Giving Young People the Space to Grow

As an organisation committed to reducing the levels of homelessness in Scotland, Cyrenians runs many services which each tackle an aspect of homelessness. Our service, Cyrenians Scottish Centre for Conflict Resolution, was founded a decade ago to reduce the levels of youth homelessness in Scotland.

Cyrenians’ Green Skills Centre in West Lothian delivers a rural skills and farming education programme focused on improving confidence and so improving future work prospects. It takes time and trust to make lasting change. It also requires support. Support comes in many forms. You might, for example, help via a one-off donation or a regular gift that will create the space to grow so that everyone can flourish. If you'd like to make a donation, click here.

SCCR backs Space to Grow, Cyrenians’ fundraising campaign for the Green Skills Centre.

For us, support is a natural fit. So much of what is taught at the Green Skills Centre chimes with SCCR work.

In our recently launched Learning Zone, as well as in psychoeducational resources like The Three Brains, SCCR has been advocating ‘green skills’ as a way of reducing conflict.

For example, exercise. Could be in a gym, could be through working at the Green Skills Centre, mowing, sowing and reaping, picking fruit or simply going for a walk.

Hobbies are also a great way to reduce stress (stress, as you know, often leading to arguments). Ieuan, a young person who attended the Green Skills Centre in the past and is now working there, learned and took up bush craft. ‘The course ran in winter and some days it was minus ten! Real character-building temperatures. But I still went, and still learned, because it was great.’

Talking to friends, articulating how you feel, and socialising also has a calming effect on many of us, and the Green Skills Centre is a place where young people can develop communication skills that will stand them in good stead their whole life.

Ieuan says, 'The impact that the Green Skills Centre can have on young people depends on where they’re starting from. If people are just starting to fight less and socialise better, or just grow into themselves a bit, that’s a big win. We can be a small part of people’s lives - but we can give opportunities and a safe space.'

It takes time and trust to make lasting change. Cyrenians takes that time, and we build that trust, working with people on their own terms for however long it takes.

A regular gift or one-off donation will create the space to grow so that everyone can flourish.

If you are a young person, or know a young person, who would benefit from knowing more about the changes we all go through as a teenager, how that impacts relationships, and how to reduce conflict at home, try The Learning Zone