Youth Unity: Challenging Narratives and Empowering Young People

14/07/2021

by admin with No Comment Uncategorized

An interview by YouthTime Magazine

Youth Unity are working hard in the UK to change the story of young people and help them with their issues. We spoke to them to find out more.

Youth Unity CIC is an innovative space for youth empowerment, and a non-profit organisation established to provide effective help and support to vulnerable young people and adults affected by group violence (gangs), drugs and other forms of exploitation such as human trafficking, child sexual exploitation and extremism.

With offices in Kent, London and Essex, the organisation works successfully in close collaboration with statutory organisations, commissioned services and charities, by offering workshops, projects and training for young people and professionals.

In this piece, Youth Time features its contribution for young people’s wellbeing by speaking to Paul McKenzie, Youth Unity’s Head of Communications.

Introducing Youth Unity

At the beginning of our conversation, McKenzie talks about the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in their activities, whereas further in the interview, he sheds light on their key activities and the 4Ps (Pursue, Prevent, Protect and Prepare).

“With the current rise in serious youth violence and the impact of COVID-19, we created a dedicated hub for the overall wellbeing of young people from all ethnicities,” he explains, whilst adding that the organisation challenges the narrative portraying young people as bad.

Youth Unity’s focus is early intervention and early identification of those ‘at risk’ from gangs, serious youth violence, criminal exploitation and associated vulnerability strands.

To better understand this, McKenzie adds that this is something consistent with the Government’s 4P approach and contained within the Serious and Organised Crime Strategy.

“This strategy effectively coordinates national joint working to reduce the level of serious and organised crime affecting our local communities.

“It uses the framework often referred to as the 4Ps and strengthens a partnership approach to safeguarding our most vulnerable and tackling offenders.”

Prevent, Prepare and Protect

As McKenzie explains, their key objectives are consistent with this strategy and approach:

Prevent: To stop people becoming gang members, being exploited or taking part in violence.

Prepare: To effectively mitigate risks through preventative measures and innovative, creative media early intervention. With the aim to kick start conversations, build resilience and inspire change around complex social issues.

Protect: To strengthen adults and young people by building their emotional and cognitive (thinking) resilience, better enabling them to ‘say no’ to gangs, violence, drugs, crime and other forms of exploitation and vulnerability themes.

Youth Unity works with schools, colleges, police forces, social services, LSCBs, charities, borough councils, county councils, private businesses, national government agencies to deliver productions, workshops and training for young people and adults across the United Kingdom.

Raising Awareness About Mental Health

Currently, it is also working with several organisations to raise awareness around mental health.

“We feel the pandemic has had a massive impact on youth. With this in mind, we set out to deliver specific online workshops that are interactive and informative for all.

“We selected several professionals to work alongside parents and young people.”

Paul McKenzie 3 — Working Hard: Paul McKenzie

The workshops raised awareness and helped to enable participants to understand the early signs of a mental health issue.

“We are also delivering valuable support to young people challenged with grooming and county lines.

“There is an increase in the deliberate manipulation of young people, and we feel that more than ever before, we need to inform young people of the dangers etc,” McKenzie says.

The workshops explore topics such as criminal exploitation, social media misuse, grooming, building positive relationships, and the law.

GroomSafe

Youth Unity also offers advice, and guidance to many families and individuals affected by Criminal Exploitation and grooming.

“Although because of a lack of funding, we are only available via telephone. Soon we will include a mentoring provision that will enable more one-to-one work with young people and their families.”

GroomSafe has recently worked on a film project with several young people at risk of Criminal Exploitation and serious youth violence.

“During the pandemic we could create a short film that addresses manipulation and grooming, we engaged young people in basic film making and editing, to produce William an awareness film to help others facing the challenges above.”

“We have entered the short film into several film festivals, we are expecting outstanding success on this. We also intend to duplicate this process to produce another short film about online abuse.“

To date, McKenzie goes on, Youth Unity believes young people need advice and awareness to enable them to make more informed decisions in life.

“By actively raising this awareness and reaching out to young people on a grassroots level, we effect the change that they need to help avoid exploitation and grooming,” he concludes.

About Paul McKenzie

Paul McKenzie is Professional Public Speaker, Life Coach/NLP Master Practitioner, Film Director/Producer and Author.

Paul has enjoyed changing the lives of hundreds of people over the last 20 years.

Through his filmmaking he has developed a platform designed to provide a space for individuals within the community to express their brilliance, speak their truth and encourage the lives of others.

This is achieved by producing short powerful films that highlight specific issues and capture the unique essence of everyday people’s stories, which are now award winning.

These films and documentaries are shared internationally and contain inspirational, thought provoking material, and reaches out to the heart of the community.

