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These lads deserve 'a pat on the back'

23/12/2002

No looking back in anger - successful participants in a pioneering communication skills course, which also deals with anger management.

"BAD BOY" made good, Terry Smith, has nothing but praise for a pioneering programme on communication skills, which was run, last week, for local lads.

The course, organised jointly by the Langley Youth Inclusion Project (YIP) and The Queen Elizabeth School, was run by Safety-First Youth Opportunities, a Bradford-based training organisation.

Kevin Lusk, a deputy head teacher at Queen Elizabeth, had the idea of introducing the eight-week course to Middleton. Mr Lusk has taught in Bradford and saw the success of the project there.

And a group of young teenagers, ranging in age from 12 to 16, has just graduated from the Middleton course with flying colours.

Part of the programme's purpose was to teach young people about anger management, conflict resolution and how to understand boundaries.

YIP Project Manager, Eric Noi, said: "The YIP philosophy is one of prevention, so we believe elements of programmes such as this should be provided in school, as part of the National Curriculum.

"We deliver this type of programme to our service users on a one-to-one basis, using a team of dedicated project workers and trained counsellors, and have had extremely good results. We hope to be able to make these courses a regular thing."

Terry Smith, a ward councillor who is also chairman of the Langley YIP, thinks the programme is a valuable tool to help disaffected youngsters learn communication skills.

He said: "It's easy to get annoyed with young people when they show you disrespect or seem to have an attitude problem. But I think, sometimes, it's important that we take a step back and try to understand why they react the way they do.

"A lot of young people have personal problems at home. They might get mixed messages from parents or carers, or there might be violence involved. This often leads to youngsters making the decision not to communicate, so they don't get aggravation, or mirroring the kind of behaviour they see in their elders.

"Sometimes this leads to them mixing with the wrong crowd and they might be excluded from school because of their inability to communicate properly.

"This could have a knock-on effect and they could be sentenced to a life-time of exclusion, and even poverty, because their problems haven't been addressed soon enough.

"On a personal level, I wish projects like this had existed when I was growing up. I got on the wrong road as a youngster and most of it was down to lack of communication and misunderstanding.

"I think everyone involved in organising the course should be applauded and the young people who took part should be given a pat on the back for showing the commitment to turn up every week, doing their bit, and learning a lot in the process."