Positive feedback from the YMCA

'Just before Christmas I decided to show my senior youth club here at the YMCA, Taunton the awareness video that has recently been launched by Stand Against Violence. In all honesty I wasn’t really sure what to expect, even though I had seen the video and found it very moving, I didn’t think I would have such a strong reaction as I did form the young people I showed it to. The only reaction I really expected was for them to be quiet as it was quite an emotive piece, but I was mistaken. Originally I invited a local PCSO to come along and watch it with us, so that we could have an open discussion about the issues that were raised in the video- but due to work commitments he was unable to make the showing. Inviting the PCSO along in a fairly informal setting I thought would encourage young people to talk to him about violence and the issues around it.

As soon as the video came to an end you could visibly see that the young people in the room were moved by the video. All of the young people in the room had come from a variety of backgrounds and each one of them become deeply involved in an open discussion about violence with myself, Adam and Cllr Nicci Court. What surprised me the most was that the two quietest in the group spoke the most about how they thought differently about getting into fights. They talked about how they never think about the repercussions of their fights, how they just get caught in the moment- not thinking about the after affect. As the attackers in the video were under the influence of alcohol we also talked at length about alcohol. Some of the young people revealed about how easy it was to get hold of alcohol and drugs at school. What I found most interesting was that the young people really felt that PCSOs and the police in general didn’t do enough. One young person talked about how he was taken home by a PCSO for displaying anti-social behaviour and after a few minutes he just went back out again. I am not entirely sure if they would have discussed this if the local PCSO was present, but nonetheless it was an insightful discussion. When the discussion drew to a close I soon noticed that an hour had passed since we first had shown the video. We had been deep in discussion for all that time, which just goes to prove how powerful this video was. As we only had half an hour of youth club left some of the young people were still talking about the video and how they would like to do role play. They also requested if they could have wrist bands (one of which Adam Fouracre was wearing), in aid of the campaign and of course Lloyd.

With all the youth work I have done around social issues, this was the most powerful and effective piece of stimulus for all the young people.'

Welcome

Just an initial post to say thank you to Selina for setting up this blog page. Im a techno retard so couldnt have done it without you!

Quick update for people. Hopefully you have read the profile and know a little about our work but the main issue involves the anti violence educational material including the film. Trailer below.



The campaign is moving along nicely. In December a motion will be passed at the local council (Taunton Deane, Somerset) which will officially back the work of the SAV campaign.

Schools are gradually picking up on the anti violence educational material so watch this space.

I have a conference with the Behavioural and Attendance Consultant on Tuesday at the annual meeting. If i can promote the material there theres the possibility of them using it and spreading the word at more schools.

The campaign is being picked up in other counties thanks to the hard work and dedication from others. Selina is pushing it in Surrey and is doing a wonderful job.

Posters have been developed and we are looking in to having them in pubs and clubs, hopefully on a national scale. A few pubs have agreed to display them locally already!

Samples



The website is changing next week. Same address, better site. We have had difficulties getting flash video files to work with the website software (i dont really get it!). We are now switching to html and it will look great.

So lots going on and lots to come. Wish us luck!

Oh, if anyone would like to develop the campaign in their local area please get in touch. Also, any suggestions or thoughts to incorporate in to the campaign are welcome.