Here at quadstar we talk all the time about supporting children and young people to ‘flourish’. It’s our mission statement.
But what does ‘flourishing’ really look like? Ultimately, we consider that children who are flourishing are happy and have good self-esteem. They aren’t overly worried or stressed out about things outside their control, they have a positive outlook on the future and are confident they can reach their full potential.
We know that many children and young people today aren’t flourishing. One in seven girls and one in nine boys aged 10-15 say they are unhappy and 1.5 million children in the UK are bullied. Almost two thirds of young women aged 16-21 say they feel like they are not good enough. That’s a lot of children and young people who are at risk of not meeting their potential because they don’t believe they can.
We have a plan to change that for the children and young people we work with. Everything we do is centred around our three core outcomes, which, we believe, achieved together will enable children and young people to flourish:
Improved emotional resilience and mental wellbeing
Emotional resilience is the ability to successfully accept life even in the face of set-backs, to deal with them and move on. We believe it is a crucial part of mental wellbeing and happiness. By taking part in positive activities children and young people can make new social links, with other young people and with positive role models like youth workers, which all helps to develop stronger emotional resilience.
Increased opportunities
Encouraging participation in new activities is one focus of our work. When you try something new for the first time there are loads of benefits, whether you succeed or fail. One of them is a sense of increased opportunity through meeting new people and simply having a go. This can be carried over to other areas of life and help a child or young person make new choices.
Improved confidence and aspirations
Confidence is absolutely key to children and young people feeling like they can aspire, so we link these under one outcome. We think children and young people who believe in their ability to achieve and are confident are more likely to go on to reach their potential, whatever their ability and whatever that means for them.
The overall aim of quadstar is to support children and young people who are experiencing barriers in life to overcome these and participate in activities that will enhance their lives, be brilliant fun and, yes, help them flourish.