Life Skills and Leisure

Budgeting, Shopping and Cooking

One of the main factors that influence the behaviour of the young people on ISSP is the lack of unsuitable accommodation and breakdown in family relationships. Many young people on an ISSP tend not to be living with their families. There is growing concern that children as young as fifteen are placed in Bed and Breakfast and are left to they own devices. Many of the YP are not capable of managing their living allowance, which is given to them by Social care. There are some concerns that YP are not eating properly and are not capable of cooking.

The Waterfront Community Centre provides premises where young people can be shown how to budget, plan and cook. These are valuable skills where young people can reap the benefits. This also has the secondary advantage of the Youth Offending Service knowing that they have had at least one proper meal a week.

The Waterfront Community Centre is seen as a valuable resource centre, where young people can benefit socially as well as mentally. It helps them to interact with other members of the public as well as preparing them for their working life.

Pam who runs the Water front Community Centre claims "having young people from YOT in our Centre has on the vast majority of occasions been a pleasure; young people have completed a variety tasks from painting to IT work. It is really encouraging when a young person known to us through the YOT comes back to the Centre or stops to talk when you meet them in town".

"When supervised groups come to gain cookery skills there are always people waiting to have a little taste, or to have lunch. Congratulations to YOT for gaining an award for your allotment. Following the success of your allotment you have stimulated interest and the Waterfront Community Centre now has a double allotment, but it is mostly still wild. We have linked in with the former St Clements Hollies Project and we hope that together we can follow your lead and grow vegetables and flowers. We would like to have some chickens and if so it will be our turn to give you some eggs. We certainly have enjoyed the produce and nothing has been wasted, if it was necessary to peel some runner beans the pet rabbits gained".

"We have held a number of working lunches in the Centre garden and everyone has commented upon how much they enjoyed the fresh produce. Thanks to the YOT we have had roasted vegetables; BBQ courgettes, potato salad, stuffed courgettes, etc. When the bunch of flowers arrived it really brightened our day and for over a week welcomed people coming into the Centre. A young women working with us on placement from the Papworth Progression Centre had never made a potato salad before and proudly took what she had made back to where she is based to share with friends".

"Our joint trip to the Wolsey Theatre was worthwhile fun and a good learning experience and I wish we could have more joint outings with our Club members and the YOT. It is exciting that the YOT are on the RESPECT Festival planning committee and will be supporting the event 'Ipswich Says No to Prejudice' on the 23rd September at the Suffolk College.

We also use the facilities of Murryside Community Centre and Moving On in Bury St Edmunds, the Moving on in Bury is a unique facility available to us that is located in an old caretakers bungalow. The bungalow is fully equipped to deliver a range of life skills i.e. cookery, laundry and similar 'independent living' type skills. There is a fully equipped kitchen, living area, and bathroom. Young people are able to engage in the whole process of budgeting, shopping, cooking and clearing up and this is a valuable resource.

Job Searching

Suffolk YOS places very great emphasis in Employment/Skills Training in the rehabilitation of young offenders on the ISSP programme. To this end, a large part of a young person's weekly timetable will involve active job-hunting and/or research into career options relevant to their individual abilities and career aspirations. After an initial discussion with Practitioners and/or Support Workers at which a young person's career options are identified, the young person is mentored through various avenues and approaches to finding work in the job marketplace, such as:

Suffolk ISSP team place a high priority on reminding young people of the crucial element of positive mental attitude throughout all of the above strategies. We also actively aim to engage the young person in exploring the world of work and their own potential as an employed person. This is done in conjunction with the Connexions Service and any designated worker attached to each young person. Great emphasis is placed on this aspect of a young person's ISSP timetable content, and wherever possible other areas of the ISSP programme would link in with this, such as ISSP project work and work experience placements.

And it does work! Two young people, via their ISSP programme, have recently successfully applied for and secured long-term employment (in construction and engineering industries) that will see them gain recognised vocational qualifications via paid employment with reputable companies. Arguably, this employment alone will see any motivation to re-offend significantly reduced.

Fitness Programme

In Suffolk the fitness programmes are aimed at reducing aggression by directing it and using it to develop a healthy lifestyle. We work in conjunction with the YMCA who does an introduction programme with all are young people on all the gym equipments. We also put together five-a-side football and play badminton.

Leisure Activities

The Constructive Leisure Activity aspect of the ISSP programme is intended to allow young people and Practitioners/Support Workers to engage in team/group activities in a slightly less formal setting. One popular activity universally enjoyed is Pool and Snooker. Though this activity in itself may seem peculiar on the ISSP, it has proved to be an excellent vehicle for promoting ideas of fair-play, self-esteem and the value of teamwork and helping players with less ability. The ISSP programme has also provided the opportunity for young people to temporarily escape their everyday surroundings by attending sailing trips as a larger group. This affords them distance from their usual environment and related behaviours and gives a young person the opportunity to be more objective about life back in 'reality'. Sailing also demands high levels of effective communication within a hierarchical team setting, skills which are essential in any working scenario. Leisure time can also create an atmosphere when the whole team can interact and communicate at a time when one feels that the 'pressure is off'. Therefore, this time is often when guards are lowered and Support Workers/ISSP young people can truly learn about one another and become more receptive to feedback about their progress and suggestions regarding areas that require more attention.

Below are further links to some of the activities carried out with the young people as part of their ISSP's: