On the evening of 13th June SI Bristol’s focus was firmly on the President’s Charity of the Year – Off The Record (OTR).
We were warmly greeted by Simon Newitt CEO who informed us that last year OTR celebrated their 50th Anniversary, having started in Bristol in November 1965. They formed initially as part of the Youth Club Association and were entirely run by volunteers, focusing on marriage counselling.
How times have changed!
OTR’s current mission is to support, promote and defend the mental health rights and social position of young people. Simon told us how the social element of their work is essential, since stresses for young people are often related to their identity which can only be resolved by openly talking about how young people fit into society, alongside empowering them to develop their own voice.
Anxiety is the most prevalent condition in young people and 1 in 3 self-harm. This fact alone evidences the need for OTR and SI Bristol are proud to support them as out Charity of the Year. OTR predominantly work with women and girls. Of their 3,000 referrals per year, 68% are girls and 38% are from the Black, Minority or Ethnic community. As a result of changing times OTR have grown exponentially and in 6 years they have gone from 6 to 55 staff members.
SI Bristol were inspired by the open, positive approach that Simon and his team at OTR take to young people. They focus on early intervention rather than crisis and they continuously consult with their young people ensuring their needs are at the heart of what they do. As such they run a variety of groups and 1-1 services such as The Resilience Lab focusing on managing stress when times are tough. They are also in the process of opening an Arts Centre, recognising how important creativity is to reach out to young people in the right way. They make use of positive language and focus on young people’s capabilities and strengths, it was inspiring to see a service really fighting for young people’s rights and promoting diversity. As such, their service is free at the point of entry ensuring that it is available to all young people.
OTR’s work focuses on 5 things, to offer direct mental health support, health promotion, community development and social action, training of professionals in other agencies and research as to what works with the 11-25 age group. Successfully, their work with in-reach A&E teams is being adopted nationally where they pick up young people at the point of a mental health crisis to offer them support when they need it most.
It was clear that OTR echo the Soroptimist’s aims or Empower, Educate and Enable and we are thrilled to be able to support such an essential charity in Bristol working with young people to improve the lives of Women and Girls.
Please see a link to their website below for more information about Off The Record: