LiveWest is celebrating the first young person to complete virtual youth coaching which aims to inspire young people in Somerset to understand themselves better and reach their full potential.
As it's Youth Work Week from November 7 to 13, we're celebrating the positive impact youth work can have. 25-year-old Ryan Atkins joined the Virtual Coaching Programme to work on himself to become a better person and learn more about himself.
Ryan was able to build trust with his Coach and openly go through things with them so he could find things more manageable and believe he could support himself.
Ryan Atkins said: “I wanted to learn things a different way. All the services I had been with did things in a way that fitted the service. The coaching was me leading how I wanted to do things. I felt 100% I was taking the lead, and this helped me feel in control.
“My worker Harriet at the YMCA Supported Project showed me a flyer about the coaching. Yvonne then contacted me to talk about it. I was anxious about what was involved as everything I have tried before didn’t seem to work. I felt it was worth giving it a go, what did I have to lose.”
Young people are offered six hours of Coaching which they can use when and how they like. We recognise the importance that young people are given the power and choice to commit to a programme that’s flexible to meet their needs.
It is funded by Somerset Local Authority as part of the P2i Innovation fund for young people in supported accommodation or leaving care. The online programme offers greater flexibility, as the coach and young person can agree their own session slots.
Ryan Atkins said: “I wouldn’t be where I am now, I am living on my own and feel able to do this, I was anxious about this and without the coaching I would have found the change almost unmanageable. I am now doing a course to be a radio host; this would not have been possible without the confidence I have from the coaching.
“I would not have had the confidence to work with both the men’s and women’s team at the local football club where I volunteer. I wouldn’t have been able to do all the charity work I do, and the charity run I completed recently. Coaching helped me believe I could do this. The coaching helped me find solutions on my own which meant I could set up all my utility bills when I moved.
“Longer term, I would really like to be a Coach for young people. I have experience of what it is like in supported housing and trying to move forward. I would love to be able to let other young people see they have confidence and abilities they just don’t realise they have.”
Coaching is an ongoing process that empowers young people to take responsibility and be the best they can be in the areas they decide to focus on and to successfully make the transition to independence.
Through this process individuals can discover their own solutions expand their skills and change their own behaviour and attitude. To break through any past history of adversity and abandonment, and to develop genuine trust, coaches will provide consistent and stable contact with young people.
Ryan Atkins said: “The programme gave me confidence, my coach Debbie made me feel she believed in me, and that helped me in my mind to push myself towards my goals and dreams. The fact that I could be flexible and honest if I needed to re-arrange meetings, I felt in control of the process and that made me feel comfortable.
“My Coach did not have an agenda; the agenda was always mine and we talked a lot around things until I came to the solution. This was a new way of working for me and this was quite scary for me. I had had workers before who gave the solution rather than allowing me to find it myself.
“Yvonne and Debbie helped me see I was able to do things I thought I couldn’t. They recognised in me my strengths and that helped me realise I could do anything. It gave me the push to move forward and achieve what I have since starting the programme.”
The service has a dedicated coach co-ordinator role who will liaise with people who are referred and work with young people to match them with a LiveWest coach.
All coaches are employees who are part of its Coaching community and who are continually keeping their skills up to date and who are receiving both 121 and peer group supervision.
Debbie Sims, our Customer Engagement Officer and who coached Ryan, said: “I wanted to coach a young person as I feel I have a lot to offer with the experiences I have had in my work life, working alongside customers, and also as a mother of two children. I also wanted to push myself to try something new which would take me out of my comfort zone.
“I was a little anxious when I first met the young person I had been matched with, but as soon as we met, we seemed to click and built up a rapport really quickly. I looked forward to our coaching sessions and really enjoyed them and I was so proud to see him gain confidence and push himself to do new things. ”
Yvonne Harding, our Community Training and Employment Development Worker, said: “Having worked with young people for many years, I jumped at the chance of being part of our Virtual Coaching programme. Being able to offer the young person a choice of Coach and use of Livewest recycled laptops means that we are able to remove a lot of the barriers that might stop a young person engaging.
“Meeting Ryan at the end of his coaching sessions and measuring his progress was quite something. The fact that he now believes in himself and is recognising his own talents to plan his future is amazing.”