Meet the staff - Youth support co-ordinators

Our Youth support coordinators provide individually tailored support. They focus on young people as individuals rather than defining them as cancer patients. They supervise and coordinate activities on and off the ward and encourage patients to socialise and remain active as young people.

Cat Carroll

Cat is our Youth Support Coordinator working with young people between 13 and 18 on our Teenage Cancer Trust Unit at Leeds General Infirmary.

Cat started out as an NNEB Nursery Nurse, and then qualified as and HPS Hospital Play Specialist, gaining experience by working in various hospital settings. She later went on to get a degree in Youth and Community studies. Cat’s role on the unit is to provide every young person who is diagnosed with cancer the opportunity to get involved in activities, workshops and projects in and outside of the hospital environment and also to give them support and encouragement during their treatment. In addition, Cat organises social evenings so that young people can meet other people their own age who have had cancer as well share information and experiences, and support one another.

Jamie Jones-Mead

(PG Dip Youth Work and Community Development with JNC)

Jamie is developing a youth support service working across south, west and mid Wales based at the Cardiff Unit. On the ward he has organised various events including special Christmas and Halloween events, art projects and activities according at the needs of young people affected by cancer in South Wales. He has recruited a team of volunteers and student staff to support him with the ward-based service.

Jamie has developed a programme of supportive social groups for young people from across South and West Wales which has included meals out, bowling, ice skating and even a beach barbeque! He also helps facilitate a youth forum and runs residential weekends. He is hoping to develop a family support network and survivorship programme with his team and also develop a research proposal looking at the impact of the service.

Jamie has worked with Children and Young People for 10 years in a variety of settings, both in Wales and England. He has previously worked for youth offending teams, social services departments and youth services. This has included developing projects for young people ‘at risk’ of offending and young people with learning disabilities. He has a history of dealing with young people who display challenging behaviour patterns and have been excluded from mainstream education and training. Projects have included music and drama projects as well as running outdoor education activities and numerous residential experiences. He has also worked as a young persons mentor, in statutory youth services, with young carers groups and looked after children.

June Vevers (HPS)

June has worked at University College Hospital London for six years, previously on the haemotology ward and then on the merged haemo/oncology ward.

She has learnt a great deal from working with the young people and the different types of cancers that they have.

Part of her role is to prepare the teenagers and young people for difficult and painful procedures and also to provide distractions from these procedures and their treatment.

June also works to give patients their own tool box of coping skills, to gain mastery and independence throughout their treatment.

June is never ceased to be amazed just how strong the young people she works with are during their diagnosis and treatments. She has learnt so much from them which has enabled June to develop her own role within the unit.

Lorraine Case (MA Youth and Community Studies, BSc Psychology and Legal Studies)

Lorraine has previous experience of working with young people in a variety of environments including Youth Offending, Student Ambassadorship, Counselling and Mentoring and has worked on the Teenage Cancer Trust Unit at The Christie Hospital for the past eight years as the Play and Activity Co-ordinator, then the Teenage Cancer Trust Youth Support Co-ordinator.

Lorraine has developed a comprehensive support programme and services for young people on the unit. This includes social and service user groups, a peer inclusive support programme and ward based activity for young people being treated for cancer.

Lorraine has also been an integral part of developing support services for extended family members and carers. This includes sibling days, family support groups and bereavement groups.

She has developed a national Support/Youth Support Co-ordinators Forum and is the Social Lead for the Teenage Cancer Trust ‘Find Your Sense of Tumour’ conference.

Lorraine oversees the multi-disciplinary support service and therefore supervises external staff including music therapists, residential artists, complementary therapists, volunteers and students.

Nathan Norris

Nathan has been based at the Teenage Cancer Trust Unit at the Weston Park Hospital in Sheffield since May 2008. He also works at the Children’s Hospital with patients aged 13 to 16 and at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital with leukaemia patients aged 16 to 25. Previously he was a lead behavioural support worker working with teenagers with learning disabilities and autism for two years.

Nathan’s work involves organising activities which provide enjoyment while patients are receiving treatment at hospital and to encourage social interaction such as trips to the cinema, bowling, jewellery making, street magic, art therapy workshops and pizza nights.

Along with organising group activities he also spends time with patients on their own catching up, playing board games or simply providing some company. Nathan says what he has learnt most from the role is that each patient handles their treatment in a completely different way. Respecting this is very important along with making sure patients always have opportunities to talk if they need to or access the activities that are put on, if they want to.

His passion is to see teenagers and young adults supported in whatever way they need and given the chance to have some fun and enjoy themselves whatever they are going through.

John Carroll

John has a background of many years in social services, mainly with people with physical and learning disabilities, often in day care settings. Much of this work involved organising activities within day centres and within local leisure, educational and work environments. The work was varied and interesting involving anything from getting together a summer programme of outings and trips to helping to promote a rock band set up by people with disabilities in one of the day centres.

John is currently working to provide activities to young people on the various wards in the hospital and setting up a range of trips and events within the Marsden’s catchment area, as well building up relationships with local colleagues and youth services in preparation for the much needed Teenage Cancer Trust Unit, which is due to be completed in 2011.

