Project - S.U.G.A (Support, Understanding, Guidance, Advodcacy)

A one to one mentoring project for young people 14 years to 25 years old.  Offering signposting, support and guidance.

1. To increase opportunities of vulnerable young people to turn their lives around through mentoring
2. To enable young people to recognise their own problems and behaviour
3. To increase opportunities for young people to make informed decisions about their lives, aspirations and behaviour. 

It is a confidential one to one service which uses a variety of holistic methods to:

1. empower
2. support
3. encourage people to manage their own learning

In order that they maximize their potential, develop their skills and become the person they want to be.

It is a powerful personal development and empowerment tool, where young people can:

1. boost their confidence
2. look more closely at their lives and their issues
3. begin to believe in themselves
4. explore opportunities
5. become self aware
6. take responsibility for their lives
7. while being provided with guidance and encouragement

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   What the young women have been doing

The young women on the S.U.G.A project have progressed emotionally and socially by becoming involved in various projects based in Pallion Action Group. Below are some examples of the work these young women have been inspired to become involved in:

Parenting Group

A group of young women involved on the S.U.G.A project who are single parents set up their own parenting group within Pallion Action Group so that they could provide support for other young women in the area who were going through similar problems and it gave them a safe and secure place to come together to share experiences and construct a strong social network within the local area. The group also raised their own fund to take their children out on various activities including trips to local nature reserves.

The parenting group were also involved in an event with a theatre group from Newcastle called “Them Wifies” which the staff of Pallion Action Group arranged to come in who do a lot of work with young women around issue based work and through this work with the parenting group produced a DVD in which they explored issues effecting the young women through the media of theatre.

 Community Gardening Project

Many of the young women we have had attending our one to one sessions have also been involved in our community gardening project which we have been running in conjunction with CEED and GENTOO. The young women were involved in the design process for the garden as well as the actual creation of the garden which is now being used as a community resource and being accessed by many of the groups that come in to PAG. This work enabled the young women who have had difficulties interacting with the local community due to negative impressions of young people as well as mental health issues and disabilities to be able to make a positive contribution to their local community and break down some of the barriers they had been facing and showing young people in a positive light. The young women who were involved in the creation of this community garden were also involved in the launch day of it and assisted members of staff by showing members of the community around the garden, helping to run the various activities that were on offer that day and even putting on a dance display. Please look at this link for more details on the garden

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School Work

Due to young people in Sunderland becoming increasingly less engaged in school and leaving with no direction or any understanding of how to get in to employment or training staff from Pallion Action Group have worked with 10 disengaged young women from years 10 and 11who had multiple needs  to provide them with the tools and knowledge around this subject, so they have a head start when leaving school.

Giving young people the opportunity to participate in one to ones where they are able to discus their personal circumstances, their strengths and weaknesses, hopes and aspirations, interests, hobbies and future aspirations has been paramount in putting together individual action plans. Teaching the young people how to put together C.V’s and mark down their achievements, enabling them to conduct a job search, giving them up to date information about training providers and learning paths to achieve their career goals.

Work also included taking the young people to different service providers so that they could see for themselves what was on offer. Also getting other young people who had success in Pallion Action Group to give presentations about how they achieved their goals such as setting up their own business, volunteering abroad and setting up their own projects.

Some of the students who participated in the pre employment work, decided to volunteer at Pallion Action Group in their spare time, because some of them were on the verge of exclusion it has helped them to make better life choices. Involving themselves with the Saturday fever group, which is a group for young people with disabilities and helping with the community garden project during their school holidays.