New project helps Peterborough young people bounce back from Covid-19 impacts

Since being launched in September Soul Happy’s Resilience Rising project has been supporting young people aged 16-25 as they deal with the impacts of Covid-19.

The six Resilience leaders: Ariba Ali (17), Fern Spencer (23), Claudia Frate (20), Shannon Wells (25), Libby Polkey (23) and Natasha Smith (18) have been enjoying online mindfulness sessions and learning about critical thinking.

The project has been equipping the girls with key life skills to help them adjust to the ‘new normal’ – resilience, mental wellbeing, leadership, confidence and problem solving.

In addition to their online sessions they held a free event back in October at the WestRaven Community Garden where people were able to carve pumpkins and plant seeds.

The event raised money to support the WestRaven garden, lightened the mood and gave young people something to look forward to during a difficult period of time.

Claudia said: “I became a Resilience Rising leader because I wanted to meet people in my local community with similar interests who are interested in making a difference.

“Building resilience is something I am really passionate about and I am finding increasingly more important, especially given the current times. The project is the perfect place to develop these skills along with learning to maintain our wellbeing overall.”

The project is being funded by BGL Group and Youth Inspired and was developed by Soul Happy, a not-for-profit organisation set up with local practitioners, therapists and motivational speakers focussed on community wellbeing and sustainability, with services from hypnotherapy and diet management to transformation coaching.

The girls are now launching a period power campaign where they will be raising awareness about period poverty and period products.

Ariba said: “The stigma of periods is detrimental to young people’s journeys to acceptance of who they are. It creates a culture of shame and we plan to change this.”

In keeping with the theme of empowerment the girls are planning two new online events which people can join:

Empowerment workshop - An empowering workshop for anyone who wants to raise their spirits, feel empowered, energised, grounded and centred.

At this workshop you will take part in a meditation with Ariba, especially written for the workshop, share a card reading with Libby, participate in an empowerment conversation and create some imagery with a medium of your choice. After this you will be able to create an affirmation with Claudia.

You can register for this Zoom event at: https://www.facebook.com/events/798375424355662/.

The second event is in February and will showcase the talents of Natasha, a second year make-up student at Peterborough Regional College. Coinciding with Valentine’s weekend Natasha will be sharing her love of makeup in a live tutorial.

Email [email protected] to get involved or find out more.