Youth Activity Group

IN MARCH NAS STAFFORD LAUNCHED OUR NEW YOUTH ACTIVITY GROUP.

Teens and Tweens are often overlooked when it comes to activities for young people. NAS Stafford has always been very proactive at arranging events for Children and for Parents and Carers, whilst The Staffordshire Adults’ Autistic Society does a great job of supporting over

18s and those transitioning into adulthood. However, we recognise the need to be much more supportive of our Teenagers.

In the past we were able to run a youth club where young people could come independently of parents and carers and make friends and be independent in a supported way. However, since 2020 our Head Office advised us that parents and carers must attend every event with

their children which meant we couldn’t re-start our Youth club after lockdown restrictions eased. This was hugely disappointing for us.

We knew we needed to do something and in 2022 experimented with a few targeted activities for teens and tweens, In the Summer we arranged a Clip and Climb event, and during October half term we took young people to the indoor Skate Park in Newcastle. Both

of these activities were popular and so we decided to do something more formal.

In January we held an initial meeting for young people interested in being part of a Youth Activity Group.

The aim of the group was to provide more targeted activities for young people of High School or equivalent age.

At the meeting we discussed what sort of things the Young People would like to do and drew up a charter to ensure the group was safe, welcoming, and inclusive.

In March we had our first event, and 12 Young People came bowling. Tracey ran the eventand our peer volunteer Lola came along too to support. Everyone had a lot of fun!

Our next event is in a week’s time, 15 Young People will be going adrenalin Tubing at Stoke Ski Centre and we hope they enjoy it! In the future we hope to host events such as Gaming, Mini Golf, Ninja Warrior, Pizza night, to name a few!

If you would like your High School age child to be part of the Youth Activity Group, drop us an email! You will go on the dedicated mailing list and get advanced notice of the activities we offer. There is no obligation to join in with anything, and your young person can dip in and out of the activities as they choose.

Email or message the branch to go on the mailing list.