We think of the Baby Boomers as those born in the years immediately following World War Two, hitting their teenage years in the heady days of the 60s. Now we learn that there has been another boom in the birth rate, peaking around 2010, particularly among the poorest neighbourhoods. These Boomers are teenagers now, and surveys record many of them feeling stressed, anxious and unhappy. They feel under pressure: pressure to maintain an impossible image promoted by relentless social media which they feel unable to escape, pressure from school to achieve in exams, constant awful news coming at them from the 24 hour news cycle, and general difficulty managing relationships.
These insights were given to us by this week’s speaker, Richard Corry, a Youth Work manager at the Market Place, an organisation that has for 32 years supported the emotional well-being and mental health of young people across Leeds and surrounding areas.
The Market Place offers free confidential services including one-to-one support, counselling by experienced professionals, group-work and a drop-in space at their premises near Leeds Market, and elsewhere. They cater for 11-25 year olds, and fill a gap in services provided by CAMS, [community and mental health services] whose support is severely time limited and not available to 18 year olds and above.
At the start of the pandemic Market Place had to abandon its policy of seeing clients face to face, but within two weeks had set up a telephone service and later a video service. They have now resumed face to face contact but have also retained remote working as their experience has been that this is more accessible for some clients.
Currently the youth work team offer fast access to counselling and support in times of crisis, or for care leavers; appointments of 8 weeks of one-to-one support offering practical solutions to problems; on-line group work and workshops around sleep, anxiety and anger; and face to face sessions on self harm, exam stress, healthy relationships and bereavement. Counselling is available six days a week for up to 12 months and for young people up to the age of 25 in appropriate cases.
A visit to their website www.themarketplaceleeds.org.uk reveals this mission statement:
All young people have the right to feel safe and secure in their lives, be treated with respect and to feel good about themselves. The Market Place offers space, time and information to help this happen. We support and believe in young people so that they can develop their own emotional resilience. We accept young people as individuals and encourage them to live their own lives in the way that they choose…. We do not give advice or tell someone what to do, but rather offer support and space for young people to work through their issues, at their pace, in their way/s. We believe young people are the experts in their own lives. We encourage self-referrals and we have a strong emphasis on choice, informality and flexibility.
The Market Place is commissioned to deliver services by the NHS and Leeds City Council, but also relies upon charitable donations. The Rotary Club of Roundhay recently donated £500 which Richard told us is to be spent on redecorating their drop-in premises to create a more welcoming environment.
Richard gave us some impressive statistics. In the last year, the service has supported 1,133 individuals over 5,560 sessions of counselling, 45% of those being face to face interviews. The most numerous among the clients are 15-17 year olds. Common issues are relationships, anxiety, exam stress, low mood. Less common but significant are issues of self harm and suicidal thoughts. Richard reports that confusion over gender identity is on the increase, as 11-12 year olds try to work out who they are.
Market Place is striving to reach all sections of the community. They have delivered workshops to youth groups, and recently held a workshop in Harehills at CATCH, where the volunteers gave very positive feedback.
At the end of Richard’s talk, Rtn Jean Clennell, speaking with the experience of having been lead safeguarding officer at Roundhay School for many years, commented that ‘The waiting list at CAMS is so long, kids may not get the help they need in time, and at the school we don’t know what we would have done without your service.’ She was also able to confirm to him that the senior volunteers at CATCH have started using the strategies Market Place gave them to train the younger volunteers. Richard reported that Jean’s tribute gave him goosebumps.
In giving Richard a vote of thanks for his talk, Rtn Pete Oldfield thanked him for telling us of the great work Market Place was doing, and hoped that we would keep in touch.