YARDO received Community Chest funding for the delivery of both a Women's Empowerment Support Group and a Young People's Mental Wealth Programme at Bollo Brook Youth Centre. Here's a summary what they entailed and their impact on the local community.

Women's Empowerment Support Group

The Women's Empowerment Support Group (WESG) sessions ran for 8 weeks and were held at Acton Gardens Community Centre on Wednesday mornings from February to April 2023. The program aimed to provide a supportive environment for women to address challenges and empower each other. 

The WESG program comprised eight sessions, during which 12 registrants were initially assessed and 9 participants actively engaged each week. The group fostered a supportive environment, with participants reporting positive experiences and engaging well with the content.

The program covered relevant weekly topics, including managing emotions, self-esteem, identity, self-care, communication, and boundaries. The sessions included check-ins, psycho-education, group activities and forming a supportive WhatsApp group. 

We were particularly pleased to hear that the program's impact was not limited to the scheduled sessions, with participants continuing to meet at coffee mornings over three consecutive months, which allowed the women to continue bonding and offering mutual support.  Overall, the feedback from participants was extremely positive, and the improvement to wellbeing was demonstrated through end of programme assessments. 

Young People's Mental Wealth Programme - Bollo Brook Youth Centre.

Through the support of the Community Chest funding, YARDO were able to implement a fundamentally youth-centric approach at Bollo Brook Youth Centre. This development involved deploying a young, local Clinical Psychologist, Dr Charlotte Frankham, to provide therapeutic psychological interventions at Bollo Brook Youth Centre almost seamlessly, integrating our services into the Centre's regular activities.

Between January and December 2023, Charlotte spent one session a week in Bollo Brook YC, amounting to 149 hours a across the year. Within that timeframe, she invested 87 hours in nurturing trust and relationship-building, becoming a recognised and trusted ally to Bollo youth members and staff. On this foundation, she provided 62 additional hours of therapeutic sessions for eleven young people. 

The feedback from both youth and staff at Bollo Brook Youth Centre has been overwhelmingly positive, and Charlotte's ability to create a secure space for in-depth discussions about their young members' issues and challenge has been truly appreciated. 

YARDO were also able to extend their work with young people and mental wellbeing beyond the confines of the Youth Centre. For example, they worked closely with two young creatives from Bollo Brook in a peer-led initiative, culminating in coordinating wellbeing pilot activities at the Newgen Music Festival in Walpole Park on 26th July. These activities occurred in a new area called 'The MindZone', an idea initiated by Tazzyi, YARDO's youth wellbeing ambassador.

Many thanks to the whole team at YARDO for their fantastic work in the Acton Gardens Community. 

To find out more about the incredible work that YARDO are doing, Click Here.