Since October 2009 I have been working with children at an afterschool group in Winn Gardens.

In the beginning the kids were:

1. hostile towards staff and volunteers
2. aggressive towards each other
3. destructive
4. disrespectful of people and property

So much so, that our first session descended into chaos with nearly 20 children trying to smoke, ride bikes inside, steal materials, swear at us and fight each other!

By our final session we had a core group of 10 dedicated kids who were:

1. co operative
2. supportive of each other
3. able to share and respect the materials
4. beginning to open up and talk to us about their lives
5. still feisty - they continued to swear like troopers but we knew we were getting through to them when they started to apologise after!

It was a long road from that first session. There were times along the way when it seemed like we might never get there but it was an experience that I learned so much from, as an artist and facilitator, especially about managing behaviour and working with challenging kids. I’d like to share some of that with you tonight.

Imagine that you are eleven years old. Imagine that one night at 2am you have to call the police and get your uncle arrested for violent and drunken behaviour in the home. Imagine that the estate where you live is held under siege by a man with a gun. Imagine that your baby sister is mauled by a pit-bull. Imagine that your brother is hospitalised with a serious illness. Now imagine that this happens to you all in the space of one month. All of these things actually happened to one of the children we worked with at an afterschool club in Winn Gardens.

Let’s call her Lucy. When we first met Lucy she was sullen, rude and intimidating. She didn’t have a good word to say about anyone. She swore at Aitp staff, threatened other kids and had recently been excluded from school. She refused to take part in activities and wilfully destroyed materials. If she did make anything during the session, she threw it in the bin or smashed it up on the way home. Two months later, she was the mainstay of our group. She was the kid who kept other kids in line. Woe betide anyone who tried to disrupt a session while Lucy was there! She turned up every week, she participated and she even started to smile and give compliments. On a session evaluation she wrote “This group is the best thing that I have ever done.”

There is no magic formula for success but here are a few of the things that helped us:

1. Know the area and understand the challenges these children face everyday.

Winn For those of you who aren’t familiar with the area:

• A small, self-contained 1960s estate. There is only one road in. The community is close-knit. Families have often lived there for generations and can be suspicious of outsiders.
• A large amount of young people live there, 32% of the population are under 14 (compared to a Sheffield average of 17%) .
• There is only one meeting place and a huge lack of facilities. This one venue isn’t always open when it is supposed to be and didn’t like us to engage in messy or noisy activities.
• There is high drug and alcohol use on the estate.
• High levels of unemployment and poverty
• Mental health issues. Isolation.
• Domestic violence.
• Child welfare issues and lack of parenting skills.
• Poor uptake of services- no women have ever attended the breastfeeding support group held at the nursery.
• Stigma (People in the local area look down on Winn)
• Understand that some of these children will not want to go home at the end of a session

2. Find your group and cultivate it.

• Weed out disruptive influences. We realised some kids really wanted to take part but were intimidated by others who came only to disrupt Cultivate a sense of loyalty and belonging- we did this by saving places for regulars and having parties at the end of each block
• Identify leaders- Kelly and Laura were two older girls who were actually quite intimidating at first. It became clear, though, that the other kids really respected them. It took time but once we had them on-side, we had the whole group
• Open up opportunities and horizons- Kelly and Laura now both want to be Aitp volunteers. For some of these kids, they don’t even believe they’ll ever get a job let alone that they could get a job as an artist
• Cultivate and encourage good volunteers- let them have input and responsibility (re Charlie running activities)

3. Set yourself up for Success.

• Be realistic about what you can handle and don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it
• Keep communicating with Art in the Park
• Don’t bite off more than you can chew numbers-wise. It’s wonderful to have a huge register but it is almost impossible for you to handle huge numbers of challenging kids without a corresponding number of adults
• Keep yourself safe and trust your instincts

4. Handling Difficult Behaviour.

• Be clear about boundaries and consequences
• Be firm and have high expectations of behaviour- some of these kids have been given up on them
• Make it clear that you respect yourself and expect them to do the same- when you talk they need to listen
• Give second chances- try to re-engage troublemakers. If you don’t allow children to come back then they can never change their behaviour
• Don’t dictate, facilitate. These kids are used to being condescended to and offered services that aren’t really relevant to them.
• Don’t be confrontational. These kids are immune to that.
• Ownership and self-determination: participant led activities. They don’t have much choice in their lives and really get a kick out of choosing their own activities and drawing up their own constitution. They will be more likely to behave well if they feel the club is their own.
• Be flexible re outdoor sessions, issues with the venue, younger kids out in the cold
• Most importantly: be consistent- be there when you say you will be there, do what you say you will do. These kids are used to being promised services that never appear or groups that start but don’t continue (re the church group)
• It’s not really about laying down the law, it’s about building trust

5. Plan your Sessions carefully.

• Provide individual packs so that kids don’t fight over resources
• Not too many instructions- too much like school,
• Keep it simple. Often these children have low self-esteem. They fail once and give up so make it easy for them to succeed
• Run more than one activity if you need to differentiate or hold their interest
• Think twice about using recycled materials
• Don’t assume you know what they want- I had a grand idea about a piece on what it means to live in Winn- the kids wanted to do things they could use. The things they enjoyed most were actually aimed at a lower age range- not because they’re developmentally delayed but just because they don’t ever get a chance to just be kids.
• Don’t expect too much- it’s not all about art. For some kids, it’s a huge achievement to have one session where they actually colour something in and don’t hit anyone. Don’t get too hung up on what you produce. It’s the things you can’t see that really matter. You might think you’re teaching a kid to make a sun-catcher when actually they’re learning about self respect.

6. Don’t take it personally.

• Sometimes they’re hungry (often they get sent out to play after school and are told to stay out until dark)
• Sometimes they’re tired (you have no idea what they have to contend with at home)
• Sometimes they’re having a great time but can’t articulate it (re evaluations)
• Understand that forming relationships takes time

7. See the big picture.

• Always remember that you are doing with these kids can be potentially life changing. You might not see the results but you are planting a seed. Some of these kids will take this experience and make something of it. In years to come, one of these kids might look back on this experience and realise it was a turning point
• Even if just one child gains something positive from this experience, you have made a difference
• Most importantly of all: remember that we are privileged to work with these kids.
• Don’t take yourself too seriously. Don’t look down on them or think you need to better them. If anything, they will better you