Saturday - Supporting Families & Young People
Youth Work Services in Dumfries & Galloway
Youth Work Services in Dumfries and Galloway >> [PDF - 173KB]
Our Council works with young people aged 12-25 to provide a range of universal and targeted opportunities across Dumfries and Galloway for young people to get involved in. Every one of these Services are free and are specifically designed to help young people in all aspects of their lives. Included in our Video's and Factsheets today are detailed information on all of our Services including the below along with the contact details for each so that you reach the various Teams:
- Youth Work in Schools
- Youth Democracy and Youth Participation
- Wider Achievement and Accreditation
- Community Based Youth Work
- Mental Health Support in Schools
Youth Work in Schools
We provide the opportunity for students to take part in nationally recognised awards to help accredit the work they are already doing within schools or in the community, working alongside teaching staff. Some of these awards include the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, Dynamic Youth and Youth Achievement Awards, Saltire Awards, and John Muir Awards.
Youth Democracy and Youth Participation
In Dumfries & Galloway, we are proud to have opportunities for young people to get involved in both local and national decision making.
The Regional Youth Council was elected on April 1st 2019 and includes space for a total of 35 representatives;
- 4 Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (2 for each parliamentary constituency)
- 24 Ward Youth Councillors (2 for each ward area)
- 7 Nominated Youth Councillors (1 for each minority group)
Elections for the Youth Council and Scottish Youth Parliament run every 2 years with the next election due to take place in November 2021.
Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP)
The Scottish Youth Parliament is the national youth led organisation with democratically elected members. Its purpose is to listen to the issues that are important to young people and provide a national platform to discuss and campaign these issues so that they are heard by decision-makers.
They do this by:
- Being part of national campaigns and projects
- Influencing policy and decision making
Wider Achievement and Accreditation
We provide a range of opportunities for young people to gain and build on their skills and abilities through wider achievement and accreditation.
Accreditation recognises young people's achievements, whether it's volunteering at a local youth group, or working towards a personal achievement. Some of the awards our council delivers are:
- Duke of Edinburgh's Award
- Dynamic Youth Award
- Youth Achievement Awards
- John Muir Awards
- Participative Democracy Certificate
Community Based Youth Work
We deliver a range of projects, programmes and services across Dumfries and Galloway.The types of programmes and services we offer include:
- Youth groups and clubs
- Drop-in sessions
- Holiday programmes
- One-to-one support
- Issue-based youth work
- C4U Youth information
- Youth Events
- Support to the Third Sector
Mental Health Support in Schools
As part of the Scottish Government current programme, there is a commitment to provide counselling within schools across Scotland to support young people from P6 - S6.
Within Dumfries and Galloway, a two-year 'Youth Information in Schools Project' pilot was delivered from 2018 - 2020 working with young people to provide low level mental health support. This project had a significant impact on young people and as part of the commitment to provide counsellors in schools, this provision has been extended and expanded to run across Dumfries and Galloway until July 2023.
Social Work Services
Social Work Services Shielding Team Factsheet >> [PDF - 104KB]
Family Support Service - Additional Colour Factsheet >> [PDF - 921KB]
Family Support Service Factsheet >> [PDF - 97KB]
Family Support Service
The Family Support Service is a voluntary service that forms part of the wider children and families social work team. We work with families both alongside workers from the area team, children with disability team and the youth justice team, and we also at times work with families independent of other parts of social work.
Our main goal as a team is to provide consistent, short-term support to families to help deal with any difficulties that they have going on by looking at building their resilience and their own supports to help them, ultimately with the goal of keeping families together wherever possible and making day to day family life a bit happier and safer for everyone.
Our focus of work is providing intensive, family led support within the home by looking at helping parents and their children in relation to a lot of different matters, including;
- Home conditions,
- Improving relationships within the family,
- Building their supports to help them when things are finding difficult,
- Helping families to understand, accept and live with health diagnosis' and looking at how to balance these with the other needs in the house,
- Support with parental and children's mental health,
- Understanding trauma and intergenerational trauma and supporting families when this is impacting on things at home
- Support with helping families getting into routines - looking at bedtime routines, access to the internet late at night, helping parents to be organised in the mornings, helping to unpick difficulties with sleep etc along with supporting parents with boundaries - putting these in place and sticking to them even when things are difficult.
Shielding Team
The Dumfries and Galloway Shielding Team are here to provide essential assistance to those who don't have access to a network of support whilst they are self-isolating due to COVID-19.
Our Shielding Team can support to ensure that you have access to the essentials such as accessing online shopping, home deliveries or prescription collections should you be unable to source alternative supports. During your initial contact with Test and Protect, you will be asked if you consent to your details being shared with the Local Authority. If you do consent, then your information is provided to the Shielding Team and we will proactively make contact with you to check that you have everything that you need. Please bear in mind that, should the local COVID cases surge, then there may possibly be a delay in our response to you.
Should you not have given consent but find that you do require support, the team can still be accessed by individuals.
Family Hub 75 West
The new Family Hub 75 West has recently opened to provide a new positive and supportive Hub that is welcoming to children and families. Relaxed, child friendly, bright and positive, this new Hub will be open 7 days a week and will offer a safe place for children and families to access other services as well as Group Work and practical support and the potential for children and parents to learn new skills. More details are included within the Video's which are available to watch today.
