Mentoring support for those ‘at risk’
Volunteers will look to help vulnerable young people
A mentoring and support service for ‘at risk’ young people launched in Slough on Tuesday.
Caudwell Youth launched in October 2022.
The charity supports at-risk young people aged 11 to 24 through person-centred volunteer mentoring for up to two years.
Starting in Stafford, it has expanded into Luton and Buckinghamshire – and now, Slough this week.
Charlie Dixon-Prior, coleader and operations director, said: “We do a lot of research on if there's a need for this in the area.
“We chose Slough [because] there’s a gap in service in what’s currently available for young people.
“Statutory services are doing a fantastic job but they’re at capacity. There’s a lot of waiting lists and they don’t offer what we offer, that intensive one-to-one support.”
As such, Charlie expects ‘a huge amount’ of referrals to come in.
How Caudwell Youth differs from other services is that it offers one-to-one support within a two-year mentoring programme.
“A lot of services are normally about 12 weeks,” said Charlie.
“We like to do the longerterm interventions, get to know that young person, find out what goals they want to achieve and support them to do that.
“We also use volunteers. That goes a long way with a young person – they’re here out of the goodness of their heart and the young people really respond well to that.”
Caudwell Youth offers both practical and well-being support. It can help with education and work, money management, housing applications and suchlike.
It also supports mental health, building resilience, confidence, or getting young people with social anxiety out of the house.
Young people with mental health challenges is one of its specialisms, alongside those who have been in the care system, or those at risk of exploitation/offending.
“Our young people fit two or more of those needs and over 80 per cent of them have a mental health challenge,” said Charlie.
Young people can be referred from statutory services, schools, CAMHS, youth offending
teams, social workers, among others.
Charlie added: “The cost-ofliving crisis is having an impact on everybody, whether you’re the parent or the young person.
“It could be that they’re not getting a hot meal every day or they’re not warm at home. If basic needs are not met, it can have a huge impact on a young person’s mental health.
“It could lead to a higher risk of exploitation, if you’re not going to school for any reason.
“We do activities with our young people – take them bowling, go to the cinema – normal fun stuff that teenagers do. Quite a lot of our young people have never done that before.”
Now it is taking referrals, Caudwell Youth is looking for volunteers in the Slough and surrounding community.
“It’s important that mentors represent our young people,” said Charlie.
If people would like to volunteer, email volunteering @caudwellyouth.org or for information on how to refer, contact referrals@caudwellyouth .org