Paul remains proud to have contributed to some major changes in the way Youth Unity addresses specific issues that challenge communities, especially the issues that affect the youth.

Follow Youth Unity on Facebook and Instagram to find out more about the company and support their work.

HAD IT YET? Film Documentary in the pandemic

06/07/2021

by admin Arts & Culture Film Production London Borough of Havering New Projects

This short film highlights some of the concerns and challenges that a community has faced living through a pandemic along with their thoughts on the vaccination.

With the increasing demand for an answers to how we can all remain safe in the current climate of COVID-19, and the need for clarity in regards to the vaccination requirements, we took to the streets of Havering to ask people in public how they experienced the various lockdowns and also to ask them what they thought about the vaccine.

I have already had the vaccine

1 %

definately would

1 %

would not take

1 %

unsure

1 %

CODE 1 Community Group

18/05/2021

by admin with No Comment Uncategorized

Youth Unity has been working with CODE1 for the last year and are in talks on how we can work in collaboration to deliver more amazing projects

Code1 Community Group, are committed to investing their expertise and resources in order to further achieve their causes. They aim to support community members in a variety of ways and measuring our success not by monetary size, by more qualitative measurements such as the scale and effectiveness of our efforts.

Just imagine what we can achieve together!

https://www.code1communitygroup.co.uk/

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Anxiety and depression: A young man’s experience

18/05/2021

by admin with No Comment Mental Health Reports

In this article I want to reflect on some of the influences and experiences that can impact on young men, that may well trigger feelings of anxiety and depression. I hope to reach out to any young man struggling with their feelings and ways of coping that may not be helping them. To highlight to them that they do not need to be struggling and that it is OK for them to ask for help, and that counselling can be a place where they can start to make changes to their lives.

What is it like being a young man?

Life can feel so much more confusing these days for many of us, yet what is it like to be a young man trying to negotiate your way in the world? What of the pressures to belong and be accepted by your peers, let alone to do well in education, to get all the qualifications you are told you need, have a well-paid job and be in a relationship. Then what of the perception that everybody else is doing well and are living a fun life on social media – yet what is the reality for you? Do you feel you need to show the world you are OK?; that you are coping and that everything you post online says you are fun to be with and are happy? I wonder how easy is it to keep leading this life?

Experiencing anxiety and depression

Then things might start to change; you begin to feel an anxiety that cripples you in social settings. To cope, you choose to use alcohol and perhaps drugs, however, this only seems to work initially then the anxiety returns, and it feels a spiral of lesser returns for more of a need for a chemical fix. You dare not tell your friends that you are feeling anxious, and instead make excuses to not go out socially, for fear of being anxious. Thus the anxiety feels it is getting bigger and has a hold over you. You now feel depressed because you cannot face your friends, and increasingly make excuses not to meet up with them, and stay at home playing video games.

Another scenario could be that you become dependent on alcohol and/or drugs to be able to go out socially. Your need for alcohol and or drugs increases as you try to stop feeling anxious, however, you start to feel depressed, deeply unhappy and short of money. Your friends become increasingly concerned about you; they try to help you, yet get exacerbated by your continued behaviour and then distance themselves from you. You find you are left associating with young men who drink alcohol excessively and/or take more and more drugs.

Do either of these situations sound familiar to you, or someone you might know? While it could feel impossible to change how you live, I want to convey that while it might feel like you are stuck, it is possible to unstick yourself and to change how things are for you.

Is it OK to ask for help?

It may possibly feel this life can be tough to live, and that you should be strong enough to cope, yet I want you to consider how you judge yourself, and whether it is OK for you to ask for help? The first step to change how you feel and behave is through you wanting to help yourself. Then, asking for help would be the first and most important step you can take. Seeing a counsellor could be the best thing you could give yourself; a place where you can start to make sense of how you are feeling and to look at how your behaviour might not be helping you.

Deconstructing myths around masculinity

It can still be true for many men, that to be a man you feel you need to convey your manliness by showing the world you are tough physically and emotionally. Yet building a perfect body doesn’t make you immune to feelings, and you could be hiding how you feel because you fear what others might think of you. Well, let’s burst that balloon of perception; the greatest strength you can show to yourself and the world is that you are not afraid to talk about how you feel. Muscles can with exercise grow, and emotionally, with a willingness you might put into a gym workout, you can too become more emotionally able.

So let us turn this myth around that men need to be strong (and strength means not to show you are upset). Yes, you may have received messages growing up that men should not cry; well let me debunk that and consider it is a strength to show how you feel. To be healthy you need to be able to allow yourself to experience what you feel instead of denying your feelings. None of this is radical stuff, yet somehow old messages stick and possibly, how you might have experienced your own father’s behaviour could still be an influence – even if you have said to yourself many times; “I am going to be my own man”.

