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Orchids, Poo Sprinkles and Us…

That’s the name of one of the podcasts created by work experience students detailing their experiences of their placement week at the glorious botanic garden, Wakehurst, in Sussex, part of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. So if you’re interested in finding out what poo sprinkles are, give them a listen (below)!

They created the podcasts on the final day of their placement with Make (Good) Trouble. Our one-day workshop is designed to help young people to make sense of their work placements, articulate what they’ve learnt, and sharpen their communication, and listening skills. It also helps them to prepare for future job interviews. 

We were invited to devise and deliver a workshop that encourages young people to think about all the things they have learnt on their placement, and to disseminate that into a podcast and written piece for their CV. We also included training in interview techniques and how to use audio recording equipment, which they loved! The groups recorded interviews with each other, describing their week, as well as sound effects from the gardens to help build an aural picture of their experiences.  

The result is two amazing podcasts. We could hear how they had thrived at Wakehurst, working in different areas of the organisation – from marketing, education, and horticulture to the Millennium Seed Bank and the Visitor Centre. (It’s something I’d have loved to have the opportunity to do when I was younger!)

“You’ll definitely enjoy this experience if you’re interested in conserving nature and protecting the planet, because it makes you feel that you’re actually making a difference.”

“My top tips for the next person doing the Horticulture Department would be – just be prepared. You will not want to leave. At least I have not been wanting to leave. And I really want to come back here and volunteer and possibly get a job later on.”

So grab a coffee and listen to the brilliant work of these young people. 


👋 If you’re interested in us augmenting your organisation’s work placements with a Make (Good) Trouble workshop, let us know!

🌳 Wakehurst work placements are open to young people aged 14-18. Contact wakehurstworkexperience@kew.org for information on how to apply.

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First up, a quick plug for two amazing workshops we’re running next week. 

We’ll be at Rye Nature Reserve for our Catalyst arts programme. If you work with care-experienced young people aged 12-16, we have a fabulous free nature-based art workshop at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve next Wed and Thurs 11am – 3pm. Parents/Carers can register here.

We’ll also be heading to the South Downs National Park with the amazing folk from Dragon Drama for 3 days of woodland drama! There are still a few places left. If you know anyone who fits the bill (aged 11-15, in receipt of free school meals in East Sussex) and would like to join us, send them this link. It’s also free!

In the news…

There have been plenty of reports out this month detailing the rising mental health needs of young people. There’s news that the effects of the Covid pandemic have hit all age groups hard in terms of physical and mental ill health, and for young people it’s meant developmental milestones being missed. 

 The Children’s Commissioner for England has published statistics that show over a quarter of a million young people are still waiting for mental health support after being referred to Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Among the recommendations, the report calls for “Support for children who do not reach the threshold for CAMHS, including through Early Support Hubs, Mental Health Support Teams, from school counsellors”. 

In our work we’ve seen systemic problems for young people as a result of the pandemic, delayed access to mental health services, worries about the future, and the cost-of-living crisis. 

We have been working with young people who have received early support through social prescribing, which for many has been life changing. It’s a low cost early intervention that has been shown to make a real difference. Social prescribers offer one-to-one family support, activities for young people that help them to reconnect with peers, overcome anxiety and reduce time spent away from school and the classroom.  

What we’re doing to make a difference

We’re currently working on developing new ways to help young people, creating a supportive framework that will not only help with their wellbeing but also give them confidence, resilience, and new skills in critical thinking and communication. 

Part of that plan has been to develop interview techniques and podcast production training for young people. We’ve worked with YMCA and Save the Children this past month delivering training, listening to young people and – importantly – helping them to listen to each other’s stories. For Save the Children we worked with Priority 15-4 on the creation of a youth panel from different schools that represent rural and coastal communities and explored themes of education, mental health, money and housing. Their candid conversations and honest opinions help to form the foundations of the next phase of the project, a co-created campaign where they develop their skills to become active community organisers.  

By developing fun and immersive workshops – that are the least like a classroom setting – young people are given free rein to be creative, use their imagination and develop storytelling skills. Our team helps them to produce their own podcast and they learn how to interview each other about serious issues while also including enjoyable and amusing topics (see photo at the top of this newsletter!). The best thing we can achieve from a workshop is to make a child feel valued, heard and to make sure they are having a great time.

If you’re interested in working or collaborating with us, or funding our new initiatives, you can find out more here.

If you or your young person needs support, we have lots of great resources on our website in the Help & advice section.


👋 Do share this blog with anyone you think might find it useful. Thanks! 
 
We hope you enjoy Make (Good) News. If you have any suggestions or news you think we should cover next month, send us a line! 

The Make (Good) Trouble team x

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“I’ve just listened to the Raising Teens Neurodiversity podcast and it’s absolutely fantastic. I’m really enjoying listening to the advice from the panel as well as other young people’s own thoughts and feelings that are similar to my own. I also listened to the Trauma podcast and I’m in tears hearing what the panel had to say about my own story and just hearing it back. I can’t put into words how brilliant this show is and I hope more people can hear it because it could be life-saving for someone going through something similar!” 

This lovely quote is from one of the young people who shared their story with us for our BBC podcast, Raising Teens, which was broadcast in January and February. We hope you’ve enjoyed the series. In our last newsletter, we promised to send you links to our final two episodes, and here they are:

Raising Teens: Neurodiversity
Whilst neurodiversity isn’t a mental health condition, many children and young people experience challenges with their mental health. This episode of Raising Teens brings experts together to look at the experiences of neurodivergent young people and how families can support their children so they can develop and thrive. We also look at what role getting a diagnosis plays in that. We hear from young people about the social pressures they face to behave ‘appropriately’ – or like their neurotypical peers – at school, in friendship groups, and communities and how coping strategies can take a huge toll on their emotional wellbeing.

