More accessible ‘listening ear’ opens for young people

Monday 15 January 2018

Trying to get young people to come forward for support, help and advice can be a challenging task – but The Youth Enquiry Service (YES) hope they’ve found the answer with a brand new hub.

They’ve opened ‘The Link’ at Eagle House in Columberie, after young users of the service said the previous site at St James was not accessible.

The Education Minister, Deputy Rod Bryans, said they’ve listened to young people's concerns, and delivered accordingly.

“You’ve heard reference since the care abuse inquiry about the ‘voice of the child’ and actually this is a direct response to the ‘voice of the child.’ The YES service which was down in La Motte street was working very effectively but people were saying 'actually it’s a very dark environment, it’s very small, it’s off the beaten track, is there some other way which you can advance the services which you offer?' and this is exactly what we’ve done," he commented.

The Principal Youth Officer, Mark Capern, said some users were put off by the layout at their St James base: “They found it a bit more difficult to come into St. James with the corridors there, it can be a bit confusing, it was difficult to get anyone that was suffering from anxiety problems - or whatever else - to come in. So we thought we need to change this, look at what we are doing, and what we can do better. I saw the shop and thought ‘we need that shop,’ it’s a great location, it’s highly profile, people walking past can just pop in as you would any other shop," he explained.

Pictured: The Chief Minister officially opened 'The Link' at Eagle House. 

The new location, which includes two counselling rooms, an office and a small kitchenette has already attracted more visitors, according to Mr Capern. "Parents have popped in here, we would never have seen parents before pop into St James – it gives us a high street presence,” he added.

The new centre will cost around £30,000 a year, which has been raised by the charity Jersey Youth Trust.

As a result of the Independent Care Inquiry, more funding has been allocated to the service. This has been used for extra staff to provide counselling all day rather than the just previous slot of 16:00 to 18:00. It’s also paid for an extra Assistant Youth Worker post – which will provide a better outreach service, raising the profile of the service within schools and at public events.

Pictured: Inside the new Youth Enquiry Service (YES) centre at Eagle House. 

The youth team have seen a steady incline in demand for the counselling service since 2011. They now carry out, on average, around 30 hours of counselling every week, which they say they can provide within seven days of people asking for help.

Referring to the work that’s been done in response to the Jersey Independent Care Inquiry recommendations, Senator Ian Gorst told Express: “It is only one small step, there are so many more to take but it’s an important one, because here in this place young people can come and receive good advice, they can receive non-judgemental advice, they can receive advice that puts their interests at the heart and they can discuss their problems with proper trained counsellors so they can get through an issue they’re facing that they want support with.”

Jersey’s Chief Probation Officer, Brian Heath, was at the official opening of ‘The Link’ on Friday, as he felt it will provide a vital service. “We’re seeing increased mental health concerns amongst young people and the vulnerabilities around that, and so this is a badly needed resource and facility... It’s a positive thing, it’s giving people advice and assistance before things get to the point where they need a more statutory organisation like our own or the Children’s Service,” he said.  

Pictured: 'The Link' has two counselling rooms for people aged 14-25 to meet the increased demand for their services. 

Moving the 'YES' project out of their St. James premises has enabled more room for the staff to work on other projects including young carers, LGBT, missing people, the Prince’s Trust as well as providing back up counselling rooms if there’s demand.

The drop in opening times for the new centre at Eagle House are:

Monday 12pm - 6pm
Wednesday 3pm - 6pm
Friday 12pm - 6pm

You can find more information on the Youth Service Facebook page here.