Room 13
Room 13
Jane Honey finds out what’s going on at Okehampton’s youth centre
From pool to PS4s, cooking to crafts, there’s always something going on for young people at Okehampton’s Room 13.
Run by senior youth support worker Mike St John Cooper, along with four youth workers who are either qualified or in training and a team of dedicated and highly valued volunteers, the centre provides three open access sessions a week. Children in years 7 and 8 attend on a Tuesday evening, there’s a Wednesday session for those in years 9 to 11 and a seniors’ session on Fridays for year 10 and up to the age of 19. Currently around 75 young people regularly attend each week.
During these sessions there are activities ranging from tie-dying and candle making to music making, playing giant games like Jenga, Twister and Connect 4 and what Mike described as ‘the beating heart of any youth club’ - the newly-covered pool table.
There’s also a garden outside where young people can let off steam and help improve the facilities, including growing plants, use the graffiti boards and barbecue. Here there are plans for more raised beds and a wormery.
Cooking in the well-equipped kitchen is also significant part of Room 13, as creating a meal and then sitting down to eat it together is an important part of the social activities.
Upstairs, there’s a music room, currently in the process of being sound-proofed, and the admin space.
Room 13 staff are now delivering Duke of Edinburgh Award training to young people who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to participate in the scheme through school - currently there are 12 on the road to completing bronze and silver awards.
Mike said: ‘We are able to give these young people closer attention to enable them to achieve their awards, which look good on a CV and increase their chances of employability.’
In addition to the social sessions, youth workers at Room 13 play a vital role in support work on a one to one or small group basis. Participants can be referred to them or young people can self refer and don’t have to be from the immediate area.
Mike explained: ‘We do a lot of issue-based work around sexual health and relationships, drugs and alcohol. We respond to whatever the young people need, we work a lot of the relationship side which includes friendships and peer relationships plus parental relationships.’
There’s also an outreach team, paid for by the Safer Devon Partnership, which sees two youth workers engaging with young people in other areas of town.
Mike said: ‘They have our hoodies and badges so you can see who they are - so say “Hi” to them if you are out and about!’
In addition to Room 13 itself, a variety of activities and trips further afield are organised. Mike paid tribute to Adventure Okehampton in this respect, which has been very supportive to their Duke of Edinburgh programme, plus hosting other outdoor sessions.
‘Everything we do is either low cost or no cost,’ explained Mike. ‘Okehampton United Charities have supported us brilliantly, they have given us the funding to keep it free for young people to come here and for us to provide equipment for the D of E scheme and to have the music too. We’ve also been supported by our local councillors and through the county’s locality budget.’
Room 13 is part of Space - a not for profit enterprise that is contracted by Devon County Council to provide dedicated, targeted support for young people in the county. Mike said the authority had been ‘brilliant’ in terms of backing this provision: ‘In a lot of places in the country there’s nothing - no support for youth services at all.’
Mike said he was quite certain the work done by the Room 13 team was making a difference to the lives of the young people it was involved with, however substantial the difficulties they were facing.
‘Even something like screen time is a big issue for young people. Here there are alternatives, we get the card games out, the board games - there are a lot of life skills that come out of these - it’s also why we have group meals.’
Much of the activities and social interaction that take place at Room 13 will build self esteem and self confidence. Mike said: ‘One of the reasons young people come here is we recognise their achievements. They aren’t the same as that narrow field of achievement you get at school - we will give out certificates that say “We have noticed” and that might be because they’ve made huge efforts to change some aspect of their behaviour or went the extra mile with something or were really paying attention.’
To find out more about Room 13, give the team a call on 01837 657601 or go to https://spacepsm.org/youth-centres/okehampton-room13/
Jane Honey