Celebrating our 4th birthday!

Today marks our 4th birthday, and it feels particularly significant to celebrate it this year.

Turning four is an achievement we are extremely proud of considering what’s happened in the world over the last year. Like most people, at points over the past 12 months we have really struggled. Struggled to keep going. Struggled to see a future. Struggled to have hope in a time of darkness that seemed never ending.

But, like others, we’ve found ways to look after ourselves and navigate these tricky waters, coming out the other side with renewed vigour, hope and passion for what we do and what can be.

Over the past 12 months we have taken the opportunity to grow our knowledge and understanding of trauma and it’s impact on each of us which feels particularly poignant considering what we’ve all been through. We’ve invested in our staff, supporting them to access counselling or other mental health support that was requested to ensure they are healthy. We’ve developed our services with new opportunities becoming available in the near future including adolescent psychotherapeutic counselling and a formal community chaplaincy. We’ve developed relationships with grant-making bodies who wish to support our work into the future. This has enabled us to provide food to those that need it and provide a friendly face to talk. We’ve continued to work behind the scenes to transform our community allotment space in Barne Barton as well as getting things in place to start on the re-development of Bull Point Barracks in the same community. And finally, we’ve ensured we’re financially sustainable and viable moving forward, giving us stability over the next few years.

Doing all this gives us purpose and as we enter our 5th year, we are hopeful of what is to come.

Enthusiasm for the future

Jeff Dawson, one of our directors, shared: “At times, I’ve wanted to hide away and give up over the past year but having shared the journey with so many incredible people and being fortunate to hear and understand their stories, I feel so much enthusiasm for our future.

“When we started the organisation, we set out to reach young people and offer them a chance to become changemakers and pioneers, hence our name. Due to a range of circumstances, our mission has evolved into something more.

“Within our community work, we now have a desire to reach a whole community, with no boundaries on demographics. We wish to provide spaces and services that help us build meaningful relationships that are therapeutic in nature, allowing people to feel welcomed and valued along the way.

“Our work with schools and local authorities across Devon and Cornwall enables us to walk alongside young people with some of the most horrific stories you can imagine, giving a platform for empathy, compassion and validation that can be freeing. As we become more trauma-informed, we become better people.

“Importantly, we know that at times we’ve made mistakes. Some big, but mostly small. We’ve done our best to acknowledge these, apologise where possible and appropriate, and learn from them, hopefully meaning we don’t repeat them.

“And this is our foundation from which we will work into the future. Honesty. Integrity. Passion. Transparency.”