YTC Toolkit

Table of Contents1. What is the Youth Talent Club.............................................................................................1 1.1 Psychosocial Wellbeing...................................................................................................1 1.2 Why is the Youth Talent Club Important and who attends it?.........................................1 1.3 Timings and Organization................................................................................................22. Volunteers.............................................................................................................................3 2.1 Selecting Volunteers........................................................................................................4 2.2 Roles of Volunteers..........................................................................................................4 2.3 Lessons Learned.............................................................................................................5 2.3.1 Training and Visiting Volunteers..............................................................................5 2.3.2 Volunteer/Member Interactions..............................................................................6 2.3.3 Motivating Volunteers.............................................................................................63. Venues..................................................................................................................................74. Health and Safety.................................................................................................................7 4.1 Critical Incidents..............................................................................................................7 4.2 Do you feel Safe Protocol................................................................................................8 4.3 Dealing with Conflicts......................................................................................................8 4.4 Confidentiality..................................................................................................................95. Code of Conduct..................................................................................................................9 5.1 Breach of Code of Conduct.............................................................................................96. Lessons Learned: Members.............................................................................................10 6.1 Entertainment vs Life Skill Development.......................................................................10 6.2 Member Interactions......................................................................................................10

6.4 Disability Etiquette Training...........................................................................................11 6.5 Progression of Interactions...........................................................................................11 6.5.1 The Individual.......................................................................................................11 6.5.2 The Group............................................................................................................127. Lessons Learned: Parents................................................................................................12 7.1 Parents and Independence...........................................................................................12 7.2 Parent Survey................................................................................................................138. The Sessions.....................................................................................................................13 8.1 Agendas........................................................................................................................13 8.2 Routines........................................................................................................................14 8.3 Session Plans and Reviews

1. What is the Youth Talent Club?The Youth Talent Club is a free social club for young adults with disabilities promoting socialinclusion, personal development and psychosocial well-being of its members. The Youth TalentClub meets twice a month and maintains the overall goal of giving its members an opportunityoutside of higher education or vocational training to learn and develop further social and life skills.What is Psychosocial Well-being?Psychosocial well-being highlights to the close connection between psychological well-beingand social aspects of daily life. Maintaining good psychosocial- wellbeing includes, but is notlimited to the following factors:1. Self- acceptance2. Sense of autonomy in thought3. Continued growth and development as a person4. Ability to manage complex environments to suit personal needs and values5. Pursuit of meaningful goals6. Establishment of quality ties to othersPsychosocial well-being describes the positive state of being when an individual thrives and ispositively influenced by the interplay of these psychological and social factors.Psychosocial activities are activities that promote psychosocial well-being. These activities arenot clinical psychological treatment, but activities tailored to the particular needs of individualsand groups. In operating psychosocial activities, psychosocial support is also built.Why is The Youth Talent Club Important and Who Attends it?Many young adults with disabilities are kept back from participating independently insocial-cultural events due to a number of obstacles. The Youth Talent Club offers a safe space inwhich these young adults can freely and independently participate in a variety of differentactivities. 1



The Youth Talent Club currently has 21 registered members, ranging in age from 29 – 15 years ofage and accepts members from all nationalities and cultural backgrounds. In order to join theYouth Talent Club, members must be able to independently attend all meetings. The Youth TalentClub does not allow ‘drop-in’ participants and access to the club is only granted by the SEDRAFoundation after the registration process in complete. Parents/guardians may not participate inthe activities of the Youth Talent Club, however, parallel parent session are often run. SEDRAFoundation will limit the number of Youth Talent Club members to 30.SEDRA Foundation applies an assessment protocol to all interested new members. This processinvolves a meeting with potential new members. If all documentation has been collected, newmembers attend two ‘trial’ Youth Talent Club meetings. After the trial period, SEDRA staff havethe right to accept or refuse permanent membership based on evaluations made.Timings and Organization The Youth Talent Club meetings take place between 4:45 pm – 6:45 pm on every second Sunday (with the exception of public holidays).The attending volunteers aiming to arrive on site at 3:30pm to prepare for any activities and thearrival of the members. A full list of attending members and volunteers is available 6 hours priorto each meeting and an overview of all activities is available 2 working days prior. Drop off to andpick-up from the location is the responsibility of the parents and/or their parents/guardians. TheYouth Talent Club does not run on Public Holidays and meetings may be postponed if I demandis low.Prior to each meeting SEDRA foundation carries out a comprehensive location risk assessment,this assessment is of particular importance when visiting an unfamiliar location. A first aid-kittravels with the Youth Talent Club at all times. 2



