March has been an exciting month, as usual!

Our theme of Mental Health Awareness was really well timed – we’ve been able to have lots of conversations with young people, and parents, about their own mental health and how to be more resilient.

Two of our mentors, Debbie and Lydia worked with students at Rednock to explore the pros and cons of Social Media on their lives. The interactive “Deep Learning Day” was a real hit with the young people who went away better equipped to get their social media interactions balanced with “real life!”

It is with sadness that after 2 years of running regular youth club sessions in Cainscross and Cashes Green, and having worked closely with the Parish Council and other community groups, the tough decision has been taken to suspend our provision of service in this community due to the lack of a suitable venue to provide safe, secure, appropriate youth work.

Cainscross Parish Council very much recognise the need however for this provision in the area and will now be investing their funding in the development of the Victory Park Youth and Community Centre.

Meanwhile, The Door remains absolutely committed to meeting the needs of young people from this area and we are pleased to continue to welcome those, for whom the youth club is a key part of their social life, to our youth centre in Stroud Town Centre as well as looking forward to seeing others at The Pod in Stonehouse soon.

As ever we are will also continue to be committed to supporting this community wherever possible and especially at times when there is a need for additional support on the streets in association with the Community Safety Team.

We’d like to thank Caincross Parish Council, the Cashes Green Community Centre, Randwick Scouts and the residents of the parish, for their support during our time in the parish and look forward to seeing both their building project progress and to supporting their plans to continue to provide youth centre services to the community in the future.

When one door closes, as they say, and it is with great delight that we can announce a new partnership, with Stonehouse Town Council. We’ve been working with the council for a few months to identify some of the key community needs, and from April we will be delivering sessions from “The Pod” in Oldends Lane, as well as developing our tried and tested Community Youthwork model across the town. John and his team are looking forward to meeting lots of new young people, as well as some familiar faces, over the coming weeks.