Going Forward Project – maintaining momentum

Since May 2017, Fast Forward’s Going Forward project has been working with employability services, youth clubs, boys and girls groups, young parents groups, special educational schools, secure units, and mainstream schools to support high-tariff, vulnerable and at-risk young people.

What do we do?                                        

Going Forward delivers group-work sessions that focus around core themes of health, wellbeing and risk-taking behaviours.

Specific issues that we cover include:

• substance misuse
• sexual health and relationships
• online safety
• problem gambling.

Our sessions provide young people with information about risk-taking behaviours and encourage them to reflect on their understanding and attitude towards their own, and others, health and wellbeing. The project aims to:

• empower young people to make better informed and healthier decisions
• encourage young people to be more responsible and active citizens
• enable young people to consider the consequences of engaging in risk-taking behaviour, both for themselves, and for their wider local community.

 

Why do we do it?

We know that harms resulting from substance and alcohol misuse, poor sexual and mental health, risky online behaviour and gambling frequently cluster together, and are markedly more pronounced, in areas of multiple deprivation.

They lead to poorer school attainment, poorer overall health and diminished life chances.

Early intervention education programmes that improve the knowledge, confidence and resilience of young people have been found to have a marked impact in young people’s decision making, life destinations and educational attainment

 

 

What has the Going Forward Project delivered?

To date, the Going Forward project has delivered over 320 sessions to 1,000 young people, in over 40 community settings across the Lothians.

In order to effectively cater for the specific needs of high-tariff, vulnerable young people, group numbers are kept at a low level. Going Forward sessions have enjoyed 2128 contacts with young people, meaning an average attendance of approximately 7 young people at each of our sessions.

 

Is Going Forward effective and valued?

Whilst these numbers are clearly very important, there are some things they don’t tell us:

Do our sessions help young vulnerable young people to make well informed, healthy behaviour choices?

Is our work appreciated and valued by the organisations that we work with?

Are our sessions delivered and maintained to a high standard and quality?

 

Feedback from young people has been excellent:

• 100% of young people said they felt the sessions taught them something new.
• 95% of young people said that the sessions were either ‘amazing’ or ‘good’.
• 93% of young people said they were more aware of how to make themselves safe in risky situations.
• 86% of young people said that they were more confident making healthy decisions.

Practitioners are also very happy with what we offer them: several of the organisations that we have worked with have kindly provided us with some short case studies on their experiences of working with Going Forward. These case studies, available to download from the Fast Forward website, offer a useful insight into how Going Forward sessions have enhanced the work of these organisations and have had a positive impact on the young people that they work with.

 

Want to find out more?

If you would like to find out more about the Going Forward project, or discuss ways in which we could work with your organisation to develop and deliver a programme of sessions tailored to the specific needs of the young people that you support, simply e-mail the Going Forward team, or give us a call:

• Donald Lockhart, Project Officer: donald@fastforward.org.uk
• Telephone: 0131 554 4300