Connect2Thrive - The MARS Trust

Aim

We want amazing, fun workshops for 6th formers on relationships skills they can choose and practice, to set themselves up to thrive in life.

What is our Connect2Thrive project?

Our MARS Trust team is passionate about healthy, safe relationships for young people in all parts of life. We want students to be ready with key relationship skills for the next part of their lives after school. Connect2Thrive is a new project to extend our work from years 8 to 11 to now include a 6th form programme.

The 6th form workshops need to be written by professionals and students in a fun and structured way to build skills and confidence. MARS creates time in workshops for students to get to know what they think, understand their feelings, explore other students' opinions and practise! We are unique in working with whole year groups with trained community volunteers

Why now?

Government and schools recognise a rising tide of young people struggling with the demands of a complex and changing world. Reports show that our young people are more anxious and unhappy as they go through adolescence. There is great opportunity today for students but with new risks and challenges. Breakdown of family relationships and new ways of communicating are part of this. Childline alone has reported a rise to over 3.5 million visits with mental and emotional health, family relationships and suicidal thoughts and feelings the main issues.

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/media/1898/childline-annual-review-2018-19.pdf

Dorset's own Young Researchers reported in 2018-19 that students want to know how to:

• Build self-esteem
• Help a friend in need
• Use tools for difficult conversations
• Deal with unhealthy relationships

https://infogram.com/dcc-or-young-researchers-rep-2018-19-1hdw2j5elw7p4l0

We cover all this and more. The Trust knows that 16-18 yrs is a key stage of development for long term relationships and it's vital for our young people to have opportunity to build skills they need for the rest of their lives.

An 18 Year Old Trainee Youth Worker on a current MARS Course said "It's an awesome course.  It sheds light on real issues".

MARS Trust has a track record.

The charity is experienced in relationship skills workshops with younger students aged between 12 and 16. We have been running workshops for 12 years and are now working in partnership with 8 secondary schools in Dorset. In 2019 over 4,250 students participated in our programmes.

Our 3 dedicated part-time staff are busy with 135 volunteers, and are guided by the 5 Trustees of the board. We train volunteers from the communities around the schools to encourage and facilitate groups of 8 students for round table activities in the workshops. We are funded mainly by grants, donations and some local business. We're keen to let the wider community know about our work and help us with fundraising. The workshops are fun, engaging and interactive, we want students to make their own opinions and  choices. We have great feedback from students and school staff.

"MARS workshops are well organised, thought-provoking and linked to real-life scenarios that our students quickly relate to" Head of PSHE Teacher

What do we want for our Young People?

The MARS Trust Connect2Thrive Project 

This new project builds on basic relationship skills, taking the students deeper to understand more.  Eight workshops will cover how students build good connections with those they love and choose, and with others who they need to relate to in school, work or hobbies. 

Communication, conflict management, commitment, and choice are explored in forming friendships and intimate relationships. These older students will also explore confidentiality, poor or unsafe relationships and boundaries. They will gain understanding of the early signs of controlling relationships and poor commitment. There will be extended time for discussion and more advanced skills introduced for getting the most out of life. It's important that each person gets a feel of the skills and is able to make use of them in their own way. We aim to work with schools to integrate Connect2Thrive into their PSHE curriculum.

We need funding for help in the final workshop development; getting evidence based materials ready and working with schools to adapt workshops to specific events, for example, Mental Health Week.

Workshops are examined by an expert sub-committee of the Trust including education and youth worker professionals, and a Professor of Psychology. We will link our training to new curriculum needs and Ofsted inspection to help our schools.

The next step is to work with a focus group of students to ensure that the tasks and exercises are as relevant as possible.

This project successfully funded on 22nd April 2020