Age Range: 12—17

Volunteering Virtually Safe Virtually Sound (VSVS) is a group that was formed by Child Protection and Youth Services. The Services noticed an increase in cyber-bullying and the number of referrals that were being made in Shetland. A group was put together made up of young people from all over Shetland. The young people initially planned an event in Islesburgh, inviting students from all over Shetland. They put together a programme of drama, dance, keeping yourself safe online, anti-bullying and body image for attendees to participate in. The other high schools have now started to invite VSVS in to deliver workshops and online safety awareness, covering issues like mental health, keeping yourself safe online, dance, drama and other workshops on confidence and self esteem. Following an evaluation in the schools after the event, 80 young people disclosed that they had experienced some form of online bullying.

Extra Mile They have been asked by adults to tackle a serious subject and they have done just that. They even met with HMI inspectors earlier this year. VSVS has been recognised as a good practice for Scotland and it has now been hailed to go out and be delivered in other areas, not just Shetland. This all came from a meeting we had with them asking for some help. They will all eventually move on but hopefully they will be leaving a really good legacy for future young people to continue and develop in the future. They might never directly see the benefits but they have made a difference to a huge number of local young people. They have given up their time, have had exams, work, music and have missed events because of their commitment.

Personal growth The group have all grown in confidence. The fact that they have been willing to take on the delivery of a workshop is something no one expected the young people to put themselves forward to do. They did all the planning for the session and delivered it to their peers. The session was on body image and how it can affect young people’s lives. Another young person has excelled when it comes to speaking to the media and another young member of the group was so shy during the first meetings but you should see her now standing at events giving it beans. They have all developed confidence and communication skills and their awareness of what is going on around them. They have taken responsibility for an issue affecting young people and acknowledge how serious the issue is and are tackling it head on. They are so mature and they understand confidentiality.

Working Together The young people have been participating in this project for 2 years now. It’s become organic and they are learning all of the time about new issues. They are using evaluations from the sessions they are doing to make changes and improvements all the time so nothing is ever static and nothing becomes stale. During the school sessions, the young people came into their own. They were able to run the events with very little input from any of the adults involved. They all did their part and they agreed amongst themselves who would take on what role, based on their individual strengths, for example, speaking on the radio after the events. There were shy members of the group who really came out of their shells when it came to session delivery, and there were outgoing members too. The young people even took a lead in recruiting new volunteers by showcasing what they had done and what the group would be trying to do in the future.

SHETLAND YOUTH VOLUNTEERING

AWARDS 2017

Virtually Safe

Virtually Sound

“It’s made a difference but I don’t think the young people realise how big the difference they have made

has been.” 300+ Hours