Pupil Referral Units
Reaching young people where they need us most.
YourSTANCE: our story
YourStance is a preventative educational project which empowers young people to make informed decisions when faced with an emergency by teaching lifesaving skills.
Our Goals
To eradicate needless deaths in our communities by having open conversations, empowering, and sharing knowledge and skills between experienced healthcare professionals and young people at risk of serious youth violence.
NHS London Violence Reduction Programme collaboration with YourStance:
The London Violence Reduction Programme was established in mid-2019 to deliver a coordinated regional health response to violence reduction across the capital. The programme is comprised of a number of workstreams aiming to mobilise local health systems to support violence reduction and improve wellbeing in our communities.
Using existing knowledge, design and implementation, the London Violence Reduction Programme and YourStance are working together to equip vulnerable young Londoners fundamental lifesaving skills. Outreach sessions will teach youth aged 11 – 25 how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and haemorrhage control following serious incidents of violence.
Why is it important?
Research at the Royal London (BMJ, 2018) highlighted the case for timely treatment and action for better health and life outcomes of young people seriously injured by serious youth violence. This has contributed to the importance of our programme, to teach and empower young people between the ages of 13-25 years, most at risk of serious youth violence, with skills to save a life if faced with an emergency.
The programme is built upon the passion and expertise of clinical volunteers. YourStance does rely on local funding grants and therefore will ask for a contribution towards the projects costs. Please get in touch if you would like to support the project [email protected]
How is this project going to create change?
Workshops are targeted to areas of high youth violence, and to young people that are at risk/vulnerable to serious youth violence. The project also inspires vulnerable young people to be proactive in their own communities – increasing their self-esteem, confidence, and skills – as well as promoting the next generation of healthcare professionals from non-traditional backgrounds, through our teaching and introduction to specialities. It creates a safe, non-judgemental space for
healthcare professionals and young people to learn from each other. And it tackles compassion fatigue and the lack of understanding from healthcare professionals through volunteering opportunities and in-house teaching sessions.
An evaluation framework was developed in collaboration with the young people to support YourStance’s understanding of the impact and outcomes of the programme delivery. It is the aim for the evidence to be shared widely and be used to inform practice across the country.
YourStance has taught over 1200 young people lifesaving skills. Feedback from 570
young alumni of the programme has revealed that:
• 90% felt better prepared to respond to emergencies as a result of teaching sessions.
• 95% indicated that they learned something new from the sessions.
• 87% said they learned something which would have been useful to them in the past
• 87% said they would recommend the session to a friend.
