The article, written by Louise Tickle outlines the genesis of the project and why nature – particularly wild nature – offers a solution for disturbed youth.   Wilderness Foundation UK CEO Jo Roberts says:

“Being in a true wilderness means having to work with things you can’t change.  If someone has anger management issues or a history of violence, it’s often rooted in a deeply felt frustration with the world.  But there’s no point being angry or frustrated with nature.  You just have to get on and solve the problems it throws at you – because if you don’t, you can’t shout, punch or even negotiate away the consequences.”

There is a growing body of evidence that taking young people into the great outdoors can be a catalyst of transformation.  This includes research being conducted by the University of Essex, whose senior researcher Dr. Jo Barton is assessing TurnAround.

You can read the full article by clicking here.  For further information on the TurnAround Project visit our dedicated pages at: http://www.wildernessfoundation.org.uk/social-programmes/the-turnaround-project/

We urgently need funds to run a third year of this successful programme.  If you would like to make a donation in support of TurnAround – however large or small (all funds go directly towards helping young people turn their lives around and each and every penny helps) you can use any major debit or credit card and give online at:

http://www.justgiving.com/turnaround-appeal

Alternatively cheque donation made payable to the Wilderness Foundation UK can be sent to:

The Appeal Coordinator

Wilderness Foundation UK

47-49 Main Road

Broomfield

CHELMSFORD

Essex

CM1 7BU

Thank you for your support.

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The best tool for helping damaged young people – nature

Graduates with Jo and Lady Diana Kemp Welch

On Saturday 21st November TurnAround Two came to a close.  Surrounded by families, friends, mentors, patrons and funders, the young participants enjoyed an evening of celebration to mark their successful completion of the programme.  We were delighted to be joined by Mr Rupert Gosling, The High Sheriff of Essex, together with Mr Andrew Sheepshanks, one of our Trustees, and Mrs Lilia Sheepshanks, a great supporter of the project.  We were also pleased to welcome Councillor Peter Martin.  Lady Diana Kemp Welsh, our Patron, kindly presented our young people with a number of certificates (such as Duke of Edinburgh Awards)  that they had achieved over the course of the last nine months.  They also received an album of photographs to remind them of their time with us, along with a sweatshirt, which they all wore with pride!  It was a wonderful evening, and we are very grateful to Lisa-Jane Spence of The Tea Rooms, Olivers Nurseries, Maldon Road Witham (01376-503215) ,who kindly donated all the food for a delicious celebration dinner.

We would like to thank all the young people for completing the course, and wish them the best for the future.  We also thank all our mentors for giving so much time and positive guidance to our participants.  We shall continue to keep in touch with everyone, and look forward to our reunion in January!

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TurnAround Celebration Dinner!

The Morning Star sails out of Chatham Docks

Participants in the Wilderness Foundation UK’s intervention programme for vulnerable youth – The TurnAround Project – have this week literally started to chart a new course.

A group of six participants, together with Wilderness Foundation UK CEO Jo Roberts, volunteers Roy Perry and Paul Morris and a University of Essex Researcher, Jo Barton all stepped on board the Morning Star on Tuesday (6th October 2009) and will spend the next five days serving as crew aboard the 62ft gaff ketch yacht operated by the Morning Star Trust.

This is the second “Wilderness Trail” that this group are under-taking and marks a major landmark in the participant’s progress through the 12 month long programme that each of them signed up for, after hearing about TurnAround through their school, family, Connexions or YOT working in Essex.  The group will be challenged to work together as a team, supporting one another and discovering strength and skills they might never have imagined they had.  They will also being applying their learning over the past months from mentoring and activity days organised by the Wilderness Foundation UK – which has helped the participants to gain confidence, improve their self-esteem and find ways of managing anger so that they can remove themselves from potentially volatile and occasionally violent situations.

Edward Charles, Project Manager of TurnAround says:

The participants share a variety of social and personal problems. Several have had lives that already include drug and alcohol abuse, dropping out from school, family breakdown, youth offending orders, low confidence and poor self esteem.

What unites them is the fact that they have all signed and agreed contracts to work towards learning how to take on personal responsibility, and are committed to the programme, and want to work as a group towards personal change.

On return from sailing the TurnAround participants will enter the final phase of the programme – Graduation.  Participants, families, mentors, supporters and youth workers all come together in a day of celebration, which  recognises the hurdles overcome and the achievements made.

Eddie explains:

For many of our participants, this will include the award of various forms of certificated accreditation that has been earned during the course of the programme, including but not limited to: Trident Skills for Life Certificates; Trident Community Involvement Certificate; The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Certificate of Prior Learning (Skills and Physical Recreation Sections); the Essex Arts Award and the Essex Youth Award.

