Waterside & rural young people celebrate 'Breakout' success as programme draws to a close

A programme engaging young Waterside people, giving them a voice and equipping them with life skills, has been given an extension of £100,000 Lottery funding to help them go from strength to strength.

The Breakout Project, which covers six areas in the Waterside, including more rural areas, was formed in 2013 and with Lottery funding through the Reaching Out and Empowering Young People programme has continued to show its worth and is continuing to receive hundreds of thousands of pounds in funding.

The programme focuses on isolated young people, aged 11-24, who are involved in anti-social behaviour or who have dropped out of education and works with them to build skills and self-esteem with a view to a successful life, tailing their needs according to their age.

Sean Carlin, Co-Ordinator of the project said the project has been a fantastic success.

“It takes in Newbuildings, Lettershandoney, Caw, Strathfoyle, Maydown and Eglinton so it was a whole arc from the Strabane Road out to the Limavady Road around the city,” he said.

“It was cross-community through natural relationships in the area had an agreement that young people needed an intervention.

“So we worked alongside the Social Services, police, council and the Executive; all the statutory bodies and we identified young people who might benefit from the project.”

Sean said that the programme helps engage, educate and entertain young people, equipping them with vital skills for life and giving them a meaningful path in life.

“The target was around 400 but we took in 500 to 600 young people with a total investment of £600,000 went into it. It was about integrating young people and getting them a steady line where they could focus on careers and positive distractions.

“We looked at simple but practical qualifications; in terms of food hygiene, First Aid, First Aid in the workplace, kayaking and we pit people through as qualified coaches and they are now working in that field. It’s an educational programme, interventional and career driven programme.

“We went to the young people and said, ‘You aren’t really engaging or people aren’t engaging with you – we need to correct that. So we went and asked them what they wanted. It was on their own turf.

“So, we set up individual youth forums in the six areas and created joint youth forums and they had their own working structures in their own areas. We allocated some money towards projects for the young people and took them through peer leader training to allow them to be in the position where they can make fairly mature decisions at a young age.”

Sean said that the members of the project decided that, with the £100,000 that the group was awarded for this year, they would retain members of staff who are there for them rather than spend it all on activities.

“They made their own decision; they opted to keep the staff as opposed to going out and doing the paint-balling and the kayaking and the reason being was they done a youth survey that incorporated Limavady, Strabane and Derry.

“Some of the issues coming back were concerning in one way but heartening in another. A lot of it was down to self-harm, suicide and mental health issues but the fact that they were identifying it in an open way made the suggestion that they wanted the support and help. That’s when they made the decision to keep the peer leaders and keep the mentoring in process.

“We could have cut staff but they didn’t want that, the wanted the engagement.”

The Breakout Project has four outreach workers, one senior worker with a counselling background, to provide support for the young people. Sean said that the peer leaders are there for the young people and if they need signposted to other services for more help, they are equipped to do that.

Sean said that the benefits of The Breakout Project have been clear to see: “We had to respond to the young people and we are seeing the benefits, a lot of young people have gone on into employment, we paid for provisional driving licences.

“That’s where the name of the project came from; it gives young people the chance to ‘Breakout’ from situations where they feel trapped.”