Yorkshire Mentoring

Kirklees Mentoring Project Young People.
 

Yorkshire Mentoring is a partner with Safer Kirklees and the West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Partnership in Kirklees to support young people aged between 11-19 who are at risk of Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) or Child Sexual Exploitation & Abuse (CSEA) and live in Kirklees.

We recruit & train mentors to support young people within local communities in Kirklees.

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If you would like to find out more about this programme, would like to discuss a possible referral to the project, or are interested in how we support young people, please email us at kirklees@yorkshirementoring.org.uk. 

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Yorkshire Mentoring has developed comprehensive information, advice and support sessions. The sessions are delivered to parents and caregivers who were concerned with the increase of violent youth crime, gangs, child criminal exploitation, and its effects on families, young people and communities.

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We were commissioned to provide information, advice and support sessions at schools and community organisations across West & South Yorkshire in partnership with the following organisations: 

• West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Partnership

• South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Partnership 

• West Yorkshire Probation Service

• Mental Health Systemic Therapy (MHST) staff in Kirklees and schools working with their service

The sessions explore facts and information, as well as provide practical advice when looking for signs of a child’s involvement with gangs. Sessions also include a detailed account of the methods used to exploit young people and, most importantly, empowering parents and caregivers to recognise key signs and indicators.

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We also discuss how to encourage healthy conversations with children and how parents, caregivers, and professionals can seek further help or support in your local area.

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The programme has been running since early 2023. To date, 100% of attendees have reported that they have learnt something and have found the sessions useful.

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If you want more information on our training sessions, please contact us here. 

Our knife crime workshops, Wrong Look, Wrong Time, Wrong Place, were initially commissioned as part of our ongoing work across Kirklees and South Yorkshire to educate and raise awareness amongst young people aged between 11-18 about the risks of knife crime. 

We worked with Channel 4's legal department & The Garden TV production company, who provided us with the rights to use the episode ‘Knifed" from the 24 Hours in Police Custody series in our unique training workshop. To date, we are the only training provider that has been granted permission to use an episode of ‘24 Hours In Police Custody’ as part of our intervention offer. 

The sessions are based on the real events that led to the death of 18-year-old Azaan Kaleem from Luton in May 2018. 

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Sessions are delivered to young people in a variety of settings, which include schools and alternative provisions across Kirklees initially, and feedback received from young people, professionals, and commissioning bodies led South Yorkshire Safety Partnership to approach us to deliver in Barnsley.

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The programme footage enables us to engage young people in discussions and activities which explore choices and consequences of actions. The programme also focuses on the law concerning knife crime, dispelling myths that some young people may have. 

During the workshops, we explore with young people the impact of knife crime and serious violence on individuals, wider families and the local community, in addition to discussing the influence of social media. The programme also explores empathy. 

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Workshops are run over 2 x sessions, using a workbook and accompanying exercises. All participants can keep the workbooks that they complete through the session. The workbooks contain useful information that the participants are encouraged to take home and to continue conversations within their home environment.

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This workshop is also offered as a ‘Training for Trainers’ programme and as developed for school staff, youth group leaders, and professionals who support young people.

For more information, please get in touch: contact us here. 

Primary School Knife Crime Training- Happy Friendships Better Lives 
 

As a follow-on from our Knife Crime workshops, aimed at 11-18-year-olds, we were approached to create & deliver sessions to primary school-aged children.  

Happy Friendships - Better Lives was funded by the West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Partnership and delivered to whole-year classes of year 5 & 6 pupils in Kirklees. 

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The workshops focus on healthy friendships and the consequences of knife crime. Sessions are specifically tailored for primary age young people. The sessions are trauma-informed practice.4

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For more details, email us at contact us here. 

Primary School Knife Crime Training- Happy Friendships Better Lives 
 

As a follow-on from our Knife Crime workshops, aimed at 11-18-year-olds, we were approached to create & deliver sessions to primary school-aged children.  

Happy Friendships - Better Lives was originally funded by the West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Partnership and delivered to whole-year classes of year 5 & 6 pupils in Kirklees. 

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The workshops focus on healthy friendships and the consequences of knife crime. Sessions are specifically tailored for primary-age young people using trauma-informed practice.

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For more details, email us at contact us here. 

We are the appointed agency to deliver a ‘Virtual Reality Education Programme’ across Kirklees. This programme has been funded by West Yorkshire’s Violence Reduction Partnership. The workshops use an immersive virtual reality experience that tackles Anti-social behaviour (ASB) culture, youth violence and risk-taking behaviour.

Our workshops can be tailored to a secondary school audience (years 7 to 11), young people in the criminal justice system, parents & families, and for training purposes for professionals.

Yorkshire Mentoring is a chosen partner working with WY VRP. 

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Our initiatives have included developing professionals’ skills in gender-based violence education, trauma-informed practice, and with young women and girls: basketball and boxing training programmes and information awareness.

In addition, we have worked collaboratively with young people aged 11–18 in education, colleges, and non-education settings via mentoring and developing healthy behaviours and relationships, gaining understanding and skills to recognise unacceptable and unlawful behaviour, and accessing support when needed.

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We have provided both parent information sessions in schools and also delivered to professionals training on serious youth violence.   

Our services identify reasons why people might be involved in violence and take a fundamentally different ‘public health’ approach, which emphasises prevention rather than cure, identifying risks and consequences and working with communities to prevent it from happening. 

Please find the evaluation report for the work we have carried out in Kirklees for the West Yorkshire partnership.  Click here for the report. 

Yorkshire Mentoring is a chosen partner working with Safer Barnsley Partnership.

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This initiative aims to develop professionals’ skills in gender-based violence education and trauma-informed practice and collaboratively work with young people aged 11–18 in schools, colleges, and Barnsley Youth Justice Service (YJS).

Young people will see and develop healthy behaviours and relationships, gain understanding and skills to recognise unacceptable and unlawful behaviour, and access support when needed.

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We have provided both parent information sessions in schools and also delivered to professionals training on Serious Youth Violence and Knife Crime awareness.

Dare to Dream began as a course developed for Adult Learner’s Week and commissioned by the Workers’ Educational Association in Leeds. The WEA then rolled it out across West Yorkshire, and during lockdown 2020-2022, it became an online course for adults 19+. The course is available to anyone who wants to progress into work, self-employment, volunteering and or learning and can be delivered in person or online. In 2024 it was commissioned by Kirklees Success Centre as part of their Adult Learning offer and will continue into 2026.

Yorkshire Mentoring provides mentoring for those looking to develop a business or enterprise idea into reality. 

One-to-one sessions are provided pro-bono for clients of Prince’s Trust and Unltd, as a measure of Yorkshire Mentoring’s commitment to delivering social value. 

Mentoring covers all aspects of business start-up, including confidence building, market research, product development, promotion and accounting. 

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Working with Migration Yorkshire a pilot project was developed and delivered to support migrant women to start their businesses in West Yorkshire. This was deemed successful and informed a bid to West Yorkshire Combined Authority which awarded the project with funding to deliver a training and mentoring programme. Twenty-five women participated and completed the programme which culminated in a conference at which leading academics and business

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support professionals were able to evidence the need for business support services to be more inclusive. An academic report will be produced by the end of 2024. Participants had arrived in the UK from across the world including Zimbabwe and Nicaragua, and more recently Hong Kong and Ukraine. Businesses and social enterprises were developed and referred to business support agencies for additional financial support and guidance.