Wanting to change feelings and behaviours

Entering into a counsellor’s room could mean you are ready to consider your behaviour is no longer helping you, and are prepared to look at making changes. Then in some aspects, you are halfway to helping yourself, yet there is work to be done; and it does not have to be as hard as you might have imagined. Behind the anxiety you have felt, could be issues around how you have learnt to cope, and how you might have felt about yourself; but actually, sharing all this with a counsellor could feel like a personal liberation. It might not be rocket science to learn that if you do not reinforce feelings of anxiety through your behaviour, and instead start to face what is making you feel anxious, then your feelings of anxiety will begin to dissipate. And it could feel like a science you were not aware of before. You will need to continue not to fear your feelings and to stop avoiding situations that have made you feel anxious. With the help of your counsellor, you could learn how you can live more freely without feeling your anxiety has become you. Through all this work on helping yourself, you might surprise yourself and start to feel you actually like yourself.

This adage is as true now as it ever was; that a problem shared is a problem halved, so please do not suffer your feelings of anxiety and depression alone, there is help out there if you are prepared to ask for it.

SOURCE

Written by Lee Allen Registered Member MBACP

Verified counsellor or therapist

Hard Call Saves Lives Campaign

14/05/2021

by admin with No Comment News Story

We are all mothers whose sons were stabbed to death.

We know people find it hard to call and report information on knife crime, but when our sons were murdered, we had to make much harder calls.

We’re sharing stories of the sons we lost and the calls we had to make here, in our own words. We want to show what knife crime does to families, and ask people to help save other families from losing their son or daughter.

Support this amazing and sadly much needed campaign

https://www.hardcallssavelives.co.uk/

Met Police insists London knife crime is ‘not out of control’ despite 13 teenagers stabbed to death this year

14/05/2021

by admin with No Comment Knife Crime News

A Metropolitan Police commander has insisted London knife crime “is not out of control”, despite 13 teenagers having lost their lives to fatal stabbings so far this year.

Fares Maatou, just 14, is among a worrying number of young men killed on London’s streets in the last five months.

That came just three days before 18-year-old Junior Jah was blasted with a shotgun before being stabbed in the same area of East London on April 26.

However, Commander Alex Murray, the Met’s Violence Lead, believes police are not “fighting a losing battle”when it comes to knife crime and Londoners “should be reassured” with the work officers are undertaking to take knives and firearms off the streets.

Speaking to My London on Tuesday (May 11), he also said that those carrying a knife “are so much more likely to be a victim of a stabbing”.

He added: “We need to understand why people carry knives. We also have a job as police to prevent violence right now. The key role of policing is, at first, to stop the bleeding.

“While we need to understand the causes, right now we need deal with the acute issue of people, often young, carrying knives.The tragedy and irony is that it is a for a feeling of safety.

“The irony is that the data is incredibly strong that if you carry a knife, you are so much more likely to be a victim of a stabbing.

“You can just imagine, if you get into a fight and you’re not carrying a knife, it is going to end in one way, but probably not with someone being stabbed or being stabbed yourself, but if you are carrying a knife it is a totally different picture.

“The other one is the credibility and prestige, unfortunately. That is something we as society, communities and families need to consider around making it not credible to carry a knife.”

Operation Sceptre, which ran from April 26 to May 2, resulted in Met officers seizing more than 400 knives from the street, including machetes, rambo, lock and kitchen knives.

Data obtained by My London via a Freedom of Information request, though, show that there has been a 10-fold rise in the number of incidents recorded by Met Police involving the use of zombie knives.

Anti-knife campaigners have also argued that police are “fighting a losing battle” and deadly knives are simply “too readily available” for young people.

In a bid to tackle the issue at source, officers aged between 18 and 25 have been carrying out test purchase operations to check if retailers are following the correct “Challenge 25” policy, with 71 out of 212 retailers selling the knife without seeing any ID.

Commander Murray say, though, that Met data suggests knife crime is falling in London.

May 10 marked a year since the formation of the Met’s Violence Suppression Units, groups made up of local officers who are solely based in their geographic area with the purpose of being alive to specific issues and building vital relationships. The proactive units identify and target the most serious offenders and tackle the key drivers of violence.

In their year of operation to date, they have seized made a total of 6,031 arrests for violent offences, including robbery GBH and murder.

More than 1,000 weapons have also been seized, including 81 firearms, and £1.5million in cash from criminality confiscated.

He adds: “You have to look at the amount of arrests we have made and the amount of knives recovered, coupled with the data. Data is one thing, and is doesn’t take away from the tragedy of people getting stabbed, but in the last 12 months we have 226 less people under the age of 25 stabbed than in the preceding 12 months – that is a 16 per cent reduction.

