CELLS aim to educate children and young people about the serious consequences of crime and prevent initial and reoffending behaviours.
We seek to support children and young people who need guidance to cope with and overcome issues and barriers, to realise their full potential.
Our work is delivered by rehabilitated ex-offenders and victims of crime and abuse who are fully trained to guide, motivate and support CYP who are referred to us.
All our staff are trained in mentoring and some hold youth work qualifications. All have suffered the consequences of youth crime and violence themselves and are eager to deter others from making the same choices. The combination of these insights provides our staff with all the necessary skills to engage and build an effective professional relationship with young people, with this a position from which they can offer relevant advice and the experience needed to steer them onto the right path.
We believe in our methods and have an extensive track record that demonstrates the positive results that can come by offering one-to-one support to ‘at-risk’ young people. The nature of this support can be multifaceted and can relate to any subject the mentee may need help or advice with. Although the list is endless, this could include concerns relating to family matters, relationships, careers, and education, as well as issues relating to youth crime.
Providing support in this way has yielded significant benefits for the vast majority of the young people that we have worked with and has led to noticeable improvements in their engagement, feelings of self-worth, and motivation to realise their potential.
The factors that lead to involvement with crime are complex, deep-rooted and there is no single ‘catch-all’ solution. However, we believe that by educating and supporting vulnerable young people in our community and helping them to realise their potential, we can help to prevent them from participating in crime and violence and consequently make the community safer for all.
