Listening Post (Listening & Mentoring)

The Listening Post is Darlington Area Churches Youth Ministry’s listening and mentoring project. 

The Listening Post was established in 2017 as a distinct project of DACYM (Darlington Area Churches Youth Ministry). The Listening Post is a listening and mentoring project that seeks to help young people with low level mental health and well-being issues in order to prevent them escalating into something more long-lasting.

Since its establishment last year, the Listening Post now provides sessions in five Darlington secondary schools (Education Village, Longfield Academy, Hummersknott Academy, Hurworth Academy and Wyvern Academy) as well as appointments at Dr Piper House following G.P. referrals.

Our focus for outcomes is the young person and an improvement in both their short-term and long-term emotional well-being.

A recent Princes Trust report stated that half of young people (48 per cent) experienced problems during their school or college years that prevented them from focusing on their studies. Of those who experienced a problem, almost half (46 per cent) did not talk to anyone about their situation. Young people are, therefore, forgoing the opportunity to talk about their problems, emotions and fears, which can develop into mental health problems lasting into adulthood. Young people get stuck – talking can help turn it around. The Listening Post is our response to these statistics, we aim to prevent mental health issues intensifying for young people.

Counselling never worked for me, but listening did. Being able to be fully in control of the conversation and what you wanted to talk about that day actually made it enjoyable. Some days you want to focus on the positive, having someone there just to listen means that every session you don’t have to talk about everything that is going wrong, you can be grateful as well which I found rarely happened in counselling. This also let me build up a relationship with someone in school who I could talk to, which made me more likely to open up and sometimes even catch a problem before it escalated.

Having somebody in school who wasn’t a teacher to talk to is a lot less intimidating as well. Some stuff you just don’t want teachers to know, I know loads of people who struggled with things because they were scared if they told someone they would get in trouble. I never had this problem as I was given a safe environment which was the only place I ever got to fully focus on me.

I wouldn’t have gotten through my GCSE’s without this support, just an hour a week to unload to someone stopped

everything building up and seeming overwhelming. I had someone there to listen, not everyone is that lucky.

– Young Person, aged 16.

The Listening Post is co-ordinated by our senior youth-worker, Melanie Stand, who was awarded both a ‘Northern Echo Education Award’ for her work with students in the Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College and a ‘Best of Darlington’ award for her exceptional care of young people in 2017.

If you are a young person, or know a young perszson who would like to speak with a listener please contact ListeningPost@dacym.co.uk or call 07847 933799

Although working from a distinct Christian ethos, we recognise that listening and mentoring is not the appropriate setting for the explicit sharing of any set of beliefs or ideals. The Listening Post is driven by the uniqueness and value of each and every young person.

I really appreciate the time you have spent with me as I have benefited massively from our conversations. I feel so much stronger and able to cope on my own thanks to you.  Thank you so so much for everything you have done for me I couldn’t appreciate it any more than I do 🙂 

– Young Person  – March 2018