In April 2007 we were once again successful in obtaining a grant from The Local Network Fund (LNF). LNF funding has allowed us to continue with the Adolescent Project giving counselling sessions to young people in our area free of charge and without having to put them on a long waiting list.
As we stated two years ago, this is very important for young people as it takes courage to seek help and present themselves for counselling. Having a service which focuses on young people enables them to get the support as and when they need it. It enables us to meet this need and give early interventions when young people are in an emotional crisis.
1 in 3 families experience ‘stepfamily’ life and all of these are born out of loss. Children in these families suffer grief, anger, insecurity and torn loyalties often moving house, school area and may live in two stepfamilies. The Fractured Families Report- Dec 2006 says 1 in 4 stepfamilies break down in the first year. 25% of all youngsters living in a step family run away before they are 16. These are the young people we want to focus on in this project.
A report published 2004 by the Social Exclusion Unit found that every year some 20,000 children in Britain run away from home before the age of 16. When those who were interviewed spoke about what led them to leave, a significant factor that emerged was not having someone to talk to about a problem that they could trust and felt treated them with respect. Locally we have Connexions, Community Education, School Teachers and G.P.’s. Who have willingly given support to our project.