The Youth Talent Club does not provide food and beverage on a regular basis but does make surethat water is available to all members. On the special occasions that food is available to themembers, emphasis is based on healthy food choices.Organizational Documents2. Volunteers The smooth running of The Youth Talent Club greatly depends on volunteers, and the responsibility of the volunteers extends greatly beyond attending meetings. When a volunteer makes a commitment to the Youth Talent Club, they are also taking on a variety of other responsibilities. They become a facilitator in the connection between the club and the community. Volunteers spread awareness about the goals of the Youth Talent Club as well as spreading awareness and knowledge of disabilities.The Youth Talent Club volunteers come from a variety of backgrounds and bring their own skill setto the club. The target age of Youth Talent Club volunteers is 30 – 21 years of age. Volunteers areencouraged to use their individual skills to help in the planning and running of each meeting.Having a steady stream of volunteers is vital however all volunteers must attend DisabilityEtiquette Training before joining The Youth Talent Club. Volunteers are also requested to sign aconfidentiality agreement and must abide by a safety policy.At the end of each meeting the volunteers take place in a de-briefing session in which a meetingreview is conducted. Debriefing takes place in order to provide a support system for thevolunteers. Volunteers are invited to not only make suggestions for further development but alsodiscuss any incidents that may have taken place with their peers. This provides an outlet ofstress.Volunteer Handbook 3



Selecting Volunteers: The coaching approach requires volunteers to guide and support the members to carry out tasks/activities byThe role of a Youth providing them with the information and resources theyTalent Club volunteer is require. At no point is a volunteer to complete adifferent to the task/activity for a member, take control away from thetraditional volunteer members or provide direct solutions to task/activities.role. The Youth Talent Instead, the volunteer should encourage members toClub encourages consult their peers, provide them with ques that may helpvolunteers to take a the process and support in a manner than ensure the“coaching approach” to member benefits from the experience.supporting themembers. The form of volunteering required means that SEDRA Foundation must be selective when assigning volunteersto the Youth Talent Club. All volunteers but go through a three step assessment process bySEDRA Foundation. Firstly, volunteers must apply and attend SEDRA disability etiquette training.Next, volunteers have a short interview in which they will be given an opportunity to discuss whythey have chosen to be a volunteer and what they aim to gain from volunteering. Finally, SEDRAFoundation will allocate volunteers to appropriate projects. Should a volunteer be assigned to theYouth Talent Club, they will first be asked to attend a meeting as an observer before taking on amore active role.Volunteer Registration DocumentsRole of volunteers• Aid with the set-up and meeting preparations• Help ensure the safety of the members• Provide support to the members when they request• Support organizing staff in the running of the meeting• Join in activities to encourage the members to participate 4



