Hailsham Youth Service Hosts its First Sussex Conference

Hailsham Youth Service, in partnership with East Sussex Youth Services, successfully hosted its first-ever youth work conference last Saturday [1 March], which brought together youth work practitioners from across East and West Sussex.

Taking place at The Station Youth Centre, the conference featured a wide variety of workshops and speakers, including Kit Messenger, founder and CEO of Changing Chances CIC, who spoke about ‘The Empowerment Approach’ for children to communicate and prepare for their needs to be met positively.

Additionally, a representative from the East Sussex Exploitation team was in attendance to talk about the positive impact partnership working can have for at-risk young people.

At the conference, there was an opportunity for youth organisations to network, share their professional roles and run some workshop activities together.

“The Sussex Youth Work Conference, the first of its kind organised and hosted by Hailsham Youth Service in partnership with East Sussex Youth Services, offered paid and voluntary youth work practitioners from across our region a valuable opportunity to benefit from keynote speeches and take part in a range of networking activities and workshops,” said Youth Service Manager Andy Joyes. “It’s vital that we devote time and commitment into our youth work sector for the benefit of all of our young people in Hailsham and across Sussex.”

“We are seeking partners to be on board for future youth conferences organised by the Service – including other youth service providers and keynote speakers.”

The success of the Sussex Youth Work Conference followed Hailsham Youth Service’s 25th Anniversary celebrations held at the Station Youth Centre on Tuesday 25th February, at which residents and representatives from the local community met youth workers and found out more about the Service’s achievements during the past quarter of a century.

Hailsham Youth Service, funded and managed by Hailsham Town Council, was founded in February 2000 to provide young people in the local area with opportunities to develop social, physical and emotional and awareness.

The Service currently operates various club and activity sessions for young people, including those that are based at the Station Youth Centre (the Service’s new base of operations, incorporating ‘The Underground’), as well as Hellingly Youth Hub and Monday Youth Hub sessions on weekdays. Additional services include ‘On Track Hailsham’ which caters for young people with special educational needs, Network@The Underground for 18-25s, gaming sessions at ‘The Lounge’, creative arts at ‘Fusion’ sessions and the ‘Friday Night Project’, which organises a varied line-up of free and low-cost recreational activities on Friday evenings.

The Service has had an impact on the lives of thousands of young people in Hailsham and the surrounding area and grown from one operational base into an expanded network of services which operate throughout the local community.

“Hailsham Youth Service aims to provide activities, which are both leisure and issue based, and meet the multitude of needs that the young people put forward us on a regular basis,” said Town Mayor, Cllr Paul Holbrook. “The 25^th anniversary of the youth project marks two and a half decades of hard work and solid achievement of these aims.”

“The development of the Town Council’s youth projects since 2000 proves that there are ample opportunities for developing partnerships with other agencies to provide innovative work with individuals or groups of young people. The Silver Anniversary event – and indeed the Sussex Youth Work conference held on 1st March – was a good opportunity for people to see how successful the Service’s continual expansion has been!”

For more information on the Hailsham Youth Service, visit hailshamyouthservice.org or call 01323 841702.