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Someone to Talk to Project (1999-2002)

Background

The Someone to Talk to Project was funded by the National Lottery Charities Commission (now the Big Lottery Fund). The project was known as TALK2.

TALK2 was jointly set up by the Trust for the Study of Adolescence (TSA) and Youth Access to produce a range of training initiatives for work with young people. The project focused on three linked areas:

• Communication and interpersonal skills for pre-professional staff working directly with young people in a range of settings

• Post qualification training on working with young people for counsellors

• Training for managers and supervisors of staff working with young people where the focus of the work is broadly on mental health and emotional well-being.

Project outcomes

TSA and Youth Access developed and piloted training material in programmes run for a wide range of workers in locations across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The outcome of the project was two accredited training courses:

• Working with Young People : a course validated by the Open College Network (NOCN)

• Listening in Colour : a course run by Youth Access and accredited by the Awarding Bodies Consortium (ABC).

The training programme for managers and supervisors is delivered on request by TSA as a tailor-made training course.

As part of the project, TSA published a trainers’ guide for facilitators of the Working with Young People programme and an open learning resource for individuals based on the Listening Colour course. Both books are available from TSA publications.

The TSA staff who worked on the project were Dorothy Eddi Piper, Josie Melia, Lisa Cloves, Marilyn McGowan and Kevin Lowe.

More information:
Please contact Young People in Focus
Email: info@youngpeopleinfocus.org.uk
Tel: 01273 693311

Youth Access can be contacted on
0181 7729900
www.youthaccess.org.uk