Youth Alliance Children and Young People’s Network – September 2026
Yesterday, we held our September Youth Alliance Children and Young People’s Network meeting at the Association of Ukrainians, a venue we have also enjoyed using for other Community Action Derby events throughout the year. The meeting brought together around 40 professionals from a range of sectors, alongside the 4 fantastic organisations on our agenda to present for the network.
As always, our Programme Lead for the Derby Youth Alliance, Helen Britten, opened the meeting with a warm welcome to everyone who joined us and provided an overview of the session ahead. Helen also covered the venue’s housekeeping information and introduced the other members of the Derby Youth Alliance team, where she kindly explained our individual roles and responsibilities.
Presentations from Guest speakers
Our first speaker was Becki Fitzgerald from Coach Core, who introduced their apprenticeship programme for young people aged 16–24
The programme provides young people with opportunities to gain valuable employment experience in roles that are focused on physical activity and community engagement. Coach Core is currently looking for organisations to employ young people for between 16 and 30 hours per week, with employment contracts lasting between 15 and 24 months. Alongside the apprenticeship, young people will also receive ongoing mentoring, support and development to help them build their skills and progress towards their future careers.
Becki also highlighted the different funding opportunities available to organisations that are able to support the programme.
Contact Becki via her email: becki.fitzgerald@coachcore.org.uk
For more information, please visit their website: https://coachcore.org.uk/
Next, we welcomed Mitchell Adlington from Derbyshire Cricket Foundation.
Mitchell began by sharing his own lived experiences of cricket and the influence it has had in creating his new project called ‘Falcons Leadership Academy’. This is a free education programme, aimed at young people aged 13–16 across Derbyshire and has been designed to support them with building their confidence, gaining qualifications, and developing experiences that can help shape their futures.
Young people who take part will have the opportunity to achieve:
· Level 1 Leadership qualification
· First Aid certification
· Young Cricket Collective opportunities
· Further workshops that focus on employability skills and different education or career pathways.
Mitchell welcomes other organisations to get involved by delivering staff- led workshops, providing mentoring or offering volunteering opportunities. This will support young people to develop the essential skills and experiences they need to thrive in the future.
For more information, please visit their website: https://www.dcfcricket.com/workforce/falcons-leadership-academy
Contact Mitchell via his email: mitchell.adlington@dcfcricket.com
We were then pleased to welcome Tracy Harrison from Safe & Sound, who introduced the Safe Places initiative.
Tracy explained the purpose of the campaign and encouraged more organisations to consider becoming a recognised safe space for young people and vulnerable adults who may need somewhere to go for help and support. Across Derby, a number of shops, bars, offices, and public buildings already display the Safe Places window sticker.
The aim is to increase the number of participating venues so that children, young people, and women can easily identify businesses where they can approach staff if they feel unsafe or need support.
Safe & Sound can also provide staff training around safeguarding and child exploitation where this would be beneficial, although training is not a requirement for becoming a Safe Place. The principle is simple: if someone approaches a participating venue for help, staff can provide them with a safe space while they wait for a parent, carer or trusted person to arrive.
On our website, we have a list of some of the safe places which can be accessed here: https://www.derbyyouthalliance.org.uk/safe-places-derby (please note some details may need updating or some places are not included- if you are a ‘safe place’ venue and you are not on this list, please get in touch: https://www.derbyyouthalliance.org.uk/contact-us
For more information, please visit their website: https://safeandsoundgroup.org.uk/safe-places-derby/
Contact Tracy via her email: tracy.harrison@safeandsoundgroup.org.uk
News and Announcements
Before our break, Helen also shared some important updates and announcements with the network. Helen made everyone aware that our Youth Alliance 24-25 Evaluation is also now complete. You can view this here: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:eu:1060d682-bb3a-490c-868b-6c0d50242301
One particularly special moment was saying farewell to Tracy, who will be retiring from her role as Chief Executive Officer at Safe & Sound. Helen expressed her gratitude for Tracy’s continued support and partnership with the Derby Youth Alliance. Tracy has played a significant role in the development and success of the Youth Alliance, and her contribution to our strategic group will be greatly missed.
Of course, we could not let Tracy leave without a proper thank you! As a surprise, we arranged a cake for her, which everyone was able to enjoy during the networking break. We were also delighted to welcome Catherine Atkinson, MP for Derby North, who joined us during the meeting and had the opportunity to connect with some of our local organisations and, naturally, enjoy a slice of cake too!
For the final part of the meeting, we welcomed Nicky Aston from Growing Me, who delivered something a little different. Nicky began by introducing Growing Me and explaining the work they do through their physical and virtual toolkits, which have been designed to support children and families in healing from trauma. At the heart of their approach is the belief that “relationships are key to healing trauma.”
Nicky shared how her own lived experiences have influenced the work she now does to support families to thrive and flourish. Nicky put together several activities for the network members to get involved with and shared the ways other professionals can implement these practices into their own work.
We began with the ‘Me Tree’, an activity designed to encourage people to check in with themselves and recognise their heartbeat and energy levels. Visual check-ins can also be used to help people express what they are feeling and identify what might be coming through for them. Nicky emphasised that checking in with our bodies is important for everyone, regardless of age.
We then explored activities focused on connection and regulation. Nicky explained how certain activities can help us shift how we are feeling. For example, helping us move from feeling fed up or floppy towards feeling more energised and excited. The activity involved two participants working together, where one person would hold up a piece of newspaper while the other punched through it.
It was certainly an activity that generated plenty of laughter around the room and it was fantastic to see so many people getting involved!
The final activities focused on moments when we are feeling cosy, content and settled. Nicky demonstrated an activity where we used strawberry laces to measure ourselves, to highlight how simple, playful experiences can be used to support connection.
The session provided a great reminder of the importance of play and the positive impacts it can have on children.
Thank you, Nicky, for delivering these fantastic activities; it was great to see how many people enjoyed themselves and the atmosphere it generated. This was only a small snapshot of the work Nicky is doing at Growing Me.
For more information, please visit their website: https://growingme.org.uk/how-growing-me-works/
Contact Nicky via her email: nicky@growingme.co.uk
For more information about the Youth Alliance and the Children and Young People’s network event, please contact either myself (Rebecca.middleton@communityactionderby.org.uk) or Helen (Helen.britten@communityactionderby.org.uk)
Next meeting date will take place on the 17th of December, with further details to come at a later date. Hopefully, we will see you there!
For more information about the Youth Alliance Children and Young People’s Network, or to get involved, please visit: YA / CYP Network | Derby Youth Alliance
@DerbyYouthAlliance on Facebook and Instagram.
