Hive Youth

Hive Youth is clearly starting to have a really positive impact on their lives

Nick Blythe

‘It's clear that there is a huge amount that the young people get from Hive Youth Club. It's a safe place for them to express themselves, to be silly, to get out some energy, to have fun and to be with friends. Each week you can see the valuable friendships they are making, and how much fun they are having. As the months have gone on it's also been great to see them become more mature, more respectful of the Club, better mannered and really start to have some meaningful conversations with the Youth team. Hive Youth is clearly starting to have a really positive impact on their lives and I'm excited to see what this could look like in a year or so's time!’

Matt- Hive Youth Volunteer.

Year one of Hive Youth is done and we are deep into year 2.

Coming out of covid and getting back to face to face youth work was a struggle. It was evident that with so much time learning from home and not socialising in person that the young people had forgotten how to respect people and places. Coming into the role as a stranger to the young people really delayed the relationship building process and we were met with a surprising disdain from the young people. We struggled on through year one trying to convince the young people that we were on their side and that we wanted to build relationships with them not ‘take away their youth centre’. After many conversations and trialled approaches, taking the young people on a trip to the UKs largest indoor skatepark really helped us build those sought after relationships. The young people’s walls started to come down and trust started to grow. This was evident in the way the young people started to tell us about their home lives, their backgrounds and their struggles. They slowly started to change the way they spoke to the team at the hive and the atmosphere has become more pleasant.

We have partnered with a faith based community youth work organisation called Relational Hub and received some coaching and advice from the director. In response to the advice, we adjusted our structure of the youth club and this too has been significant in helping us build stronger relationships with the young people. So much so that some of the young people started to offer to help us tidy up at the end of the session off their own accord. This is just one of the many ways we have seen their behaviour change.

So many great moments we are thankful for and hopeful for many more to come.