Natalie had a lot of anger for an 18-year-old. Most weekends she would spend what money she had on drugs and beer, then get into fights. One night, during an argument in a pub, the police started "interfering", so Natalie let them know. It wasn’t the first time. The judge gave her four months for GBH.
“I cut my arms," said Natalie. "I couldn’t handle the things that had happened to me in my past.”
It was two weeks before release from prison that Natalie met Julie, a key worker at a Rainer project in Wigan.
“Julie was there for me and so easy to get on with, I immediately felt relaxed around her.”
Practical support
Together, Julie and Natalie worked out a way forward. Natalie learned how to budget, to make money last weeks rather than days, to cook healthy food. When Natalie moved into a bedsit, it was Julie who pulled on rubber gloves and helped Natalie to scrub it, from top to bottom.
“Julie says what she thinks, not what she thinks you want to hear,” said Natalie. “Without her, I think I would probably have gone back to prison.”
With a history reaching back 200 years, Rainer works with more than 12,000 under-supported young people a year who haven’t had the best start in life, or lack the support they need in the education, social care, health, housing or justice systems.
Changing lives
Rainer runs 61 projects across the country, employing 550 staff and using more than 750 volunteers. It’s one of those organisations changing lives behind the scenes, without massive press coverage or celebrities falling over themselves to endorse it. Some 96% of its funds are spent directly working with young people.
Rainer London Housing is an accommodation project offering self-contained flats, shared flats and bedsits, where more than 100 homeless young people and vulnerable teenagers receive support to achieve independent living.
Rainer South Yorkshire works with offenders, and those at risk of offending, moving them into training or employment and reintegrating them into their communities.
Volunteer mentors
As well as employing specialist staff such as tutors, counsellors, social workers, and housing support workers, many Rainer projects utilise volunteers, young and old, to deliver the work. Many are volunteer mentors, who give one to one support to young people, helping them build confidence and self esteem, and assisting them in education, training and employment.
Rachel Casey, 21, is a Rainer mentor from Dover, who knows first hand the benefits of mentoring.
“When I was 18 I had a baby, so really benefited from the support of a mentor. Having someone to chat with, who could help me fill in forms, and who I could go for walks with made a real difference," she says.
“I really wanted to give something back so I became a mentor myself. I now mentor an 18-year-old mother. I help her with practical things like finances and budgeting, and also give emotional support. When we first met she had no self confidence and wasn’t looking after herself, now she’s looking great and feeling incredibly positive.”
Hands-on organisation
Rainer is a great organisation to work for if you’re interested in youth work, either as a volunteer or a paid worker. The organisation doesn’t have layer upon layer of management staff, fundraisers, press and policy officers like many large charities.
Chief Executive Joyce Moseley said: “No matter what, Rainer sticks with young people. The young people we see are often leading chaotic lives; they have dropped out of school, are on the edges of, or involved in crime, are misusing drugs and alcohol. Often they’re having problems with their families; sometimes they’re homeless.
"We can’t make things better overnight, but we never lose sight of the person caught up in the situation. With the right kind of support, every individual can change things for the better.”
Astounding results
Working with the most vulnerable young people in society is never straight forward, but every now and again, the results can be astounding.
James, 18, works for a Rainer project in Basildon, Essex. He works with school children on issues around crime and drugs. When they first meet him, the pupils he works with can hardly believe he used to take weapons to school. Once they know his past, they’re more willing to listen and learn.
James’ problem was drugs. He moved from stealing cars for fun, to stealing then buying cocaine. When James was arrested after a serious street robbery, weeks locked in a cell gave him a taste of what prison life would be like.
With the help of the youth offending team, James stopped taking cocaine, but change was not easy. He was turned down for dozens of jobs because of his past.
Second chances
“The Rainer job was the only application where I was completely honest," he says. "I put down everything: the drug use, the convictions, everything. In the comments box I wrote that, though there would be people with better qualifications, I had actually been there. Right at the very bottom.”
James got the job. He’s now training to be a mentor for young people who are in custody, and doing an A-level in psychology, as a stepping-stone to becoming a qualified youth worker.
Rainer
www.raineronline.org
