- See photographs inside new town youth centre.
- Re-live Princess Anne’s visit to the cenre
- Read an interview with the head of the Youth Service
AROUND 150 young people, parents and members of the public visited a new state-of-the-art youth centre in St Helier on Saturday.
Youth Arts Jersey in St James Street was officially opened earlier this month by the Princess Royal during her whistle-stop tour of the Island.
Islanders had their first chance to look inside the venue, which includes three fully equipped rehearsal rooms as well as gigging and recording facilities for young musicians.
The centre’s new radio station, Radio Youth FM, was also on show.
Senior youth worker Carmel Butel said that she was delighted with the turnout.
‘It was really good and there was live entertainment from our young dancers and musicians,’ she said.
‘We had around 150 people come down and we gave them a tour around and had some free cake.
‘We have a huge opportunity for young people and we can really build now having the performance area, and we can record in all the rehearsal rooms and stream live online or on our radio station.’
Explaining the reason for the open day, Mrs Butel added: ‘After the official opening by Princess Anne we wanted to showcase our new venue at St James and open it up for members of the public to see the exciting changes that have been made.
‘It’s taken years of hard work to get to this point so we want to share it with the community.’
The centre has three fully-equipped rehearsal rooms as well as the facilities for music recording and gig opportunities.
The project has just announced its new Patron will be Jack Casady, legendary bassist and former band member of Jefferson Airplane.
Youth Arts Jersey is managed by the Jersey Youth Service, which now also makes its home at St James along with the Princes Trust and Youth Enquiry Service.
THE Princess Royal recently paid a visit to the new centre during a one day visit to the Island.
Shortly after arriving in Jersey she was whisked off to unveil a plaque at St James’ Centre to mark the official opening of the Jersey Youth Service’s new headquarters.
Carmel Butel, senior youth worker at the Jersey Youth Service, who showed Princess Anne, along with the Constable of St Helier, Simon Crowcroft, Sir John and Lady McColl and Mr Bailhache, around the building, said: ‘Princess Anne wanted to hear from all the young people here and wanted to know what they have all been doing.
Lucy Bevis (18), Jersey’s youth ambassador, who represents youngsters using the service, said: ‘It is a proud moment for the Jersey Youth Service.
‘It’s not every day that you get to meet a member of the Royal Family.’
IF there was ever anyone who could claim to have had the complete Jersey Youth Service experience, it would be Mark Capern.
As a nine-year-old he would meet friends on a Friday night at St Peter’s Youth Club in the parish’s old rifle range. During his teenage years he gave hours of his time volunteering at the centre, and after successfully applying for a role as trainee youth worker and rising through the ranks, three decades later he became the man responsible for the organisation as a whole.
He now oversees 130 staff and a further 150 volunteers serving 22 projects across the Island.
In the four years since he took over as head of the service, he has overseen three major building projects – the re-opening of the Go Café at Liberty Wharf, the redevelopment of the activity centre at Crabbé and most significantly, the move of the service’s headquarters from La Motte Street to the St James Centre.
With years of experience working at youth clubs and on the streets of St Helier, Mr Capern is acutely aware of how difficult it can be to be a young person in the Island – and how important it is to have the right environment and atmosphere to offer support and to give teenagers a space that they can call their own.
‘The facilities that we have here at St James are incredible and the opening by Princess Anne this week was such a special day in the life of the Youth Service. All the music rooms are soundproofed and we’ve now got a large performance area which we never had at La Motte Street,’ he said.
But with growing numbers of young people coming for advice, the 43-year-old said that the counselling the centre provides was especially vital.
‘Emotional health and wellbeing is a big issue for young people at the moment. For us as a service we have been looking to train staff to offer emotional first aid and there is very high demand for counselling. Some of the young people who are coming in, they are coming in with some major challenges in their lives and to have that quiet space to sit and talk in comfortable surroundings is really important for the service that we deliver.
‘It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why we have more young people feeling stressed or depressed and I’m not sure what the answer is to be honest. I think social media has a big role to play though – if someone was being bullied in the past they went home and they were in a safe environment. Now bullies are in your pocket and they are in your bedroom because of the use of modern technology and there is really no escape.
‘I always say, whatever it is don’t build it up, come and talk about it. We have really good staff, they won’t judge and there’s nothing that we can’t talk about, deal with or address.’
He says that one of the other major problems that youth workers are dealing with is binge drinking.
‘Over the years trends have changed. It used to be ecstasy and cannabis; it’s now more about legal highs. However, the biggest issue that we face as an Island is alcohol. Day in, day out staff are having lots of conversations around alcohol use and misuse with young people. It’s not telling them not to do it; it’s about harm-reduction work and trying to educate them,’ he said.
Mr Capern originally became a carpenter when he left Les Quennevais school, but after several years of volunteering at St Peter’s Youth Centre, when a post came up for a trainee youth worker in the parish, he had no hesitation in changing career paths.
‘As a carpenter I could make windows and doors, I could put a roof on a building, but it never had any excitement – it was just a job. When I was doing the youth work, every day was different. I always had a challenge, and seeing people develop and grow and move on was really rewarding.
‘I’ve gone through the whole system, from being a young person attending St Peter’s Youth Club, going all the way through. I was a volunteer, a trainee, I became a senior youth worker in the service, a manager for the service and then the head of the whole service. I’ve spanned the whole lot and there’s not many people in any organisation that would be able to say that.’
Mr Capern, who is also the chairman of St Peter’s Community Centre, says that one of the most gratifying aspects of his job is the special bond that he has formed with many of the young people over the years.
‘As a youth worker the relationship you build with your clients is the most important thing. You don’t have any statutory power or anything like that – you’re not like a police officer or prison officer where young people are forced to engage. With us it’s completely up to them and I think that’s the most powerful thing we have as youth workers – that they can turn around and walk away from us or they can tell you where to go. But they never do – they always want to engage.
‘A lot of people I’ve worked with in the past will always stop and say hello when I see them on the street. I’ve been to some of their weddings and I’ve seen some of them go on to have children. You see people grow and develop, move on and achieve success and it’s really wonderful to watch. It’s quite a privilege to be part of the young person’s life and to act as a positive role model as they grow up.’
One of the most important aspects of the youth service, he says, is the emphasis placed on communicating with Island teenagers so they get what they want from their youth centres.
‘My line manager is the Director of Education and I meet with him every three weeks to discuss any issues and any things that we need to address or any incidents that might have occurred. We are very lucky because we have a level of autonomy where we can get on with the job. I’m not told what I’ve got to do and how I’ve got to do it. It has to go the other way for me – it has to be the young people telling us about how they want things to develop and letting people have that voice is so important.’
However, he is well aware that with the cuts being made around the States, he needs to be especially careful as to where money is being spent.
‘What’s really important is that we are efficient in everything we do. I’m constantly reviewing what are we doing, why we’re doing it. It’s that kind of constant evaluation, being analytical about what you’re doing and that’s something that you naturally do as a youth worker anyway.’
And with such significant additions already made to the service during his tenure, what plans does he have for the future of the service?
‘Some conciliation for the next 12-18 months will be important for the organisation. What I am adamant about is that when I retire or if I leave that there will be a local person that takes over this job. I have re-structured the service so that I’ve got more people in training now than we’ve ever had before. We’ve created four team leaders in the service and I have those people doing managing training so there are many more opportunities for staff than there used to be.
‘It’s great to be able to give young people a quality service, because they deserve it. When young people are engaged in positive activity, they are not causing problems on the streets and that has a big knock-on effect for police and the court system. We have seen the level of youth crime drop over the last few years and I would like to think the Youth Service has played its part in that.’