If you have any interesting ideas for activities or if you are a young person who needs some help with getting involved in leisure, educational or employment activities, John would like to hear from you.

Carrie Galliford (BA hons Playwork)

Carrie has been in post at St James’s since October 2009. She works on the Teenage Cancer Trust Unit (Ward 94) which is for young people aged 18-24.

Carrie’s role is to provide patients with age-appropriate activities and therapeutic support, often tailored to an individual’s established interests. Carrie’s work also involves organising events that will encourage peer and social relationships, such as group workshops/activities. Carrie is currently developing a ward newsletter which is put together by the young people on the ward, using articles and features written by themselves.

Carrie is currently working towards setting up some social activities away from the ward which will accommodate outpatients as well as young people currently out of treatment. It is important to maintain a social network for young people who can support each other.

Carrie previously worked as a Psychological Assistant in the Prison Service, where her main role was working closely with offenders to encourage changes in their behaviour and thinking patterns, with the aim of reducing re-offending. Previous to this, Carrie has 2 years of experience working in Behavioural Support roles for young people with Autism, as well as young people with Emotional, Behavioural and Social difficulties.

Carrie enjoys travelling and has spent periods working and living in Ghana, West Africa teaching basic education. She has always enjoyed working with young people and feels fortunate to be working with such fantastic young people at St James’s.

Elly Troke (BSc Criminology and NVQ 4 Advice & Guidance)

Elly is a Youth Support Coordinator based in Bristol Childrens Hospital. She has been in post since March 2011. She is working with young people aged 15-25 who are currently receiving treatment or who have completed treatment. Elly is keen to spend time with those young people based on adult wards to provide support, company and activities.

Elly is also keen to set up regular social groups to give the opportunity for young people to support each other and to have some fun! She will also be looking to spend some time with individual young people offering the opportunity of someone to talk to when they are finding things particularly difficult.

Elly has a background of working with young people in a variety of settings, including Behaviour Support, in schools as a Connexions Adviser, for the Youth Offending Team and Family Support.

Elly enjoys working with and supporting young people to reach their full potential and is really looking forward to her role as a Youth Support Coordinator.

Sarah Turley

Sarah’s background is in Counselling and Youth work, formerly working with Adults and Children in the mental health service (both NHS and in the Voluntary sector) and also with young people in Wolverhampton Youth Services. In these roles Sarah would facilitate both group work and one to one counselling or youth work sessions to encourage exploration and provide support/education for young people, staff and peers around all issues from abuse, loss, education/employment, relationships, addictions, youth offending, mental health and other health needs.

Part of Sarah’s work was focused on providing a sexual health and contraceptive service to young people, providing advice, education and testing for pregnancy, Chlamydia screening, the C-Card Scheme (condom distribution and education) and discussion around healthy relationships, self esteem and sexual health concerns. This interest has led Sarah to starting to set up a similar service for the young people who access our service here in Birmingham.

Sarah’s role on the Young Persons Unit also includes delivering and developing therapeutic support, activities and informal education for young adults, both on and off site, focusing on the importance of peer support and youth led work. As part of this work Sarah and her team have identified a large proportion of young people who are not in education, training or employment, which has led them to gain funding for a Specialist Teacher for the Young Person’s Unit. The role of Youth Support Coordinator also includes providing support and links to other in house services such as complimentary therapy, guitar tuition and signposting for patients and their friends/family to other agencies and professionals in and outside of the hospital.

Currently in development are Siblings Support groups, bereavement work (e.g a memorial day) and the establishment of a group who will form a steering group for the Teenage and Young Adult service, as well as increased training and support for students, volunteers, staff and wider hospital services.

Robert Sefton

Rob is the Youth Support Co-ordinator working for our Teenage Cancer Trust unit at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, with young people aged 13-19.

Rob began his youth work career at Weston Spirit. Throughout his time there, Rob learnt the value of youth work and what it can achieve. He also worked and lived on placement in Malawi, Africa for 3 months during this period. Rob then worked with Liverpool Youth Service and built up to leading projects and teams within the organisation.

Rob specialised in working with young people who had become isolated from mainstream education, assisting them in building confidence and social awareness to get them back in to school, and providing accreditations and work experience along the way.

Within this role he specialised in working with young people on a one-to-one basis as well as designing programmes for groups. One of the main roles he had was to design a citizenship project exploring political education, equality, local issues and world affairs, empowering them to understand what was happening at a really difficult time for young people in general. He also led a music project and its staff within a centre which not only brought young people together from all over the city to enjoy and learn music, but also taught them skills such as recording bands with industry standard recording equipment.

Within Alder Hey’s Teenage Unit, Rob has set the foundations for a Youth Forum, with plans to feed in to a Youth Parliament. Noticing the huge amount of arts activities in the hospital he has also signed some artistic young people up to the Arts Award qualification, which he will assess and moderate while linking in with various organisations who deliver arts activities in the region. Being a qualified graphic designer, Rob can help with some aspects of this too and expects this project to run all year round with young people who wish to take part. As well as these focused projects Rob also provides weekly film and takeaway nights as well as importantly building and sustaining positive relationships with the young people and families. He has only been in post since September 2011 and is really excited about developing the service even further.