Projects
What we have done so far...
- Delivering summer activities for young people as part of research into unlocking the potential of a local authority to deliver youth work post-Covid
- Group work with young women in the criminal justice system during production of a report into Crime, Risk and Safety for young women
- “What does good look like?” – research into the relationship between young people’s experiences of support and the standards set by Ofsted.
Music Research Project
In October, DNA Youth Consultancy teamed up with a leading music charity to bring our unique detached youth work approach to researching young people’s attitudes to making, consuming and enjoying music in the face of lockdown and other social barriers.
As always, our methodology was to start where young people start, using our own knowledge and local intelligence to find marginalised young people in the places they hang out, either on the streets or in youth clubs, cafés and music studios. This enabled us to speak to a much wider cohort of young people than those who would normally engage in formal music-making.
Our team of youth workers spoke to more than 300 people across three days in half-term, asking them a wide range of questions to find out as much as we could about their enjoyment of music and the different ways they could be involved and engaged. By interacting with young people who were not aware of the opportunities open to them, or those who had significant barriers to accessing them, we were able to produce a report that gave a series of practical recommendations for decision makers to adopt when thinking about broadening and diversifying access to music.
Mentoring Programme
The Programme
DNA’s Mentoring programme uses positive role models to improve young people’s confidence, mental health and employability. We have developed a powerful package of mentoring support for young people that can be tailored to any individual’s students’ needs which includes one on one mentoring, group mentoring, workplace visits and inspirational speeches.
One on One Mentoring
Individuals needing immediate support can benefit from one to one mentoring. Young people coping with care settings, bereavement, family difficulties, illness, anxiety, school engagement or social difficulties can speak to an experienced mentor giving personalised support using an array of different resources and interventions.
Looked After Children Mentoring
DNA’s LAC Mentoring Programme is a personalised community-based programme supporting young people aged between 10-20 who are ‘looked after’ to develop life/social skills, improve relationships, maximise potential and provide both emotional and practical support.
We offer a bespoke task-centred model of mentoring for young people who are in a care placement, or who have prior experience of care.
DNA staff can engage with young people in a one-to-one relationship, with regular and consistent contact across a fixed period. This level of support creates positive relationships to assist, guide and support young people who are currently in any kind of care placement.
Centre-Based Mentoring
Centre-based mentoring work is delivered from a specific venue where young people are able to participate in a range of activities in a safe environment. Activities are designed to support young people’s social and emotional development.
Some centre-based youth provision is delivered to specific groups of young people, and we will also be offering a drop-in service where young people are able to attend a centre and receive support and guidance for a range of issues.
Holiday Hunger Project
DNA Youth Consultancy was recently commissioned by a local authority to provide support to and gather information from young Care Leavers over the holiday period. Our youth work team made 150 visits to young people across the Christmas period, delivering food and care packages and conducting welfare checks.
We conducted the welfare checks using a standard online form we created, which allowed us to produce a comprehensive report on young people’s needs for the commissioning team. Working in pairs, one member of our team recorded the young person’s responses using the online form while the other spoke with them. Our person-centred, youth work approach helped young people feel comfortable in talking to us and we were able to track down a number of care leavers who had moved on or been displaced due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
One of our biggest challenges was working with the Covid-19 regulations and keeping our team and the young people safe at all times. We produced solid risk assessments and enforced social distancing and careful use of PPE while speaking with young people. A key finding from our welfare checks was establishing exactly how young care leavers had been affected by the Coronavirus situation and we were able to make recommendations to the local authority for better supporting the young people going forward. The whole project served as a great illustration of DNA Youth Consultancy’s founding principles – that a youth work approach is the best way for a local authority to support young people.
Website Content 2022
“Easter Holiday Hunger 2021”
DNA Youth Consultancy were commissioned by a county council to deliver a research, support and welfare programme in the Easter holidays. Working in a detached framework, we focussed on two specific delivery strands:
· Delivering support packages of food, hygiene and other essentials to isolated care leavers across the county, “checking in” and making welfare calls.
· Outreach work, combining youth activities with research into how young people had felt coming out of the second lockdown. We were particularly keen to find out how young people’s mental health and employment prospects are best supported going forwards.
Young people were asked a series of questions to establish their level of well-being and how they had been affected by the lockdown and the consequent lack of access to school, friendships and support services. Every young person who was interviewed was given a phone number to contact if they needed further support with any of the issues raised in the interview including referrals to local services. Young people who required additional or emergency support were signposted to a worker who will be able to make referrals to services and offer additional support. At the end of the project we produced a short report based on our findings with usable, practical data and recommendations.
“Youth Activities, Food and Research Summer 2021”
Across four weeks in August DNA Youth Consultancy engaged more than 1600 young people in youth activities, food and research commissioned by an English County Council.
1611 people took part in an extended survey about how they had been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, what support services they asked and how they would wish to be supported in the future. Their responses made up a long report we submitted to the local authority at the conclusion of the programme. The council were particularly interested to hear about young people’s views on a proposed network of Child and Family Hubs and how they could be used to support young people.
Young people were happy to see us and engaged well with both a complex set of questions and with the activities we put on. We were able to talk to a very large number of young people in a relatively short time and they gave us considered and honest answers to our questions. Across August, we managed to distribute a significant amount of food to children and young people engaging with our activities, to divert numbers of young people away from anti-social behaviour and to provide a friendly face and informal support.
“HAF at Christmas 2021”
As part of the government “Holiday Activities and Food” programme, a county council in the South West commissioned our detached youth workers to provide a mixture of sports activities and discussion groups across the area, working in a variety of locations identified as hot spots for young people to hang out in. Young people were able to take food and drink from our team if needed, around one third of them did.
Across four days, our team spoke with 348 young people who all completed a short survey about their concerns for themselves and other young people in their area, about services for young people and about the ongoing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our programme took place in between the schools breaking up and Christmas itself, when the newly emerging Omicron variant was becoming a significant concern.
As ever, our programme concluded with a comprehensive report to our funders, highlighting both broader trends in how young people were feeling and what they wanted in terms of Covid recovery as well as hyper-local issues like a broken set of lights in a Skatepark.
Co-produced research with children’s home residents”
Youth workers from DNA Youth Consultancy had to use sensitivity, empathy and tact to work alongside young residents of semi-independent accommodation for young people in care. Commissioned by a local authority in the South-West, we faced a number of challenges in making the process as accessible and trustworthy for the young people as we could.
These included giving careful thought to recruiting the best young youth worker/researchers who had experience of the care and alternative provision systems, finding friendly, neutral settings in which the work could take place and carefully balancing the need of the local authority to find out certain information whilst centring the voices of young people and allowing them to lead our conversations.
Young people had complex, nuanced experiences of living there and in conjunction with our team were able to articulately express themselves and discuss their experiences frankly and honestly. We are grateful for the time they took to speak with us and were very proud of the report we produced together.
“Holiday Activities Research Easter 2022”
In order to commission the best possible programme of HAF (Holiday Activities and Food) for the summer holidays, a County council commissioned DNA Youth Consultancy to carry out four days of detached research with young people about their support needs and their wishes for summer activities.
In four days, our detached youth work team interviewed 485 young people in targeted locations and organised games, activities and discussion groups alongside our interviews.
Our final project report ran to twelve pages, including two pages of practical suggestions for summer commissioning based on the young people’s views.
“Youth Work in West London”
DNA Youth Consultancy delivers a full programme of youth work at a community centre in our home area of West London. Across the week, we run successful Junior club Monday through Thursday, Intermediates on Wednesdays and a thriving Seniors on Mondays and Wednesday.
All of our youth sessions offer various sports activities, arts and crafts, multimedia workshops, cooking, music production, dance and accredited activities as well as an opportunity to relax.
We also deliver elements of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award programme, as well as Summer and Half-Term activities including dance, drama, sports and offsite - trips. We have a thriving Young Volunteers programme and a clear pathway for young people moving into the Senior Club, into volunteering and finally into youth work opportunities within the centre.
