Fresh Start recognises that many young people placed with us have come from a range of difficult backgrounds. We accept that many young people that are placed with us, arrive after several years of trauma as a result of being separated from their families for a variety of reasons. As a result of this they tend to have a string of failed placements and lives that are characterised by social and economic deprivation, criminal activities, alcohol and substance misuse and anti social behaviour. In most cases such lifestyles have put significant strains on familial relationships and breakdowns in placements. All of these things act as barriers to enhancing a young persons motivation and incentives to change. In order to promote the placement being more successful we have an approach to working with young people that has proven to give excellent results in supporting young people to change their lives.

When young people arrive with us they are given extensive support and encouragement to not only settle in and feel at home, but also to gather motivation and direction. Young people are encouraged to have dreams and believe in themselves. On admission they are offered a key worker that works closely to get to know the young person whilst supporting them in building goals and targets for the future. The goals and activities are incentivised by the project and young people are able to earn money, vouchers or items towards moving on, dependant upon their circumstances and needs. This method of encouraging engagement and motivation has proven to be successful in helping young people to see the benefits of changing their behaviour and build future prospects.

Young people will be given the option of engaging in a range of activities and opportunities for learning that will enhance their personal development and subsequently impact of their future prospects. We have a focus on challenging and reducing the level of aggression in young people by giving them the opportunity to reflect and learn from negative behaviour choices. By allowing young people more freedom but also building a relationship of trust we are able to meet our key aims which are:

FSIP recognises the challenges faced by young people when they can no longer live at home for a variety of reasons. 

We understand that some young people do not have enough support to help them take their first steps into independence.

We are also aware that when life is unstable or there is a lack of adequate support or boundaries that young people are more likely to make choices that lead to negative behaviour patterns and low self-esteem.

FSIP aim to encourage and challenge young people to make a FRESH START.

We adopt an understanding and non-judgemental position as we seek to plan appropriate intervention strategies to suit the individual needs of each of our residents. 

We provide support and specialist guidance in a number of areas including.

• Independent living skills
• Education, Training and Employment guidance
• Guidance related to Drug & Alcohol misuse
• Help to reduce missing from home episodes
• Support for young people at risk of CSE
• Therapeutic life story multimedia programme
• Post 18 floating support
• Emergency out of hours accommodation service
• We are able to provide bespoke support packages including provisions for young people on a range of court orders or those with higher than usual support needs 

Fresh Start Independence Project

212 Barton Rd, Stretford, Manchester M32 8DP
Phone:0161 866 8635