Teenager Support Charity

[mumplustwo]

I would be grateful for anyone to contribute to this thread.

How do parents and teens feel about having a place which their teenager can go which would be a safe place that parents would know where their child is but to have fun after school activities and to also have access to counselling/confidential help and advice for any teen problem. This would be a place for teens to go and hang out with their mates but also somewhere that they can go if they need some support. I would like to set up a charity for teenagers but need some feedback to help me find the right solution which is also self sufficient.

Thank you for your time and help.

Rachel

The best people to ask are the teenagers. If you can get them on board and get them to help out you have more chance of them using it.

We are doing similar here, but it has taken years of building up relationships with the teenagers for them to trust us and respect us. Teenagers are funny creatures, they will either love what you do for them and will support you in their droves, or will walk away just as quickly. They also follow like sheep.
After years of putting on one-off events for the teenagers in our town we are starting to open a "drop-in" cafe for them soon. We have been working with the local council and the police. It may be worth speaking to yours too.

not sure if this helps. If you have specific questions feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer.

Hi

Thank you for the reply it has helped a great deal.

I just wondered how you started your project and the best way to win the support from the teenagers? There is a large school close by and a college so do you think it would be beneficial to put up some flyers/posters?

Many thanks

Rachel

Hi,

We have been doing lots of different things to get to know a core group of the teenagers and build on them.

The school would be a good place to start. One thing we have done is to go to the school during lunch times and give out free drinks and just spend time chilling out with them. We have been doing this now for quite a few years. You need to be consistant, its no good thinking you can leave it a week and go back the next. Teenagers need to know that they can trust you on small things to believe they can trust you for the more important things.

We have also been putting on music events once every 2 months for a few years. We get teh youngsters to help with the organising, to get bands to play and a lot of the bands are teenagers themselves. We also have an adult presence of people who are willing to sit and chat and show the teenagers that they are valued. (Also hundreds of free cakes!!! always goes down well )

Do you know a group of these teenagers that you want to help? Could you sit down with thema nd get them involved? Ask what they want from you.

Sorry, just read your question again and basically I would say, contact the school and college and see if you could go and spend some time there getting to know some of the teenagers.
Get in amongst the teenagers and let them get to know you, build relationships between you, then they will trust you and respect the help you want to offer.