'Feels like Home' - Young people's experience of Relational Hubs

described learning specific
social skills like listening or
compromise. One young adult
who self-identified as having
Asperger’s explained that he
“…just did not know how to
socialise” and while he was
having speech therapy at
school, “…I suppose BFree was
a safe space for me to practise
the skills that I had learned at
school.”
The need to learn to talk to
others had also helped young
people develop social skills
that had served them well as
they transitioned to colleges,
workplaces or other contexts.
“I feel like the transition from
going to high school to college
was a lot more smooth because
I’d built up that confidence with
working with younger people as
well.”
20-year-old female, Bell Tower
In some cases, young people
referred to specific projects
or experiences that had
grown their confidence. These
included Young Leaders
programmes, residential trips
where they tried new activities,
volunteering opportunities, or
working at one of the drop-in
cafés where they had to engage
with customers.
“BFree led me on to do many
other opportunities that I didn’t
get from home or school, for
example like Duke of Edinburgh,
Girls Group, loads of different
other groups that I got involved
with, which boosted my
confidence and my selfesteem.”
22-year-old female, LYP
Ability to process and
manage emotions
The second area where young
people identified positive
change was in their ability to
process and manage their
emotions. Many of them
attributed this to the support of
youth workers, who asked them
how they were and helped them
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