• Participate in debriefing and contribute ideas and potential developments for The Youth Talent Club program.Volunteers must not:• Break confidentiality for no reason• Have one-on-one encounters with a young adult with disabilities without informing the SEDRA management• Share private information or social media contacts with young adults with disabilities• Take pictures at The Youth Talent Club activities without seeking the consent of the SEDRA management• Become a referee in a dispute or argument• Push young adults to participate without their consent• Persuade a young adult to agree with others• Take control away from the young adult or keep information from themLessons Learned: Volunteers The volunteer database that The Youth Talent Club has compiled has volunteers from a variety of backgrounds. Each volunteer brings a fresh perspective and invaluable experience and input.Training and Visiting Volunteers:It is a prerequisite for all volunteers to go through SEDRA Foundation Disability Etiquette Training.Often there are visiting volunteers who come to The Youth Talent Club to conduct a single session– sometimes these outside volunteers have not been placed through the same training as theregular volunteer. Good forward, only volunteers who have completed the training should be ableto independently run any form of Youth Talent Club Session. 5



In addition to complete etiquette training, it is important that any visiting volunteers areintroduced to the group at least one session prior to the session that they will be running. Thisshould be done in the form of a brief introduction and explanation of the activity that they will berunning as well as a chance for the members to ask any questions regarding the activities. Thishas proven to make the following session, run by the visiting volunteer, more successful. Itencourages greater interactions from the members as they have already been familiarized withboth the volunteer and the activity. Additionally this allows the visiting volunteer to make anychanges that they see necessary after meeting the members and observing the group dynamics.Visiting Volunteer ProposalVolunteer/Member Interactions:Over time the members and volunteers have formed a close relationship based on trust andencouragement. Most members are openly able to express the need for support and thevolunteers are able to provide this without taking control. There have however, been somesituations where volunteers have unintentionally been “over helpful” and as a result taken awaysome of the members independence. It is important to remind volunteers in these situations thattheir role is to support the young adults when needed, ideally, only when they ask.Some members have become dependent on certain volunteers. As this is not the aim, in futurevolunteers should be given a designated group of members in which they are responsible for andthese groups should be changed frequently to discourage this dependence.Motivating Volunteers:The Youth Talent Club has developed a group of dedicated volunteers who go out of their way tomake sure they can attend the meetings. Repeat volunteers are essential as they are familiar withthe members, the routine of the sessions and group dynamics. For this reason, “drop-in”volunteers are not ideal but unfortunately unavoidable. A plan should be put into place toencourage volunteers to stay with the Youth Talent Club. Looking into the methods used by othersuccessful programs to motivate volunteers by provide some solutions to this issue. 6



3. VenuesThe Youth Talent Club takes place in a variety of different locations. Locations are selected basedon the nature of the activities that will take place. While new locations provide learningopportunities and new experiences, they can also be stressful for some members.The Youth Talent Club tries to take advantage of the cooler months and many meetings in thewinter are based outdoors (e.g. Team Building activities in a park).4. Health & SafetyPrior to each meeting a risk assessment check is carried out at the venue. This includes notingdown any risks (carparks, large crowds) as well as the location of any important areas (reception,bathrooms, security). It is important that no volunteer is left alone with a member in any situation.Risk Assessment FormCritical Incidents:Over the course of the 12 Youth Talent Club meetings that were held many critical incidents wereexperienced. These proved to be a chance to reevaluate the overall management of the club aswell as the roles of particular members.Protocol for critical incidents has been developed to ensure the safety and wellbeing of itsmembers. It is important that all incidents are taken seriously and responded to accordingly. Allincident/accidents are kept on both Youth Talent Club record and individual records of themembers involved.Critical Incident Report 7



Do You Feel Safe Protocol:Ask: Do you feel safe?The most important aspect of this is ensuring that the members feel safe at all times.If yes, offering a private counseling session with the member may prove to be helpful.If no, why? What can be done? How can we support you? Is there a need for parentalinvolvement? Is there a need for the involvement of the authorities?Dealing with conflicts While most conflicts resolved themselves quickly and without intervention, a few did require an outsideAs expected, as group influence. In order to minimize such incidents it isdynamics change, conflicts important that the members are encouraged to ‘takearise. space’ or ‘step out’ when they feel an incident may provoke unwanted reactions or feelings. Membersare encouraged to express their feelings in a calm manner, something which was being used bymany in the last few session. Although there have been sessions loosely based on conflictresolution, further development of this skill would be valuable in the future.The overall individual growth of the members as well as the progression of groupdynamics has been consistently greater than expected with new developmentsbeing made at every meeting. 8



