Peasedown St John’s new youth worker, Chris Scorah, says that young people now need more support than ever before - following three months of being stuck at home!

A recent study conducted by Kooth, a youth mental health charity, has shown a rapid decline in young people’s mental health and an increase in domestic abuse due to the pandemic.

Chris, who will be based at the new Hive Community Centre, said:

Young people have really suffered over the last three months. Minimal interaction with their friends and peers, and few opportunities to leave the house have left many feeling lonely, isolated and depressed.

It’s because of this that I’m teaming up with Youth Connect over the summer to offer help and advice to Peasedown’s youngsters.”

Chris will be accompanying Youth Connect, a fantastic local charitable network of detached youth workers, to deliver weekly detached, street-based youth work in the village.

“What this practically means is a team of trained, and safely recruited youth workers will walk around the village to meet with young people, checking on their wellbeing, building relationships, helping to ensure that they are staying safe, and pointing to other services where necessary”, added Chris.

In the Autumn, if secondary schools return, Chris hopes to begin to deliver socially distanced sessional youth work in the Hive building on Bath Road. With limitations as to what activities can be done and how many young people can be in the building at any one time, Chris is confident that The Hive can provide a positive, safe and meaningful environment.

The Hive will also be launching a survey soon on youth work in the village. Chris added: “We want to take seriously what young people have to say and the results of that survey will significantly shape the decisions we make about the service we deliver. We are excited about what the future holds and if you see us out and about or at one of our pop-up events, please come have a chat and share your thoughts about what you think the youth work in Peasedown should look like.”

The Hive Community Centre is located next to Peasedown St John Primary School on Bath Road (BA2 8DH).

For more details about future plans for Youth Work at the Hive contact Chris Scorah by emailing [email protected] or calling 07732 430125.

To keep up-to-date with The Hive, and plans for re-opening, you can also follow The Hive on social media at www.facebook.com/HiveCommunityCentrePSJ.

Our photo shows Chris Scorah, outside The Hive.