Meet Charlie Rainey. She is currently a Youth Worker on the Wychavon Youth Bus, which provides a mobile outreach service for 8-17 year olds. The Bus visits rural areas throughout the Wychavon district providing young people with the opportunity to engage in positive activities and access information and support.

We asked Charlie to tell us more about her work:

“I have been in my current role for 7 months. I am also a full-time student at the University of Worcester studying a degree in Child and Adolescent Mental Health (soon to enter into my third and final year!) I initially applied for the role on the Youth Bus to use it as my second year placement for University as it was very different to the placement I secured in my first year, even though it was still working with young people, and I was eager to experience working with them in a different capacity. This has enabled me to develop my skills and knowledge as a professional.

I am very passionate about improving the mental health and well-being of young people and hope that as I climb the career ladder I can make a valuable difference within the field.

‘Here to Help You’ is a signposting leaflet that I developed as part of my University project looking at the availability of services in rural and urban areas. Young people living in rural areas have been identified as encountering particular difficulties when trying to access services, including geographical barriers and psycho-social pressures, and this has implications for both their mental health and general well-being. ‘Here to Help You’ is aimed at 12-18 year olds and the primary purpose of it is to promote resilience in young people living in rural areas by raising awareness of the online support available to them.

I really enjoy working on the Youth Bus and it feels great to be a part of the team.  It’s also a very unique opportunity too as we are the only mobile positive activities provider for young people in rural areas. The feedback from parents and the response from the young people who use the bus is extremely rewarding and confirms why our service is so valuable to the rural community. If you haven’t already, please check us out on Facebook and give us a ‘like’ – the more support we get the more young people we can reach!”

More information about the Youth Bus and the ‘Here to Help You’ leaflet can be found on the Wychavon District Council website or email heretohelpyou@wychavon.gov.uk .