ConfidentialityEmphasis is put on The Youth Talent Club being a ‘safe space’ for all of its members. Maintainingthis means that confidentiality plays an important role in the club. Members are encouraged tospeak freely with volunteers and emphasis is placed on the ability to express concerns and anyissues the members may be experiencing. All volunteers sign a confidentiality agreement beforestarting with The Youth Talent Club in order to protect fellow volunteers and members.Confidentiality Agreement5. Member Code of Conduct• Members are expected to demonstrate honesty, punctuality, courtesy, cooperative attitude, proper health and grooming habits, appropriate dress and a willingness to learn.• Members are expected to treat fellow members and volunteers with respect. Members are also expected to encourage the Safe-Space environment by respecting the privacy of other members.• Members are to obey the policies, rules and regulations of The Youth Talent Club.• Participation in activities is the choice of the member. The member may choose not to participate and this decision will be respected. However, members are under no circumstances allowed to leave the venue of the activity/meeting without first conferring with a SEDRA Team member.Code of Conduct AgreementBreach of Code of Conduct:Should a member behave in a way that breaches The Youth Talent Club code of conduct thefollowing will be put into place:Step 1: The Youth Talent Club staff will hold a discussion with the member in which they will havethe opportunity to explain/give reason for their behavior. The member will be advised of thefollowing steps should the behavior be repeated. 9



Step 2: The member will receive a written agreement outlining their behavior. This agreement willbe discussed and signed by both the member and the involved staff. The agreement will alsooutline the procedures that will be undertaken if such a breach is to be repeated.Step 3: Notification of parents. Although The Youth Talent Club aims to treat all members asadults, in severe cases parents will be notified. Should this happen it will most likely be followedby a suspension or expulsion from The Youth Talent Club.6. Lessons Learned Members Much of the development of The Youth Talent Club has been based on trial and error, debriefing and making adjustments after each meeting.Entertainment vs. Life Skill Development:It has been difficult to develop a program that is directed towards the development of life skillsrather than just simple entertainment of the members. The sessions that have been mostsuccessful are ones in which the members feel as though they have gained a skill from theexperience (teamwork building, talking about themselves to a group, learning about nutrition etc.)as opposed to sessions that are set up in a way that only provides entertainment.Member Interactions:Although the members are encouraged to make their own decisions as young adults it has beenproven that arranging a seating plan works best. This has shown to be vital as the group hasbecome more confident with one another and conflicts have arisen. Keeping a group seatingplans has allowed for more concentration and richer group interactions as well as an attempt todiffuse any conflicts. 10



Group Talking:To date, many of The Youth Talent Club sessions have required the members to speakindependently in front of their peers. This is more successful when using a “talking device” eithera microphone (in larger spaces) or an object that represents the holder’s time to talk. This allowsfor group interruptions to be kept to a minimum. Although rare, there have been incidents wherea member has been speaking with some difficulty which has unfairly resulted in thelaughter/teasing of other members. In order to stop this from happening it has been mosteffective to ignore such behavior and support the speaking member.Disability Etiquette Training:In future it would be a good idea to provide the members with the same disability etiquettetraining that the volunteers go through. By default, it has been assumed that the members areaware of disability etiquette but this is not the case and providing training would result in anenvironment in which everyone is made to feel comfortable.Progression of Interactions The Youth Talent Club, as a group of young adults has shown to make amazing progress that is displayed in not only the individuals, but in the group as a whole.Individuals:After the first few meetings and when members had become familiar with the routine that thesessions would follow individuals began to display a greater level of independence andconfidence. Later activities such as ‘LipSyncing’ and ‘Poetry Slam’, when compared to the first‘Introducing Me’ activities, are great demonstrators of such progress. Members have gone fromneeding encouragement to speak individually, often relying on cues, to requesting more time tospeak before even beginning. 11



