The 2 voluntary sector PA’s, Janet and Gary, continued to engage the young people they work with into education, employment or training (EET) over the past year. Although this is the ultimate aim and target for the PA’s, they also encounter numerous issues with the young people which need to be addressed before they can begin to look at the options open to them. Issues such as substance misuse, teenage parenting and offending behaviour are a few of the issues that have been dealt with over the past year, with young people often having multiple issues, which need to be unpicked/addressed. Of course the PA’s do not work in isolation, there is often support for the young person through the Host Agent who referred them and other agencies. The work, in partnership with RMBC Education, and young travellers looks set to increase in the future when we hope to encourage and support these young people to re-engage with learning.

An evaluation has been undertaken with 17 clients of the voluntary sector PA service – the responses given were very positive and overall the young people viewed their experience of the voluntary sector PA’s as constructive and felt that the service met their expectations – 16 of the 17 young people said they would recommend the service to others and all the young people questioned said that Connexions meant much more to them after they had received help from their PA.

Success Stories

The success of the past year lies with the 12 young people who accessed EET, for the Voluntary Sector. However, the PA’s know that they can’t rest on their laurels, which has exceeded the percentage target set with a constant case load of young people who are in need of support, assistance and encouragement. We hope to continue to develop the work around voice and influence and encourage young people to become involved and have their say.

One of our PA’s received a letter (above) from a young person, which encompasses the value of the service our staff offer:

Below is a quote from a Young Traveller: