Listen Up - Social Welfare Portal

listenup!Chapter 5 | 35I’ve always had a choice, and with thatchoice comes a piece of advice and support.Young personIn addition to counselling, the services offeredother therapies such as formal art therapy and otheropportunities for creativity. Some organisations wereable to offer more specialised help, such as AberdeenFoyer which uses imagery with some young people.Case Study“We offer a technique which helps youngpeople to develop a compassionate mindset [towards self]. Some clients have notexperienced a sense of feeling loved whengrowing up, due to emotional neglector a hostile environment. This may resultin an individual lacking in ‘self-soothing’abilities, thus influencing the developmentof coping strategies such as self-harm andsubstance misuse.“Using compassionate imagery techniquescan be one way to help individuals becomemore aware a self-soothing experience.This can also assist in the reframing ofdistressing self-critical thoughts, offeringnew insights and perspectives on current orpast difficulties.”Project worker, Sorted Not Screwed Up, AberdeenFoyer, AberdeenGroup work is an important element of theseorganisations’ work and was offered by all the services.The types of groups offered were determined by localneed and in consultation with young people.Case StudyThe Zone in Plymouth has earlyintervention services in both personalitydisorder and psychosis. The Zone has set upa variety of group programmes open to arange of young people, such as emotionalliteracy, a women’s group, a footballgroup and others. These groups enableyoung people with serious mental healthproblems who attend one of the earlyintervention services to join with otheryoung people.This not only helps to ensure socialinclusion for these young people, but alsoprovides an informal ‘step-down’, whenyoung people no longer need an intensiveservice but still require some support.Practical supportAll the partner sites recognised the importance ofpractical support for young people using the service.For instance, IceBreak, The Zone, Plymouth, offeredyoung people the option to have a member ofstaff accompany them to the supermarket for theweekly shop, and the Caterpillar Service, Barnardo’sMarlborough Road Partnership, Cardiff supported ayoung person through a court case.