success for Social Action

Sanctuary Supported Living Residents successfully deliver Social Action Projects

Dame Kelly Holmes Trust programmes boost wellbeing, increase confidence, strengthen resilience and build self-esteem so individuals can fulfil their true potential. We connect young people with their own skills and strengths and connect them with their local community through hands-on practical social action. This allows them to identify, plan and execute a project that is close to their hearts and benefits those around them.

Young people taking part in Get on Track at Sanctuary’s East Kent and Essex supported housing centres have been busy completing their social action projects over recent weeks. The programme, which was codesigned by young people, is funded by the Sanctuary Supported Living Sustainable Communities Programme, which focuses on building connection and resilience for customers and their communities. The Trust has been working in partnership with Sanctuary Supported Living for a number of years.

Dame Kelly Holmes Trust Get on Track programmes pair young people with a Champion in their Corner, world-class athlete mentors who use their experiences from elite sport to help young people apply the knowledge to their own lives. Two-time British Boxing Champion, Hannah Beharry has been working with young people at in East Kent and Brighton, while Commonwealth Fencing gold medallist, Claire Bennett has been mentoring young people in centres in Essex. The 20-session programme explores improving confidence, self-esteem, resilience and employability prospects.

Here’s an overview of the projects our groups have delivered:

East Kent group created a space for social interaction

The group in East Kent recognised that they, and many of their peers, spent a lot of time in their rooms. Seeing isolation as a challenge faced by many young people, they made a plan to design and create a space to encourage social interaction and foster a sense of community. After considering options around the centre, they chose to transform an area in their outside space into a wellbeing garden.

Reflecting on the social action project, Hannah Beharry said: “The young people wanted an area where they could meet and hang out as a group. At the beginning of the programme isolation was a problem as the young people were just staying in their rooms. But the creation of the wellbeing garden will hopefully give them a nice relaxing space where they can catch-up and hang out together.”

Canterbury residents transforming their outside space into a wellness garden

Pushing boundaries with a wellness walk

In Essex, Claire has been working with a group of young mums. The group has spent a lot of time working on mental wellbeing and the positive benefits of physical activity and wanted to share their learnings. They organised a wellbeing walk to raise awareness around the benefits of exercise for mental health and wellbeing, also involving their children. The purpose of the walk was to connect through shared experiences on their walk, and being open about their mental health, as well as sharing coping strategies and sign-posting that they could then share with other residents.

The walk itself was around the local area of the residence, but was more than the young mums would generally do. Over the course of the hour and a half walk, they chatted with each other, discussed and set some wellbeing goals for the future.

Alongside the group, Claire designed a challenging route which pushed the young women outside their comfort zone. Claire said: “They wanted to get out and challenge themselves and use the walk as an opportunity to see how far they could go. It was all about getting some exercise and feeling good about themselves.”

Dove Cott House residents taking part in their wellness walk

An impactful visit to local care home

The second group in Essex wanted to help give residents at a local elderly care home an afternoon of fun, laughter and cheer. Their project was inspired by one of the group, Saphffire’s, relationship with her grandparents, who were a big influence on her and helped look after her in her younger years, and a desire by the group as a whole to give back to this older generation. They baked cakes, designed an interactive quiz and spent time chatting with the care home residents.

Reflecting on the session, Saphffire said: "I felt like it brought me a lot of joy, it was lovely positive experience. It was beautiful connecting with other people and see them connecting with others. It has inspired me to volunteer and get out more. It was lovely to bring people together and have a bit of fun."