Healthy development centre

Steve Beebee reports from Birmingham on a project that helps address health by also addressing many of the other issues in young people's lives.

aimed specifically at young men, traditionally a lot harder to engage than young women. The SRB-funded Sexual Health And Fitness Training, or SHAFT as it is more happily referred to, encourages young men to talk about sex and to understand the issues, but avoiding the embarrassment that would deter many. 'One element we've tried is sending them home with electronic babies that they look after,' says Bec 'We've done that with the girls too, but the boys find it much more of a challenge. They really joined the programme because we include sport training -that's the carrot, and they pick up the sexual health messages as we go along.'
There are also two drugs programmes, one which, Sorted, is an arts-based programme, and the other of which is a diversionary programme run alongside the police. Another scheme, Active Start, works with disengaged young people for as long as they need help. 'We'll take them down the gym as a group, and when their confidence is high they'll feel able to go to the gym on their own,' says Alan. 'Once we break down those barriers it's amazing what improvements can take place Another thing we do is buy a lot of fruit and make it available around the centre.'
TASS meanwhile gives around 40 young
tenants extensive support towards independent living, funded by the Govemment's Supporting tenants extensive support towards independent living, funded by the Government's Supporting People scheme, Again, the emphasis is on a holistic approach, with support often including advice on health and nutrition.
'It's one thing having a flat, but if you haven't got the life skills you need, where do you start?' asks Andrea Dowe. 'We'll show them how to shop and cook healthily on a budget. We'll also help them get registered with GPs and dentists, things that young people often feel they don't need, can't have, or aren't entitled to, When you help someone maintain their life properly, it boosts both their physical and mental health,'
The benefits of this open-ended and holistic style of working are obvious, and it is this that has inspired Innov8, the Maypole's YPDP project, Innov8 offers young people a tailored programme of personal development, allowing them to join in with the activities they enjoy and have most to gain from, Consequently, a young person on Innov8 might benefit

from elements of Maypole's sexual health programme, its arts and media provision, and its sports adventure initiatives. Furthermore, many of the programmes are designed to build in records of achievement along with awards that can be linked in with schoolwork. This one-year scheme is working with 30 young people aged 13 to 15.

If there is one overall message tocome from Maypole's success it is that any work aimed at improving young people's health needs to look at each individual as precisely that -an individual. Although necessarily more complex. this style of work is successful in matching provision to need, far more so than specific funding aimed at narrowly defined outcomes. And, as evidenced by Maypole's present staff, the centre is encouraging more people into the youth work field.
'The amount of young people we work with who end up saying they want to become youth workers themselves is unbelievable,' says Alan. 'Apart from anything else. we might well be breeding the next generation of youth workers!'

The Bottom Line on ..., The Maypole Centre

There are many good youth work projects that deal with young people's health, especially through sport and drugs education. But there are fewer initiatives that have the capacity or funding to be truly holIstic, addressing young people's health needs in the context of their overall life.
Workers at Birmingham's Maypole Centre are in the unusual -and, some might argue, privileged -position of being able to address all relevant aspects of young people's fitness. Already operating several individual schemes, mostly over 12-week periods, the Centre recently became the base for Innov8, a Department of Health-funded Young People's Development Programme (YPDP) project that allows those involved to access any aspect of regular Maypole provision that might benefit them. Here, work is tailored to individual requirement so that -for example -a young
person affected by both teenage pregnancy and a drug-related issue can receive support in both fields.
The Maypole Centre also operates a Tenants Advisory Support Service (TASS) that similarly works with young people on any issue of relevance (for example, their diet, knowing how to cook properiy, getting registered with a doctor). It's a holistic service and goes much further than simply providing housing support.
The Centre itself has existed since the 70's and is as old as the estate on which it is based. Refurbished and extended in July 2002, it is well known among young people from the local Druids Heath estates, an area in which young people face various inequalities, includes within health provision. A lot of funding has gone into the improvement and regeneration of Birmingham city centre itself, but none of it filtered down here,'

notes Andrea Dowe, who supervises Maypole's TASS. 'The young people here feel completely cut off from the improvements in town, and in any
case they don't want, or are sometimes unable, to travel into the city centre to get the services they need.'
Most of the Maypole Centre's work revolves around three-month projects based at the centre, and the workers, themselves ex-youth service users, are well placed to identify the young people
who have the most to gain. Sometimes, this means employing outreach techniques, going out to see the young people on the streets and
and Afloat programmes encourage them to get active, taking physical exercise while having fun. The Afloat scheme has, at the time of writing, culminated in one worker taking a group of young people on a sailing trip across The Channel. At
the time The Edge went to print, the group had successfully landed at Alderney, in The Channel Islands. The winter programme involves them in abseiling, climbing, orienteering, mountain-biking and other outdoor activities.
'They're getting exercise and getting fitter, but they're also having fun,' says Becky. 'For people from this area, it is an extraordinary experience
attempting to
engage them in ,
positive activities.
'We identify
hotspot areas
through the
police and other
local agencies,
places where
there might be
groups of young
people hanging around, at risk of dispersai,' says youth worker Becky Crampton. 'We'll engage with that group, work with them for 12 weeks on the street on programmes they devise, and then
bring them into the centre for a further 12-week programme. We do all sorts of programmes here, but they generally include elements of drugs awareness, sexual health and raising aspirations.
We include visits to services like Brook and drugs advisory groups.'
Some of these young people, coming from disadvantaged areas, are more vulnerable to poor lifestyle choices, such as a bad diet or bad decisions regarding sexual health. The Adventure

and they react extremely positively, Because most of the workers here are local and have used these types of services ourselves, we can relate extremely well with the young people. There's no
them-and-us mentality.'
'It's great to be able to work with young people during transitional periods,' adds fellow worker Alan Youngson. A's a worker, the fact that there are all sorts of age groups coming here, plus those using Connexions which is also based here, you
get a really good feel for the community and what the young people's issues are. We're in the perfect position to help the most vulnerable.' Of the sexual health programmes, one is

'We'll also help them get registered with GPs and dentists, things that young people often feel they don't need, can't have, or aren't entitled to. When you help someone maintain their life properly, it boosts both their physical and mental health.'