During the ‘Poetry Slam’ Sessions it was made clear that most member were more comfortableexpressing facts over opinions or dreams. This, once again, demonstrated a shift when in the lastsession members were able to openly discuss their plans/dreams for the future and held fluidconversations that revolved around difference of opinion (e.g. “my favorite animal is a dog butyour favorite animal is a cat… why is your favorite animal a cat and mine is a dog?”).Group:Over the course of the Youth Talent Club sessions, a strong group dynamic has been formed. Thegroup quickly made the transition from a relatively shy group who needed encouragement tointeract with one another to a group in which members are valued by one another, demonstratedin the form of asking other members for help before approaching volunteers and making sure thatall are respected. Parents of members have commented on the fact that friendships made insideof the club meetings have been extended outside of the Youth Talent Club, something many ofthe young adults have not experienced previously.7. Lessons Learned: Parents Parent Discussion Sessions. These sessions have provided an opportunity for the parents of the members to discuss changes they want to see in the lives of young adults with disabilities living in the UAE as well as concerns they may have and feedback on the Youth Talent Club.Parents and IndependenceAt the beginning of the 12 sessions, it seemed difficult for some parents to give the independenceto their child that is required by the Youth Talent Club. It is important that it is made clear from theoutset and throughout that the members are attending the Club meetings as independent youngadults and at no point are the parent to join any session unless given a form invite. 12



It is also common for the parents to approach staff/volunteers after a session and ask aboutdetails and the happenings inside of the session. As a part of the Youth Talent Clubs ‘Safe-Space’policy, volunteers are not permitted to answer any questions of this nature. Responding with asimple “You should ask X” or “I’m sure you will hear about our session from X” has proven to berelatively successful at deferring these types of questions.By the end of the 12 session, most parents seemed confident with only dropping off and pickingup their child from a predetermined location and allowing the member to make their way to theplace that the session is due to take place, with a group of their peers. This is ideal and needs tobe encouraged from the start.SurveyA survey was conducted with the parent group that focused on gathering information relating tothe psycho-social wellbeing of the members. This survey was extremely successful and providedgreat insight into the wellbeing of the members. This survey was also administered to themembers, in easy read layout, as a comparison. The aim is that this survey will be the first of acontinuous cycle of data collection to demonstrate the progress of the Youth Talent Club as wellas aid it its further development.Survey and Survey Results8. The SessionsAgendasA vital part in the organization of the Youth Talent Club is developing a clear agenda. This agendais available for all volunteers and venues prior to the meeting. As the meeting time is limited theagenda should be time-slot orientated – it is helpful to have a timekeeper throughout themeetings. Discussing the agenda as a part of the routine is better received when it is visualized.Example of Agenda 13



RoutineIt has been found that maintaining a routine is key in the smooth running of each session. TheYouth Talent Club has (through trial and error) developed a start and end routine that the membershave grown to know. When followed strictly, this routine has proven to be a great way to maintainfocus and familiarity for both members and volunteers.The Current Routine for a 2 hour session is as follows:Time Allocation Activity15 minutes Arrive and Sign in prior to the scheduled start of the meeting.10 minutes Overview of the session – visualized layout on a large board – opportunity ask any questions about that days events and (if time10 minutes allows) a short recap of what they enjoyed from the session before.55 minutes Me Time! Short exercises and stretching session – ideally lead by some members. This is followed by a short guided meditation.5 minutes Main Activities – it is important that time is allocated depending on the15 minutes number of activities planned as well as any extra time that may be5 minutes required for the set up and clear up of the activities. Overview of the next meeting – Introducing the person who will be running that meeting. The members vote for their favorite activity. This is followed by the “goodbye” circle and a group picture. Independent sign out and walking backing to the parent/guardian meeting place. 14