🎧 Listen to Raising Teens: Neurodiversity on BBC Sounds 
👋 More information about this episode and links to support
 
Raising Teens: Support in Schools
In our final episode of series five, we look at what mental health support is available in schools. Long-term, children and young people who struggle with their mental health are more likely to have poorer physical health and economic outcomes than their peers. So we discuss how schools can help to improve the outlook for our young people, what help they’re entitled to, and whether schools are equipped to provide that support and help prevent the need for clinical treatment. It’s not known how many children are educated at home, but in a recent report from Schools Week, they estimate that there has been a rise of 60% since the pandemic. What support can home-schooled young people expect?

🎧 Listen to Raising Teens: Support in Schools on BBC Sounds 
👋 More information about this episode and links to support
 
🎧 Catch up on all episodes from Series 5.
🎧 Plus you can catch up with previous series of Raising Teens – covering everything from social media and loneliness to county lines and the teenage brain… 
 
Make (Good) Training!
We’re rolling out new training sessions for young people to help with their self-confidence and communication skills. Interview Skills and Techniques will help young people to walk into a room and feel empowered to have a meaningful conversation with anyone. These workshops are driven by a desire to help build social skills in young people after a marked decline in recent years. 42% of parents of 12-15 year-olds reported a decline in their child’s social and emotional development, with 4-7 year-olds faring even worse at 52%, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Social skills are seen as increasingly important in a future driven by automation in the workplace. We want to help young people get ahead of the curve.  
If your organisation is interested in finding out more about our Interview Skills Training workshops, get in touch!
 
Drama workshops this Easter
We’re running drama workshops this Easter in collaboration with the brilliant team at Dragon Drama. It’s all part of East Sussex’s Holiday Activities and Food programme and places are free to children in receipt of free school meals. Registration opens on Monday 11 March, and you’ll be able to sign up for the club via this link next Monday.
 
Work with us!
If you’re interested in working with us – collaborate on new or current initiatives, partner with us, fund or donate to our programmes, we have a band new webpage with all the details: Work With Us!

👋 Do share this blog with anyone you think might find it useful. Thanks! 
 
We hope you enjoy Make (Good) News. If you have any suggestions or news you think we should cover next month, send us a line! 

The Make (Good) Trouble team x

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The mental health crisis in young people is escalating, and in this episode of Raising Teens we look at what mental health support is available in schools. Long-term, children and young people who struggle with their mental health are more likely to have poorer physical health and economic outcomes than their peers.

We hear from young people about their experiences of mental health support in school:

  • “For me, going to see a counsellor, it felt really welcoming and it didn’t feel like I was aiming to completely fix my emotions. It felt like I was understanding them better, which I hadn’t realised I needed to do… I feel like I just understand emotions a bit more. I understand how I work, how I think, which I think is really helpful to anything else that I might experience in the future.”
  • “I had two teachers that I was really close with and I’m still close with now. I felt comfortable with them, but they weren’t the pastoral team. They weren’t people that were trained in a way to help me cope with my mental health issues. Comfortability-wise, the pastoral team weren’t people who I could really see myself going up to and asking for help.”

We discuss how schools can help to improve the outlook for our young people, what help children are entitled to and whether schools are equipped to provide that support and help prevent the need for clinical treatment. It’s not known how many children are educated at home, but in  a report this week from Schools Week, it’s estimated that there has been a rise of 60% since the pandemic. What support can home-schooled young people expect?

🎧 Listen to Raising Teens: Support in Schools on BBC Sounds.

Our expert guests for episode 6 are:

If you’re wondering how parents can support their teens, and how we can make sure that support is accessible to every young person that needs it, tune in to BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey, and BBC Sounds on Fridays at 7pm or catch up any time on BBC Sounds. 

👉 Find out more about Raising Teens and listen to past episodes: Raising Teens.

👏 Raising Teens series 5 is supported by NHS Sussex.

Help and support:

If you/your child needs help, their first port of call should be your school’s pastoral team. Outside of school, the following services might be helpful.

e-wellbeing, Parent and young people Mental Health Support

YMCA Dialogue Counselling Services, accredited by The British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy.

AudioActive, non-profit organisation based in Brighton and across Sussex offering free drop-in sessions and workshops for young people based around music.
AudioActive also offer: 

  • Shift programme in schools
  • Room to Rant – “a space for young men to rap and get stuff off their chest”,
  • Vocalise – “a weekly drop in where all young women and gender variant individuals can put life experiences into music in a safe space”.

YMCA DownsLink Group offering mental health services and counselling for children, young people and families in Sussex.

Brighton & Hove Wellbeing Service, a free NHS service for anyone aged 4 years old and upwards with a postcode beginning BN1, BN2, BN3 or BN41. You can make a self-referral using this link. 

Not Fine In School, an organisation run by parents, “who have experienced school attendance barriers”. Their website has a ton of useful resources and information. They also host closed Facebook groups for families, professionals and school teachers.

Place 2 Be works with schools to support children’s and young people’s mental health. They have useful information for parents.

Young Minds offers help with:
Problems at School

The Student Room, community forum for advice and support for school, college and university students.

Kooth, a mental wellbeing community for young people to find online support and counselling