“Hi I’m Theresa, and I’m Mayor of Stonehouse…

Every time Stonehouse Town Council consults with the community, one of the major needs we identify is that there should be a good provision for young people – things to do and opportunities for them to be valued by their local community.

When Gloucestershire County Council decided to massively reduce its investment in Youth Services, the Town Council realised it needed to step in. Over the years we’ve invested in things for children and young people, such as The Pod youth centre, skatepark and other facilities in the town.

We have been really concerned when we see young people being let down – by their families, friends, the rest of the community, councils, youth service providers, whoever. I’ve felt that young people in Stonehouse have been let down frequently in the past and as a council we don’t want to see it to happen anymore.

Last year we decided that we needed a fresh approach to how we support young people, something which would be more robust and wouldn’t let them down. We’d heard really good things about what The Door was doing in other communities and areas. When I met with some of their youth workers I was impressed by their attitude and the fact that they put quality of support above everything else.

The council felt that The Door would be a perfect match for what we wanted to achieve – a much more rounded approach to youthwork, including wider contact with families and the rest of the community too.

We’ve been working in partnership over the last few months with John and Victoria and their teams at The Door. Working together to understand the current needs of young people in Stonehouse, as well as what we can do together to create a better community here.

We’re excited that from April The Door will be running youth clubs in The Pod as well as becoming part of our community and working with other key members of our community including the local schools, police, PSALMS and anyone else they can find!

We are really looking forward to seeing young people supported in an appropriate way – the team at The Door seem to understand young people in 2018!  I appreciate the fact that they work with families and parents too. I just know that everyone who comes in contact with The Door will feel valued and cherished – that they are worthwhile and therefore they will want to be part of the Stonehouse community, and give something back themselves, too.”