Hope4more will deliver a pilot Art & eCommerce training programme for young people who suffer with anxiety at risk of school refusal in a dedicated facility away from young peoples education setting. The pilot will consist of two 12 week courses, each providing support for 6 young people and running concurrently. We will engage with local companies, professional artists, PCSO who will support our programme giving talks and working with the young people. We will provide additional needs based support through counselling. The inclusive and non hierarchical environment and informal setting aims to make young people more relaxed, less anxious and therefore learn in a safe environment. Young people who are struggling may engage better through 121 and small group work. YP will improve how they learn and develop skills as well as reducing social isolation. The programme aims to improve emotional wellbeing , employability and aims to encourage them to feel empowered and increased pride.

What we'll deliver:

• Arts programme delivered to vulnerable young people struggling to attend school through anxiety
• Counselling to support anxiety of young people
• eCommerce and supply chain training to enhance education and employment outcomes
• Art exhibitions of young peoples work
• Personalised retail products created by the young people
• Professional artist presentations and visits
• Local business and PCSO visits to build relationships with young people
• Regular coffee mornings offering support to parents of the young people - often a family in crisis

Why it's a great idea:

The programme will reduce social isolation, engage yp in arts and e-commerce, increase employability as well as emotional wellbeing and increase pride. We aim to work collaboratively with other agencies to help support young people - we will be able to provide counselling to help reduce current waiting lists with other charities as well as CAMHS. We hope that the skills gained by the young people can be used as hobbies as well as helping employability and potentially reduce anti social behaviour, as young people will have alternative ideas to stay occupied. We hope by working with local companies and pcso's we encourage a sense of community. The support group for parents aims to support parents and families - who are often in crisis due to school refusal. The anxiety in school has always been an issue, but has increased drastically since the pandemic. School refusal has a huge impact on families - it can affect the parents employment, mental health and impact on siblings.

Steps to get it done:

• Purchase furnishings, materials to deliver each course
• Staff Elsa trained
• Open the project to the children

Although we haven't ticked Help the environment here, one of our wishes is to eventually have a venue with outdoor space - as we would like to run an additional programme that works with young people to grow their own vegetables and talks about sustainability. We are extremely passionate about offering this support to families, both founders have lived experience of the affects of school refusal.