Youth clubs, buildings, safe spaces,
Some of our best youth and family work happens at what we call ‘the in-between’ and for that single reason we believe strongly in place-based youth and community hubs.
The in-between is the dead time between sessions/stuff, the in-between works for those popping in and generally its the ‘popping in’ crowd that seem to be the most in need of a safe space.
A few weeks ago, an unknown young person stopped by 3 times after school, just watching what was going on, but not wanting to join in, he sat in an office got out his school work and he fell asleep.
We don’t need to draw any conclusions about what was going on for him, but he needed to sleep and it so happens that we are happy for that to occasionally happen.
There is no barrier here at the QUbe, no reception, no welcome desk, that is all on purpose. This is a building built for the community and in our journey towards finding our feet, we find ourselves on the edge of a traumatised set of young people.
Those young people or children (as we like to say) need organisations that are willing to truly take an open-door approach but most importantly, places to feel safe.