To find out more about the TurnAround Project, including how you or your organisation can become directly involved in supporting this important initiative working with vulnerable youth – either financially or through the contribution of services in kind or time volunteering, please contact Eddie or Jo on 01245 443073 or click here to send us an email

To make a donation in support of TurnAround please visit: http://www.justgiving.com/turnaround-appeal/

Thank you for your support.

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TurnAround participants set sail with the Morning Star

Time for reflection

TurnAround is a twelve month long intervention programme for vulnerable youth in mid-Essex, created and managed by the Wilderness Foundation UK.

Over four years in development, and having completed a successful pilot programme in 2007 (where we achieved an outstanding 80% success rate in returning participants to full time education and employment – rather than detention in a youth offending facility where many of the kids were headed without help from our programme), we officially launched the programme this year.

Working with the Police, Connexions, YOT, schools and families, together with experienced Psychologists, Counsellors, Therapist and Educational Specialists, the Foundation’s “TurnAround Project” is changing the lives of young people for the better.

Built around wilderness trails, environmental and community-based workshops, one-to-one sessions with volunteer adult mentors drawn from the local community, TurnAround culminates in a graduation ceremony, then work experience and if desired,  re-entry in to full time education.

TurnAround helps vulnerable young people to find a new direction, with better prospects away from crime, violence, substance abuse, negativity and low self esteem.

Monitored by the University of Essex at every stage, we have categorically proven the relationship between time spent in nature and improved self esteem – the successes of TurnAround are clear for all to see.   However, we urgently need to raise additional funds to continue the programme.

A twelve month placement for one young person costs £7,500 – all of which we raise ourselves.  We receive no Government funding for this work and are dependant on the support and understanding of people like you to keep changing young lives.   Compare this price to the cost of a young person spending a year in detention – estimated to be £47,500 a year to the tax payer – and you can see that TurnAround is not only creating positive futures, but makes good financial sense too.

Please help us to help more young people, by making a donation to the TurnAround Project today.  However much you can give will make a real different to the life of a vulnerable young person, and ultimately all of us because these young people will go on to shape our communities in the future.

You can donate quickly and easily online at:

Please take a moment to think about how your positive action now, in supporting the Wilderness Foundation UK, will help us to address something that concerns us all and affects our futures.

Thank you.

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TurnAround – An Appeal

• Selection Process;
• A Wilderness Trail of 7-9 days, most likely in a remote part of Scotland to kick-start the process of personal change;
• Individual regular meetings with a mentor from the local community for personal goal setting and support;
• Monthly skills workshops and activity days to help personal development and learn new skills in a natural setting;
• Training and work experience with local employers;
• Peer mentoring from participants on the first programme;
• A concluding trail (4-5 days) and end of programme celebration;

During the programme we work closely with schools, family, Connexions workers and Youth Offending Teams to try and ensure that most favourable outcome for each individual.  All Wilderness staff and volunteers carry Enhanced CRB clearance and all activities are approved the the educational visits and outdoor education department of Essex County Council.

The Wilderness Foundation UK is a national charity based in Chelmsford, Essex and has been operating for over 30 years.  We are expert in the use of wild places and wilderness as learning and transformational tools.  Together with the University of Essex we have monitored the effects of wilderness intervention on diverse social groups such as drug rehabilitation, peace programmes, youth leadership development, youth at risk and the young homeless.

If you would like to learn more about TurnAround or know of a suitable candidate for inclusion in TurnAround2, please contact Eddie, Sue or Jo on 01245 443073.

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TurnAround Too!

The aim of our presence this week is to encourage local people to come and volunteer with the Foundation.  We have two programmes running in the town – our Community Allotments (where we have practical sessions every Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.) and of course TurnAround, which covers the mid-Essex area and works with vulnerable young people for a period of up to a year, helping them to change their lives for the better.   We’re hoping to recruit extra Community Mentors for the second year of the programme, which is due to start in January 2009.

If you have an interest in volunteering with either programme, please give the office a call on 01245 443073.

Please help us to make a difference – and learn new skills, meet new people and enjoy wilderness with us too!

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Meet the team at High Chelmer

The Wilderness Foundation UK through it’s TurnAround Project provides nature based programmes for young offenders and disadvantaged youth, including wilderness trails, skills workshops, community volunteering and work experience opportunities.  The £5,000 award will provide a scholarship place for one young person to join the second intake of TurnAround starting in January 2009.

We are very grateful to the Nationwide Foundation for this donation.  It will make a dramatic difference to the life of a young person in Essex and help them to get back on track.

