Date: 08 June 2022
A decline in resources to community youth services nationally over the last few years has created an opportunity for many parishes to take on spaces or open their own doors to connect with and support young people.
‘The Well’ in Claygate is one such space that continues to grow and develop as it reaches out to young people of both a churched and unchurched background.
Now open three days a week, The Well was set up in 2018 as a safe space for young people on Thursday afternoons by the Youth Minister, Holly Byles, at Holy Trinity Church. In the second year that increased to Mondays and Thursdays.
Dominic Mitchell joined the team at Holy Trinity in 2020 as their Youth Outreach Worker to take on oversight of The Well, among other things, and in February of this year they were able to open The Well yet another day, increasing the opportunities to connect.
Hosted at the Emmanuel Hall, it offers a wide array of services, activities and spaces to support the youth that come through the doors. These include a pool table, games consoles, warm food, drinks, as well as use of laptops and printers in another room to crack on with homework.
The team of volunteers, Dom and Holly currently connect with around 120 young people through The Well and connect with others through their Instagram and Twitch online, which was their primary route of connection over lockdown.
The project partners with the Relational Hub, a charity that also longs to see young people supported through safe spaces such as The Well, and has been fundamental in helping support the strategic plans.
Courses such as Youth Alpha and Kintsugi Hope have been run by the team from The Well with young people attending saying that it has really helped them with their confidence and openness, and a recognition that other people are dealing with the same struggles and are willing to talk about them.
Dom says, “The Well allows us to share the love of God through our actions and attitude, making young people feel accepted, welcomed and loved. Offering genuine care and support through their younger and challenging years.
The hope and plan for the future is to see it open every weekday afterschool to be a continuous area of support for young people, especially those who need a place to go that isn’t home.