How do young people get involved?
Most young people get involved by simply turning up to their local youth centre on their own or with their friends. Some times, young people get involved through school or other services such as Connexions. The youth workers at the centre are trained to make all young people feel welcomed. The environment should feel quite relaxed and young people are free to come and go as they please. For health and safety reasons all youth centres ask young people to sign in on entry and provide basic personal information (e.g. name, address and date of birth) so that they know who is in the building and who else to contact in case of illness or emergency. Some centres collect a token fee on the door (that goes back into maintaining and replacing the equipment) but many don’t. If young people wish to take part in any trips, visits or other off-site activities, they will be given a form to obtain parental consent.