“There has been a 28 per cent reduction in overall knife crime compared to the 12 months previously. I don’t think it adds up that we are fighting a losing battle, but anyone getting stabbed is unacceptable.”https://get-latest.convrse.media/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mylondon.news%2Fnews%2Fzone-1-news%2Fmet-police-insists-london-knife-20587837&cre=bottom&cip=28&view=web

Newham residents also told My London they were “scared to go out” and that the issue of knife crime was “constant and getting worse” following two fatal stabbing taking place just three days apart.

His message to such residents is that police will “never rest on our laurels” and violence continued to be “the number one priority” for officers.

Commander Murray rounds off with a simple message to Londoners.

If you do not want to listen to police, at least listen to the five mums who have taken part in the Hard Calls Save Lives campaign

The video shows the parents recalling the harrowing moment they found out their family members had become London’s latest victims of knife crime.

He concludes: “If you’re reading this and don’t know anyone that carries a knife, circulate the video and get people talking about it.”

Source: https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/met-police-insists-london-knife-20587837

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Life These Days – Young People & Covid-19

14/05/2021

by admin with No Comment News Uncategorized

Paul McKenzie is part of the Youth Unity team was part of this amazing project and held a series of workshops working with young people who have mental health challenges. Throughout these workshops Paul coached these young people through expressing their thoughts and feelings through art the outcome, this incredibly deep and thought provoking content.

Well done to South London and Maudsley NHS for driving such an important topic and giving these young people a voice.

Visit here for the podcast and the artwork

Bernie Grant Film

14/05/2021

by admin with No Comment Community Development

During the last year there has been a massive change in most communities across the UK, in fact there has been a massive change globally. These changes have affected the way all of us live and survive.

There is no doubt that the world has changed for us all.

Coming together as a community became the number one priority for us all. Community projects emerged to help social prescribing and signposting people towards creative projects and services that help them with

Mental health * Housing * Food * Child care

For many of us, we have had to change our life styles. With employment being affected, schools closing for months and the overall challenges of us all facing a global economic melt down.

The Pandemic has truly altered what normal means to us all.

A year ago, the very thought that you would have to visit a food bank was a distant reality, the fact that you would have to wear face covering or be limited to visiting friends and loved ones has challenged the way we carry out our day to day lives.

Although these challenges have taken many lives and limited much of the norms we have become accustomed to, one thing that has stood out across the globe is the resilience that people have when faced with adversity and loss.

Communities have started to work together as one. The word community has definitely become the reality for many living and trying to survive challenges such as loss, unemployment, education and mental health. In fact these very presuppositions have become motivational words that enable us to move forward.

Long gone is the comfort zone of life.

Before the pandemic, many of the community values were questionable, with the decline of support and the never ending issue of serious youth violence and unemployment hanging over us, we have discovered that underneath all of the challenges that we face, we can come together in these times to push forward and create a sense of a brighter future.

Projects have started to include the homeless, hungry and isolated. Many of these projects are managed and run on a voluntary basis, to help those in need to connect with the support that will provide them with a glimpse of of hope for the future.

The vision of a long awaited sustainable community is now a reality. Paul Mckenzie

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Mobile Intervention Vehicle

13/05/2021

by admin with No Comment Community Development Knife Crime

Serious Youth Violence – ONE STOP SHOP Pop Up Intervention Van to help tackle knife crime by offering educational workshops, help advice and signposting

The aim of which is to collaborate with statutory organisations delivery a one stop mobile intervention centre. We will act as a central point for delivery of workshops / focus groups and other activities. Pinpointing is particularly effective in coordinating responses from people with varying backgrounds and experiences, in including those who are usually reluctant to participate. The Detached work: young people are sought in the locations on the street where they usually spend their time. It aims to create contact, council, and provide assistance. Working with groups: a variety of groups that are accessible through schools, through single young people and “cliques”. The ‘mobile youth intervention centre’ that can be used be utilised to transport the event equipment for the pop-up workshops, the filming equipment, along with the general day to day running of the business.

SPACEHIVE PAGE

Mental Health Awareness Week 2021

13/05/2021

by admin with No Comment Mental Health Special Days

What is the purpose of Mental Health Awareness Week?

Today marks the beginning of Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) – a week aimed at providing a valuable opportunity to talk openly about all aspects of mental health, with a specific focus on providing help and advice for those in need.

What is the theme for Mental Health Month 2021?

In 2021, we will continue with our theme of Tools 2 Thrive, providing practical tools that everyone can use to improve their mental health and increase their resiliency regardless of their personal situation.

When is Mental Health Week and awareness starting?

Mental Health Awareness Week runs from Monday 10 May to Sunday 16 May 2021. This year, join the fight for mental health. During this pandemic, millions of us have experienced a mental health problem, or seen a loved one struggle. And we’ve seen that the support we all need just isn’t out there.

More information and help click here