'Meeting my youth worker is the only time I eat a meal with another person' – The Guardian, Theguardian.com

B eth Gee, 25, has been attending Creative Networks, a youth club in Bristol city center, for the last three years. “It’s a place to hang out, see my friends,” she says. “I can also talk to staff if I’m feeling anxious.”

Gee says that before the pandemic, she was having weekly face-to-face support at the youth club, in addition to support from her local mental health services. Now she can no longer attend the youth club, so can’t see her friends. Gee is relieved that at least her community mental health team has switched to remote counseling. She has autism, an eating disorder and anxiety issues. “I’m lucky, I’m still getting support, but it’s on the phone now and instead of getting an hour, it’s more like minutes, ”she says.

Yet Gee feels she needs more support than ever. She works part time as a carer, looking after (to older people in supported accommodation. But she fears getting coronavirus from or spreading it to her vulnerable clients. “Yesterday we were told of a suspected coronavirus case for someone on one of my rounds,” she says. “So now, on top of the masks and gloves, we’re having to wear face shields. It’s very worrying. ”

Gee is far from alone in having heightened anxiety levels during the pandemic. New research by the National Youth Agency, which works with youth organizations and young people across the UK, and the children’s commissioner, published on Wednesday, shows that there are now 3 million vulnerable young people in England who need support with family relationships, mental health , domestic abuse, or other needs. That’s 2 million more vulnerable eight to 29 – year-olds needing help because of the pandemic.

The figures were estimated from emerging data collated in March and April, including from helplines , sector reports and grassroots evidence, and compared with existing official data such as the numbers of children living with a vulnerable family background, figures on offending behavior and NHS data on mental health.

For many, youth clubs provide a vital lifeline, offering somewhere to go, something to do and a trusted adult to talk to. But the lockdown means youth services, already decimated after a decade of austerity , are not easily able to meet this extra need for help. Local authority youth workers have mostly been redeployed, while voluntary, sector-run youth clubs and centers have shut their doors and are providing limited services online. Most street-based youth work has ceased.

The report estimates that nationally one in five youth clubs will not reopen, with a higher proportion staying shut in some regions, and calls for swift and generous action from ministers. “The government needs to provide urgent resources and funding to safeguard youth services,” says Leigh Middleton, chief executive of the National Youth Agency . “Three times the number of young people are at risk as a result of the lockdown, yet just as they need us most, the pandemic is pushing many youth organizations to the brink.”

Last year 700 m youth investment fund , while welcome, provides capital funding to build new youth centers, refurbish hundreds of others, and develop mobile facilities for harder to reach areas. It doesn’t deal with the running costs of existing youth clubs. And although the chancellor announced £ 980 m extra funding for charities , insiders are skeptical as to how much money will reach the youth sector. Coming after % cuts to youth services funding in England since , which have seen more than 4, (youth work jobs cut and 980 Youth centers closed, for many clubs and services it will be too little, too late.

“The majority of youth organizations have had to furlough around % of their workers, ”says Ndidi Okezie, chief executive of UK Youth . “We need an emergency youth fund.”

But it’s not all doom and gloom. In Leeds, for example, charity Barca , which runs youth clubs for to 29 – year-olds, is managing to reach many of the young people it works with digitally.

Virtual club sessions through Zoom, and one-to-one online drop-in sessions with youth workers at fixed times five days a week, are both proving popular.

Barca has also distributed 94 activity packs for young people and their younger siblings. “It’s great for them, but it also allows us to have face-to-face contact,” says Amanda Sykes, senior practitioner in Barca’s children, young people and family service.

And last week the charity held its first socially distant doorstep dance session, run by social enterprise Dazl . “We had 58 people out in their gardens and 34 joined in, ”says Sykes. For Demi, 25, who used to do activities such as football and cooking at the Fairfield Community Center youth club in west Leeds, it made her day. “I have been really bored since school shut, but today was brilliant , ”She says. Barca plans to roll out doorstep dance to other streets and start running doorstep sport sessions too.

While digital support is better than no youth service at all, there are growing calls for youth centers to reopen. The NYA report calls for youth services to be designated as key work, so that youth workers can provide face-to-face support to vulnerable young people. “The risk to young people of catching coronavirus has to be balanced against the health risks of remaining in lockdown,” says Middleton.

In Wales, where the Welsh government still funds statutory youth services and last year announced a new youth work strategy and a £ 6.2bn increase in funding in its 39275 – budget, some youth centers have stayed open during lockdown.

David Williams, who manages Torfaen borough council’s youth service, in south Wales , says that statutory youth workers are currently helping support vulnerable and at risk children in schools. And for care leavers, there is still a face-to-face service. Weekly appointments at the Ashley House Youth Center are strictly spaced so that the building can be cleaned between visitors, a one-way system is in place to ensure social distancing and youth workers are only allowed into the building for the duration of their meeting with the young person. “It means we can ensure that they have a hot meal, that their phone is charged and clothes are cleaned,” says Williams. “But most importantly, they get to speak to a youth worker, who in many cases will be the only person they have spoken to that week.”