Category: What we do
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Marginalised young people face significant barriers to employment
According to Youth Futures, in their newest report which brings together the latest data and evidence on the youth employment landscape in 2024, including experiences of both unemployment and economic inactivity among young people. Key findings from the report show that: At Sheffield Futures, we see these issues first-hand, across both our employability work and…
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Children in most need of specialist mental health support often turned away
New research shows that children from the most deprived areas are twice as likely to be rejected by NHS mental health services than those from the least deprived areas. Despite it being well established that these vulnerable children are more likely to suffer mental health conditions, analysis by researchers at Cambridge University and the National…
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Alex’s Story: Exploring Grief
Alex*, a young person referred for counselling after visiting the Wellbeing Café at Door 43, found themselves grappling with the loss of their mother two years prior. Initially guarded and uncertain about the counselling process, Alex gradually opened up during sessions.
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Lessons Learned from the Feel Well, Work Well Programme
At Sheffield Futures, our commitment to continuous improvement drives us to adopt a ‘lessons learned’ approach to our projects and service delivery. This involves recording insights gained throughout a project’s lifespan and applying these learnings when writing funding bids or planning new initiatives. One of our recently-concluded Employability and Mental Health projects, Feel Well, Work…
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Children’s mental health services annual report 2022-23
Published by the Children’s Commissioner, this report contains findings on children’s access to mental health services in England during the 2022-23 financial year, based on new analysis of NHS England data. It shows that demand for children’s mental health services continues to outstrip the availability of support. Despite welcome increases in investment in Children and…
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Nina’s Story: Overcoming Challenges and Building Self-Esteem
Nina, a young student diagnosed with MS, faced difficulties in managing her workload, relaxing, and dealing with past traumas. Through a series of sessions with a wellbeing practitioner, Nina addressed these challenges and began improving her wellbeing and self-esteem.
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Futures Film School
Sheffield Futures Young Advisors and Goons Production teamed up to deliver a film production program for filmmakers aged 18 – 25 in Sheffield
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Futures Film School
In collaboration with Goons Production, and with facilities provided by Sheffield Hallam University and Showroom Cinema, Sheffield Futures’ Young Advisors are pleased to announce the launch of their free film school to help 18-25 year olds gain first-hand experience in the film industry. The course will run every Saturday from 30th March – 4th May, kicking off with an intro talk on Saturday…
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My Journey to Becoming A Passionate Young Advisor
Hello, I’m Mezab and I want to tell you about my journey becoming a new Young Advisor! The idea I decided to apply for the role of the Young Advisor after my mum mentioned it to me. While I had never heard of Sheffield Futures before, I read into the programme and quickly learned about their work. I was just…
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A Night to Remember: Celebrating HE Barnes Centenary Ball
On a memorable November evening, we found ourselves invited to the HE Barnes Centenary ball. This prestigious event, where Sheffield Futures were honoured as the Charity of the Year, offered an extraordinary opportunity for our work to be recognised and supported by a high-standing local business. Held at the stunning Crown Plaza, the dress code was…
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An Interview with Rainbow Blades
If you’re a Sheffield United fan and you haven’t heard of their LGBTQ+ supporters group Rainbow Blades then, have you been living under a rock? Since forming in early 2020, the supporters group has grown in leaps and bounds as they continue to grow exponentially member-wise (over 650 fans, don’t you know?) and as a…
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Harry’s story
Harry* entered the Feel Well, Work Well programme through a Job Fair held by the local Job Centre. He was unemployed, having finished his degree the year before but since struggled to find the motivation to look for work. At the time of our first meeting, Harry was also being supported by Door43 with some…
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Sheffield: from the perspective of a young person
Canadian rock is more than just Nickelback you know. Written by John Slingsby, April 2023 The much-maligned band (perhaps a bit unfairly, have you listened to ‘How You Remind Me’ lately?) have had a bit of a stranglehold on the niche label of ‘bands from Canada’ for the past twenty years, or however long they’ve…
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Ruby’s story
When Ruby came into the Ambitions project, she told us she lacked motivation. She’d been out of work and education for a while and had lost any sense of structure or routine to her day. She hoped that getting back into some form of education or training would provide her with this structure, and that this in…
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South Yorkshire ICS+CYPA Conference 2023
Our Wellbeing Services Manager, Christos Louca, represented Sheffield Futures at the South Yorkshire ICS Children’s and Young People’s Alliance conference on the 6th of June.
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My experience of Sheffield’s Festival of Debate: Rage Against the Machine
25th of April 2023, Sheffield Futures’ Young Advisors put on an event for the Festival of Debate discussing ‘Young People and Politics’: interviewing panellists from the police force, youth cabinet, activism groups and local councils in the renowned venue of The Leadmill. A few weeks prior to this I’d said I’d host it. “Sure, fine.” It’s…
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Lloyd’s story
When I first met Lloyd, he really didn’t want to talk to me. Although he didn’t say this, the one-word answers and avoiding eye contact pretty much gave it away. Lloyd was a Y11 student facing Post 16 options, a situation hundreds of students are currently experiencing across the city. It’s a daunting time when…
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Kate’s story
It was someone’s mistake at school that led to me being involved with Sheffield Futures. One day, when I was in Year 10, my teacher rushed into the classroom and said, “Kate, pick four friends, it’s the Festival of Debate at the Town Hall today!”. My school had forgotten to organise to send anyone. “Kate,…
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Tamir’s story
After his dad died suddenly during the pandemic, Tamir* was struggling to manage his feelings about his loss, and with support from his school, he agreed to trying some counselling. My first contact with Tamir was over the phone with him and his mum. Tamir didn’t really want to speak with me, though he listened…
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Chris’ Story
I joined Sheffield Futures as a Health and Wellbeing Practitioner. I’d come from another service where I was a Youth Worker. The culture was immediately different. In one of my first All Staff conferences, they did a fake Oscars awards. People voted on things like, ‘Someone who has been really supportive at work’ and the…
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Chelsea’s story
Project Apollo was an award-winning, three-year programme, supporting 100 care leavers into education training and employment. Project Apollo was close to my heart because of my own experiences of the care system and as a care leaver. I’ve always wanted to improve the experiences, and challenge the stereotypes of, looked-after children. The project gave care-experienced…
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Joseph and Robeina’s story
Joseph was in foster care when he joined Project Apollo. He was isolated, suffered with anxiety and had been diagnosed with Autism. He told me that he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his future, but his childhood dream was to be a bus driver. Together, we explored ideas and visited training providers…
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2022 Report: Making a Difference
In this annual review you’ll be able to learn more about the stories, successes, and challenges that show the difference we have made for Sheffield’s young people in 2021/2022. Read the full report here.
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2021 Report: Making a Difference
In this annual review you’ll be able to learn more about the stories, successes, and challenges that show the difference we have made for Sheffield’s young people in 2020/2021. Read the full report here.
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2020 Report: Making a Difference
In this annual review you’ll be able to learn more about the stories, successes, and challenges that show the difference we have made for Sheffield’s young people in 2019/2020. Read the full report here.