Eddie Charles, Project Manager of TurnAround said “We are very grateful to the Nationwide Foundation for this donation.  It will make a dramatic difference to the life of a young person in Essex and help them to get back on track.  It is our aim to intervene and help vulnerable young people before they get to the point of being taken into custody.  With this long-term project and the support or organisations like the Nationwide, we can do that. “

Lisa Parker, the Nationwide Foundation’s chief executive said “There are now more young people in custody in Britain than ever before and statistics show that 80% of them will re-offend within two years of being released.  We are delighted to offer this grant to the Wilderness Foundation UK whose work will really make a difference to the lives of many young people, thereby helping to reduce crime and make the community safer.”

For further information please contact:

Edward Charles, Wilderness Foundation UK Ltd. 47-49 Main Road, Broomfield.  Chelmsford.  Essex.  CM1 7BU.  Telephone 01245 443073

Leigh Pearce, Grants Officer, The Nationwide Foundation.  Tel 01793 657180

Notes:

The Nationwide Foundation is a registered charity (no. 1065552) which makes donations to registered charities and is funded principally by contributions from the Nationwide Building Society.  It is a separate legal entity from the Society and is run by an independent board of trustees.

The current funding programme is called “Supporting Families”.  The Small Grants Programme makes grants of up to £5,000 to registered charities in the UK who work in areas of domestic violence, support for prisoners’ families and rehabilitation of young offenders.

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The TurnAround Project receives £5000 from the Nationwide Foundation

As a participant of the project, I would like to say that the project was a major turning point in my life and has helped me to take control of my demons and become a trusted member of society.

I was first introduced to the programme by my Connexions worker, Donna after I had had numerous run ins with police, which resulted in me going to court and being sentenced to a 12 month youth offending order.

As part of The TurnAround Project we embarked on a very trying nine day trip to the Isle of Mull, where we spent three days camping in the mountains. It was emotionally and physically hard for all the participants and there were a few arguments, but we all found strengths we didn’t know we had. I feel this experience pushed us to our boundaries and made us realise that life has no limits and that life is what you make it.

We also spent 5 days as crew on The Morning Star tallship in May this year. I think this was a greatexperience that I never would have got to do. The atmosphere on the boat was that of peace and everyone had to pull together to keep us moving.

Being in such confined living quarters helped me to become more tolerant of people and less aggressive.

At the beginning of the project we were given life coaches. My life coach Ali has been such a great help giving me advice and just as someone to talk to. In our sessions we looked at ways to manage anger and set realistic goals to achieve, which I thought was great because it gives you something to work towards.

Over the year we met up every month to do various different activity days which included: Canoeing, rock climbing, high ropes, stone carving and a painting workshop. Throughout the year I’ve had so much fun and have many treasured memories that will stay in my heart forever.

The project has dramatically boosted my confidence and I now feel able to be myself. Where I was once reserved I now feel able to talk to people about my problems which has helped me to give up alcohol that I was using as a defence mechanism to block things out.

On completion of the project we held a graduation in which we received various certificates. This made the whole project seem worthwhile and I personally felt a great sense of accomplishment.

After completing the project The Wilderness Foundation arranged for me to do a week’s work experience at the Brentwood Gazette. I found this to be a brilliant experience as I got to work in a press office. I spent the week writing articles for numerous towns across Essex and was thrilled to see a couple of my articles in the paper the following week.

I would like to thank The Wilderness Foundation for giving me the chance to do things that I otherwise would not have been able to do and for taking their time to help me get back on track. The project has enabled me to have the confidence to face my fears and get on in life leaving the old me well behind.

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TurnAround – A participants view

The TurnAround team gathered at Danbury Outdoor Centre, Essex on Friday 28th March 2008 to receive a presentation cheque and donation from the Jack Petchey Foundation, who have awarded TurnAround a grant of £5,000 following a succesful application by the Wilderness Foundation UK, the charity that created and manages the TurnAround Project.

We were delighted that MP for West Chelmsford, Simon Burns, agreed to receive the cheque on our behalf. Representing Jack Petchey was Nikki Bush, Grants Officer for Essex.

Pictured (l-r): Project Manager Edward Charles, Volunteer Coach Harry Clacy, Simon Burns MP and Nikki Bush

http://www.jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk/

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TurnAround donation from the Jack Petchey Foundation

Everyone set to work with great gusto, creating stone carvings representing various aspects of the gardens and the wildlife that visits them. The finished tableux will form part of an exibition being staged at the lodge from 27th April 2008, when the TurnAround team will be on site once again finishing their creations, which included stone pillars, bees, snails and other creatures hewn from portland stone and mounted on beautiful slate background.

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TurnAround at the Gardens of Easton Lodge