The Ripple Effect

At our last meeting, through hearing the personal story of one of our RTK family, we focused on how acts of violence in our communities have a long-lasting impact that deeply affect not only those directly involved, but those around them too. We heard, too, from a couple of people creating a positive impact through their work – through mentoring, teaching and sport.

We are so grateful to the person who brought their story, showing vulnerability and strength – and demonstrating the reality of the impact of a knife crime, on physical, emotional and mental health, which continues for months and years. Hearing the details of the incident which took place in Wandsworth three years ago, and the aftermath, we followed the journey from the scene, to the hospital, to home, to school and to court – hearing about both the successes and setbacks by the many individuals and organisations involved along the way. This story touched our hearts and carries a powerful message – more coordinated action is needed across communities and agencies, in prevention of and in response to violent youth crime. Thank you again to our brave story-teller.

Then we heard from Duane, a mentor with Kick, and a teacher with Accoutre. Originally from Jamaica, and now in training to be a teacher in the UK, Duane has a passion and commitment to empower young people to reach their potential. Accoutre offers free on-line tutoring to black and ethnic minority children. Thank you to Duane for bringing your heart and time to care for young people.

Thank you to Harold, too, of HDW Sports who shared about their many football programmes to housing estates and local spaces, which give time, training and support to young people across South London, to be involved in positive activity and impact their physical and mental wellbeing.

Our next meeting will be on Thursday 7 December at 7.30pm.

Community Call to Action

Last Thursday’s meeting was a powerful one. Different voices brought their pain and passion to talk about the need for communities, parents, police, education, youth services, social services, local and central government to come together to address the horror of knife crime – which impacts all of us.

We remembered and reflected on the recent deaths in Croydon and Wandsworth. Representatives from police (our BCU Commander, Clair Kelland, along with a detective chief inspector overseeing violence and two schools engagement officers), social work, schools, counselling services and those bereaved by or personally injured through knife offences joined together to share about the pain and trauma, not only for victims, but for those who witness attacks or are connected to them.

Different people put into words our deep desire: for more youth services – giving safe places for young people to be; more access to services that offer trauma advice and therapy; more working together in early intervention to assist children and families from their earliest years; more proactive police engagement with young people and a greater coming together of communities calling for effective measures that address this issue as a matter of priority and urgency. We recognise that not everyone works directly with young people, but that each of us can hold our local and central government to account – to provide safe and effective youth services and an effective response to keep young people safe.

We’re grateful to those people who have offered their skills, expertise and passion to help RTK respond with actions to further develop RTKs impact. Please get in touch via our contacts page if you feel you have an idea, suggestion or skill to advance our work.

Focus on child exploitation

On Thursday we heard two deeply personal stories of child exploitation. We are so grateful to Sabrina and Maisha for their courage and openness in sharing their experiences. They had a deep impact, and powerfully demonstrated how early traumatic events carry forward into a deep vulnerability to further exploitation and painful experiences including exposure to knife crime. Our hearts went out to these amazing women, and to all those who are still trapped in these kind of situations. Our resources page gives details of places that offer support to anyone who is affected by the issues raised in these stories. If you’d like to contact us or any of the people featured within our time together, please send us a message via our contact us page and we’ll get back to you.

Continue reading “Focus on child exploitation”

Work in Primary Schools

At our March meeting, after a last minute change of plan – we were able to share more about our initiative, in collaboration with JFJ Foundation and funded by the Wandsworth Knife Crime Forum, to educate year 5 and 6 students about knife crime – to help them understand it, and to know how to avoid it by choosing for themselves to be part of the answer to reducing knife crime.

Our next meeting will be on Thursday 4 May – on how to look out for the signs in young people that they might be experiencing child exploitation. Be with us in person or via Zoom with our usual Zoom link.

SafeCall

On Thursday 1 December we heard about the national SafeCall Service – which offers a free, non-judgemental, anonymous service for young people who are worried about or affected by criminal exploitation or County Lines. This is an excellent initiative, giving those in difficult situations confidential and vital support. Thank you to Lee and Dee for joining us.