Kidderminster District Youth Trust

Kidderminster District Youth Trust’s ‘Flannel Youthy’ has been running for over 10 years. Designed by LGBTQ+ young people as a safe place for them to meet friends, seek advice and have a lot of fun. WCF supported the group with a grant from our Strengthening Worcestershire Fund.

Operations Manager, Mike Oliver-Brooke explained:

The KDYT team arrived at a local high school where a group was keen to hear about the club. One excited young person wanted to do a presentation on what they hoped to get from it. This was particularly important as the individual has Tourette’s syndrome. The team took on board most of the ideas and suggestions, which helped them plan for the future. Most importantly the young person attended each session.

He also told WCF of a gay young man with additional needs who was keen to attend. Mum wanted to ensure they could meet his needs and reached out. They met with them to discuss how they could support him in accessing their services. A plan was implemented enabling him to take part fully in the group, trips and activities.

The young people themselves have said:

“Yeah, it’s really good, I like Thursday Youthy, but this is great as I can really be myself and talk to others who are like me, and I can be even louder.”

“I really like the club. If you are not feeling it you can just chill out and not say anything. There is no pressure, but if you want to talk about something that is worrying you or making you angry you can do that too; also we don’t just focus on LGBT stuff as we are all much more than that.”

To learn more about KDYT go to: https://www.kdyt.org.uk/

For more information on our Strengthening Worcestershire Fund go to: https://www.worcscf.org.uk/our-grants/take-a-look-at-our-current-funding-programmes/