BY GABIN SINCLAIR-CONSTANCE, CEO

“WHAT ARE THEY LOOKING AT ME FOR?
THEY’RE DISRESPECTING ME!
I NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!”

When we ask young people about conflict, their initial response is they see it as destructive. 57% of our programme participants in Lambeth and Southwark said before Leap’s work, they saw conflict as destructive, compared to 38% after our training.

Our vision is a society where conflict is navigated effectively. We work with young people and the adults who support them, to develop tools and ways of thinking to view conflict as a normal part of life and recognise they have a choice of how to approach it.

“WE SUPPORT THEM TO BE AWARE OF THEIR EMOTIONS AND THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR CHOICES AND ACTIONS.”

Through our evaluation, we see that young people who participated in the Leap programmes are able to gain a better understanding of conflict, experience fewer conflicts with people in their lives, develop a stronger sense of responsibility for their own behaviour and increase their motivation to pursue their personal goals.

“OUR ‘SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING’ APPROACH SUPPORTS YOUNG PEOPLE TO DEVELOP EMPATHY, SELF-AWARENESS, RESPONSIBILITY, RESILIENCE, AND CONFLICT NAVIGATION SKILLS. ALL OF WHICH PLAY A PART IN MAKING MORE PRO-SOCIAL CHOICES, DEVELOPING HEALTHIER RELATIONSHIPS AND MORE EMOTIONAL AWARENESS, REDUCING THE RISK OF CONFLICT BECOMING DESTRUCTIVE.”

The young people we support have told us the place they predominantly experience conflict is in the home but that the risk of conflict resulting in injury is far greater outside. Our work focuses on settings such as schools and in the community, and our work in the care system is seeing us move into more spaces to support families.

Many of us struggle with internal and external conflict, misunderstand how we become triggered and react rather than respond when we feel emotional. When I speak to adults who were excluded from school or struggled with violence in the past, they tell me they have never dealt with conflict and emotions like anger, embarrassment and fear well and acknowledge that they could have benefitted from a Leap course when they were younger.