Peer Power since April 2021.

Since working with the charity, Rico has been appointed as youth mayor and deputy chair of the London Youth Assembly.

He said: “Before I came to Peer Power, I had no faith in myself or others. Where I come from it’s every man for himself. People told me that I couldn’t do anything. Peer Power believed in me. I did not trust the police, health or NHS, now I see that they are all people trying their best and are working with us to create change.”

The event came days after young advocates for the Association of Youth Justice (AYJ) told the organisation’s annual conference at Westminster that young people needed to “have their voices heard” to create a better youth justice system and said that the “importance of youth work in supporting children in the system could not be underestimated”.

Speaking at the AYJ event, Claudia Sturt, chief executive of the Youth Justice Board, called on all police forces to adopt the child centred policing framework, describing a “patchy” use of it across the country.