An Interview with Loughton Youth Group

Loughton Youth Group Member Umar took on a week of work experience for Accuro recently. For one of his tasks, Umar wrote a blog post about Accuro and chose to interview his peers at Loughton Youth Group for their opinions on the club. Read on to see what they said…

You need models and mentors to understand your life situation. I asked an Accuro member do you feel listened to? The reply was “Yes! Today, I had a chair thrown at me at school and I felt rubbish but coming to the club and speaking to staff/friends made me feel better”.

Youth need Community in order to grow and succeed. As suggested by a member of the club, “I am comfortable speaking to staff/friends as they are understanding and they help as much as they can” he further mentioned, “I rarely feel myself as I am self conscious but at Accuro I am at my best”.

Youth need a mission. This will help them to develop being responsible. One staff member said “We have questionnaires to get feedback and have regular circle times to talk about how we are feeling. We also ask members for suggestions of things to do for future sessions. The member said his suggestions were used as activities which made him feel important and listened to.”

They need a safe place to confide. When becoming a teenager you start to make decisions and experience changes, we all need someone to lean on. Accuro is a comfortable place for this. As one member said, “I get treated very well here as it’s better than being at home alone and I get to socialise by doing fun stuff.”

The staff are welcoming and approachable as they show and make you feel cared for and give us individual attention which makes all members feel special. They listen to what the teens have to say. Which makes us all overjoyed and makes us want to come back. One member stated, “It’s the highlight of her week”.