We’ve found that engaging young people in meaningful and enjoyable activities in the company of a positive peer group is an important step in addressing underage drinking and anti-social behaviour. CAP is able to offer grant funding to increase the positive activities available to young people. Often, just a little support can go a long way in reducing alcohol harm and anti-social behaviour.
Our funding has enabled some inventive projects, like mobile floodlights to continue youth outreach work in Fylde over the winter; beer goggles for events in North Yorkshire to simulate the experience of being drunk; and goal nets and football kits for the Gateside Hub in Edinburgh - an extremely deprived area which suffers from high levels of underage drinking, anti-social behaviour and a lack of positive activities for young people.
In Hyndburn, we supported a project run from a specially modified mobile van, in an area of Accrington with high levels of alcohol and substance misuse and anti-social behaviour, where young people needed a safe space to come together, socialise and discuss their concerns.
The van enabled it to go right into the heart of the community and act as gateway to additional support for those children and young people who might need it.
Young people who became involved in the project might already have been experimenting or regularly using drugs and alcohol, so sessions focusing on the consequences of their behaviour helped them understand what is acceptable and what is not and support them to make changes.
Project workers arranged quizzes, discussions and games and the young people designed and created their own ‘chatterboxes’ on issues that emerged. Many of the young people involved said there were few activities for them in the area, and they were often bored, especially in the school holidays.
Asked what they’d like to do, they said they’d love to get more involved with football, so project workers arranged to take them to sessions run by Active Lancashire at nearby Accrington Stanley FC. This was so popular that after three weeks, the youngsters decided to continue and make their own way there. The project was evaluated using the teen star outcomes model which allowed the team to identify young people who needed additional support with issues such as anger or behavioural problems, or those experiencing difficulty within the family home.
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