Due to the Coronavirus outbreak Silx had to close its doors on 23rd March. Although the building is closed and all face to face youth work has been suspended until we are allowed to re-open, we are still very much supporting young people and operating our services from home and youth workers are available 7 days a week.

How are we keeping in touch?

Young people can contact staff 7 days a week via phone call, text, email and over social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The mobile numbers the youth workers can be contacted on are:

07487535980 or 07950502919 the email address is: silxteen@aol.com

Staff are calling and messaging young people and their families regularly to make sure they are ok, staying safe and coping during this uncertain time and offering their support and guidance to those that need it.

What have we been up to?

We are holding daily youth sessions twice a day on Zoom. These calls take place at 1pm for young people aged 16-25 and at 6pm for young people aged 11-19. These sessions have been very successful so far and are a great way for the young people to able to chat to staff, receive support but also a chance for them to safely catch up with their friends.    The sessions have been very interactive with games, quizzes and challenges and whenever the young people participate in a call or challenge they are gaining points to be in with a chance of winning some great prizes. As well as this we have given away special ‘spot prizes’ so far, young people have had surprise deliveries to their homes including selfie lights, make up, chocolate and art supplies- these have all been gratefully received and appreciated by the young people and their families.

Our staff are regularly updating our social media pages and we have been posting daily challenges and riddles for the young people to get involved with as well as a daily video centred around a particular subject, this is to spark discussion and to keep the young people’s minds active.

We are still offering a whole host of online courses that young people can complete at home, this is a great way for the young people to occupy their time as well as gaining an accreditation at the same time. These courses are available for any one aged 16-25 and are FREE, if anyone is interested in completing one, message or call us and we will send a list and set you up with log in details.

Supporting the Mental Health and Wellbeing of young people….

We understand that this difficult time will be having an impact on the mental health and wellbeing of our young people and their families so we wanted to do something to ‘pick them up’ and let them know we are still thinking of them, so we came up with the idea of a ‘positivity pack’ with gifts to keep them going during lockdown.  50 young people that we are working closely with are going to be receiving these packs this week delivered contact free to their doorstep and included in pack will be:

• Notebooks
• Pens and Pencils
• Small Games/Packs of cards
• Toiletries
• DIY facemask kits
• Sweet Treats and Chocolate

The idea is that these packs will give the young people a boost, give them something to do, spread positivity, show them that we care an ultimately improve their mental health and wellbeing.

We are also liaising with Northumberland County Council’s Poverty Lead, Emma Richardson  to support families in poverty. We are going to buy games to be distributed to all of these families in the hope this will support and promote positive relationships at home and contribute the mental wellbeing of the whole family.

We will continue to be available 7 days a week to support any young person in the Blyth area aged 11-25 and will regularly update our work online through social media and our blog. Please continue to stay at home, stay safe, protect the NHS and save lives.