Posts in category: Testimonial

Since his time with us Paul’s input has been invaluable.  His determination to help our young people and real life examples ensure that he fosters a good rapport with our hard to reach students.

His real life grit and authenticity ensures that he is able to reason with our pupils and achieve desired outcomes and next steps in their lives and Education.

Paul provides our pupils with real life examples of his own past, as well as trying to make his stories relevant to their lives and the demographic that we serve.  Youth Unity is an asset to have in our arsenal of services that we use to help young people.  

Clare Bedford Safeguarding Tendring Technology College (Lift Tendring)

Having Youth Unity work with some of our most challenging students has been an incredibly valuable intervention. Sandra and Paul have built a fantastic rapport with the students they connect with at Lift Clacton, engaging them in meaningful conversations on a wide range of topics, issues, and concerns. They provide thoughtful advice while teaching vital skills such as resilience and effective strategies for managing challenges.

Our students genuinely look forward to their weekly sessions with Sandra and Paul, finding tremendous value in the one-to-one support they receive. What’s even more remarkable is their flexibility and willingness to adapt their approach to meet the needs of our students. For example, they often facilitate group sessions for two students when one of them is feeling particularly vulnerable or anxious, creating a supportive and collaborative environment that meets individual needs.

Sandra and Paul’s deep understanding of our students and their families within the community is invaluable. Their insights and collaboration equip us as staff to better support both the students and their families in meaningful and informed ways.

We are incredibly grateful to Sandra and Paul for their ongoing commitment, not only to our students at Lift Clacton but also to building strong, collaborative relationships with our staff. 

Thank you for the positive impact you continue to have on our school community.

Debrah-Anne Hilton

Pastoral Leader

Lift Clacton 

In 2024, I engaged Youth Unity to provide intensive one-to-one mentoring and support for a young person facing significant challenges. This young person was at the center of ongoing domestic incidents in the home, which began to spill into the wider community. As a result, both the young person and their sibling became involved in anti-social behavior, escalating tensions within the local area.

The impact of this anti-social behavior was profound, not only straining relationships in the community but also leading to a backlash against their mother, who faced additional pressure and distress. Recognizing the urgent need for intervention, I referred the family to Youth Unity, who stepped in to provide tailored support and mentoring.

Youth Unity is now actively working with the young person and their family, focusing on rebuilding trust, addressing the root causes of the behavior, and fostering positive change. Their involvement has been invaluable in helping to stabilize the family dynamic and alleviate tensions within the community.

PC Con Bowen – CYP Officer Essex Police

I am writing this as you’re speaking to to my daughter.

You are an absolute incredible inspiring person who anyone that comes into contact with you is extremely lucky. As discussed I am very worried and anxious at the moment that my daughter is going to fall massively into depression over her boyfriend when he comes out of prison over the next 2 weeks.

I am fearful she will start to self harm again and miss college due to feeling so low in self esteem (where she has been before) and once September comes she will have no interest in her chosen career path.

I sincerely and truly hope I am proved wrong and her boyfriend has changed for the better and he and my daughter can have a good life.

This is fundamentally and absolutely the reason I hope you can continue to see her.

You have made a massive impact on her life and she speaks very highly of you, as do I. And as her mum it’s so reassuring to know she has you there to talk to in her life and support her from the “outside”, with support being imminent over the next few months.

Please please continue your amazing work and help those lucky children who are fortunate enough to cross your path!

Since my son started getting comfortable talking to you he is much calmer, and his suicidal thoughts are gone. Every week he seems excited to ask you questions.

I sincerely request that you continue talking to him so that his mental health can be kept in good balance.

Thank you for being there!.

Hi Julian, thank you for working with y son, the sessions have greatly impacted him in a positive way and I can see the changes in him with how he deals with certain situations and within his friendships, he has taken onboard the advice and mentoring you have given him and I am very grateful that he has had a positive male figure in his life to guide him in his teenage young life because as we all know it can be very challenging and boys especially are just at risk of so many things.

Youth Unity is a brilliant service and the work that is being done with young people is so very needed, the only thing I wish is that there were more activities for the 13 and up teenagers as I feel a lot of them cut them off at 11 and 12 and I don’t think that is fair or right, 13 is such a crucial age in a child’s life and that is the time they need to be stimulated and kept busy so as to keep them off the streets and out of trouble, so pls can activities for 13-16 be looked into as I think it is very important.

Other than that I would be more than happy for you to continue working with my son if possible because I feel he greatly benefits from a male mentor, he looks up to you in a positive way, looks forward to the sessions and I can tell he is taking a lot from it, thank you so much for all that you have done with my son over the past few months it is greatly appreciated.